Az circle for my AZ5 - My Latest Kludge

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pakarinen United States of America
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Az circle for my AZ5 - My Latest Kludge

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Post by pakarinen »


Not wanting to pull the encoders off my TW 1 and not willing to buy another set of encoders for my AZ5, I went with an analog az gauge.

The gauge is printed from a 360-degree protractor Web template appropriately resized and glued to a circle of vinyl plastic with Elmer's spray adhesive.

The pointer is held on with a piece of ever-so-stylish and practical Duck Tape (tm). The pointer itself is made from a piece of copper wire I cut off a mousetrap. No mice were ever caught in the trap anyway. The az circle is a friction fit and rotates around the column while the pointer is fixed.

While reminiscent of something created by a drunken chimpanzee, I tested it last night and it's reasonably accurate when paired with a Wixey digital angle gauge for altitude.

Possible future improvements include:
Replacing the vinyl base with stiffer polystyrene sheet.
Replacing the home printed az circle with a printed vinyl gauge from Oregon Rule Co.
Replacing the Duck Tape (tm) with green to match the SkyWatcher color or possibly something with an astronomical motif.
az 1.jpg
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I drink tea, I read books, I look at stars when I'm not cursing clouds. It's what I do.
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AT50, AT72EDII, ST80, ST102; Scopetech Zero, AZ-GTi, AZ Pronto; Innorel RT90C, Oberwerk 5000; Orion Giantview 15x70s, Vortex 8x42s, Navy surplus 7x50s, Nikon 10x50s
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AstroBee United States of America
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Re: Az circle for my AZ5 - My Latest Kludge

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Post by AstroBee »


Genius!
Greg M.~ "Ad Astra per Aspera"
Scopes: Celestron EdgeHD14", Explore Scientific ED152CF & ED127 APO's, StellarVue SV70T, Classic Orange-Tube C-8, Lunt 80mm Ha double-stack solar scope.
Mounts: Astro-Physics Mach One, iOptron CEM70EC Mount, iOptron ZEQ25 Mount.
Cameras: ZWO ASI2600mm Pro, ZWO 2600MC Pro, ZWO ASI1600mm
Filters: 36mm Chroma LRGB & 3nm Ha, OIII, SII, L-Pro, L-eXtreme
Eyepieces: 27mm TeleVue Panoptic, 4mm TeleVue Radian, Explore Scientific 82° 30mm, 6.7mm , Baader 13mm Hyperion, Explore Scientific 70° 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, Meade 8.8mm UWA
Software: N.I.N.A., SharpCapPro, PixInsight, PhotoShop CC, Phd2, Stellarium
https://www.nevadadesertskies.com
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