Waves

2025/09/29. It's been over three months since I got out under the stars, and I swear it's not my fault. Clouds, rain, various earthly concerns have dominated the summer, and I am determined to make the most of autumn's better skies (assuming they materialize this year).

I finally took the Mach1GTO and the telephoto array down from their place in the back yard yesterday. I also brought in the solar kit since we are past the equinox and trees are back in play. Why let it all steep in the moisture? I put the Mach1 away in a Pelican case because, absent an event of some kind, I just can't see myself throwing it in the Subaru, spending the time to set it up, align it, get everything mounted on it, to get at most a few hours of mediocre exposure before spending as much time taking it down again. To say nothing of my back (I turn 70 in a couple of weeks; I might as well admit that gravity is more challenging than it once was). The Mach1 is made to be portable, but it's a comparative thing. It's still a lot of metal. Reserve it for my biggest glass, special projects, and for longer dark sky forays.

I've spent a lot of time wandering to and fro among strain wave mount options: the Sky-Watcher 100i and 150i, the UMI 17R (or is the S?), the Proxisky offerings, and the Juwei mounts on Alibaba. The WD17 and WD20 are lovely but out of reach pricewise. I started with the Juwei offerings and talked myself all the way up to the Proxisky mounts and some Rainbow Astro models on Astromart. I spent a lot of time considering the SW150i. I never gave serious thought to the ZWO offerings (don't know why, really). The SW September sale caught my eye and then I saw that SW offered used mounts factory direct with full warranties and free shipping. That began to torture me. If I can't see myself casually transporting the "portable" Mach1, then I'd best concentrate on real portability. The higher end products would carry the AT10RC and put the Mach1 totally out of a job, but the Mach1 works great as a heavy-lift item, and I don't really want to commit to selling it. I didn't find any 150i's at a steal of a price, and the difference between the used 100i and even the discounted 150i was half the price of the 100i. So I opted to maximize portability and frugality and picked a mount that will handle all but my largest OTAs. I am pretty sure I can save the $125 needed for the 100i's counterweight kit by using a 16/2 threaded rod and either a couple of wingnuts or (maybe) a 16/2 tap if my old counterweights have the right bores. All of that can wait while I prove it all out with the 400mm Nikkor and R6. Then I can work on cable management for the cooled cameras. I think I'll put the SWSA on an older Gitzo tripod for wider field use and reserve one of the Linhofs for the 100i (the weight is actually very similar) and whatever OTAs I use on it. Pardon me for thinking out loud here. It will all be plain soon enough. There will be soime machine work to do. If it becomes an eclipse-chasing mount, I'll see if my small carbon tripod will work, otherwise, eyes open for a good deal on its intended 'pod.

As for software, I didn't really want to learn OnStep, and the Sky-Watcher SynScan app looks really straightforward. It plays well with PHD2 for guiding. I think that combo would require me to use the notebook in the field, which is fine. It's familiar and is not much of a burden. I could also give the ASIair another try if I wanted to use just a tablet which would be nice, especially with DSLRs. I am sure there are solutions, so working them out can wait. It would be nice if I could use the 100i unguided at 400mm, but (a) I don't think that will be so, and (b) results will be better if guided, and (c) the ability to do full-on guiding is really part of the point of going to this trouble anyway.

The Mach1 is, with its larger shaft and just one counterweight, pushing 60 pounds. The 100i is under 10 (when used without a counterweight). I'll still need the battery pack, a tripod, and the computer. So the total weight is not reduced as much as it might seem, but the heaviest piece is reduced by a factor of five or more: I can do without lifting and assembling the mount head twice every time I go out observing. On the downside, I'll need to work out how to configure s/w and cables for a meridian flip which the A-P has never needed. Others call that routine, so who am I to balk at that chore? For the convenience of a 6-inch astrograph guided to under an arc-second on a 10 pound mount, I can be bothered to learn a trick or two.

Here are the OTAs of the moment with their barebones weights. The mount spec is 22 pounds without a counterweight, 33 pounds with.

To which must be added a mounting bar, a camera and a guidescope.

10/1/2025. The Wave 100i is on the way. A few things need to be done before it will be fully ready for fun. [Arrived when promised. It looks like new! Good deal.]

Mount the 100i on a 90mm Linhof plate. The one under the Williams AltAz adapter currently holding the SkyWatcher tracking platform can be used easily (move the Williams adapter to the Gitzo so that the tracker will be available for shorter FL optics).

For some anticpated uses, I'm going to need a counterweight. Rather than buy the finished product, I've ordered a 400mm 16/2 threaded rod and some couplers from Amazon, the idea being to machine the couplers until they fit the bore of an existing counterweight, Superglue / epoxy / JBWeld the threaded insert in place, and voila! Is 400mm really the best length? Could be excessive. But start there.

10/9/2025. Things were going great with fitting a threaded coupler into a Meade (?) counterweight until the toolpost on the ancient Barnes lathe gave up after well over a century of service. I got a coupler trimmed just enough just in time. I inserted it into the counterweight after slathering the part with J.B.Weld. As for the lathe, I can replace the old "lantern" toolpost with a much more modern quick change version. With that added to the budget, I won't save money by opting to build my own counterweight, but the lathe will be healthier.

10/10/2025. The bar fits fine, holds the counterweight firmly and adjustably. That's two bucks for a coupler to provide the threads, ten for the 400mm 16/2 threaded rod, and not much more than a dab of J.B. Weld. Compare at $125-150 retail. Sometimes you win one (if you're careful how you count the lathe repair / upgrade). Next to appear in the mailbox: a long Vixen bar (soon to be two medium Vixen bars) that I'll use to mount (among other things) the side-by-side telephotos.

I've loaded SynScan Pro and satellite tracking s/w on the Toughbook. I may need a custom ASCOM driver, but I know where to find it. Now, about cables... I'm sure it will all be routine soon enough, but for some reason (dread of frustration -- that's absolutely a thing) I am slightly intimidated by the prospect of working out what plugs in where.

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