Astro-Physics Mach1GTO Mount: Hunter Wilson

Mach1 West Side

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>The Mach1 mount seen from the West side. The keypad and control box can be seen in the foreground and attached to the right of the pier. These are the brains of the mount, and what an IQ! Besides all the mount-running functions it performs, the keypad contains more than 17,000 objects in extensive databases: Messier (110), NGC (7840), IC (5,386), ADS double stars (215), Abell galaxy clusters (2,712), calibration stars by common name (200), Greek star names by constellation (1053), common objects (100), planets (8) , Moon and Sun.

Goto's with this mount are astrounding - 'on the chip' every time.

The altitude adjuster and one of the azimuth knobs can be seen as well. The ratcheting latitude lock is seen at the pivot of the altitude adjustment.

A good part of the Eagle Adjustable Folding Pier can be seen in this image also. A very sturdy and handsome base for the mount. It can be adjusted in may configurations to fit your setup the best.

Closer up on the West Side

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>A little closer view of the same part of the mount, but showing the RA and DEC motors more clearly. These motors, their transfer and worm gears are very precise. Worm accuracies are second to none and are guaranteed to be 7 arc seconds (+/- 3.5 arc sec.) or less peak-to-peak for the Mach1GTO before introducing any periodic error correction! Precision fine pitch transfer gears insure that the tracking error caused by improper meshing of these gears in lesser mounts does not happen here.

Mach1 Southwest Side

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>Here the optional 10.7" x 1.875" diameter Counterweight Shaft with attached 18 lb. couterweight can be clearly seen. These parts are machined stainless steel and built to look good and last.

The Losmandy brand polarscope for rough polar alignment or on-the-fly casual alignment can be seen at the rear of the RA axis.

Closeup of the Latitude Lever and one of the Azimuth Locking Knobs

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Mach1 East Side

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Closeup of East Cable Channel

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>This shows well the East cable channel allowing the imaging scope dewstrap cable, the camera USB cable and the camera serial cable (both required when using a Canon DSLR) to exit from within the hollow mount. The cables entered the mount just above the polarscope on the RA housing (seen later).

A side view of the ADM dual dovetail plate can be seen here as well. This plate allows attachment of either the Losmandy or the Vixen style dovetails.

Closeup of West Cable Channel

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>This view shows a closeup view of the West cable channel allowing exit of the dewstrap for the guidescope and the USB cable for the DSI guide camera.

It also shows a good view of the DEC servo motor housing.

Access Port for Cables

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>This view shows the top of the RA axis housing and the cable access door through which the three camera cables are entering on the left and the two dewstrap cables are entering on the right. These cables then run through the mount and out the cable channels below the dovetail plate, as seen in the previous frames.

The small remaining opening seen here is now covered with electrical tape to keep the "critters" out.

You also get a good look at the RA motor housing - the one that holds all the 'magic' of the mount.

The "Snake Pit"

hewholooks@gmail.com (Hunter Wilson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

]]>This shows, I am ashamed to say, the tangle of power cords and USB/Serial cables that feed into the mount and other apparatus. It has to be somewhere, so it may as well be under the pier where I can't step on it.

All the USB/Serial cables exit from one USB hub and only one cable has to cross the floor to get to the computer. It has worked well so far.