I finally received an email from Dave. I had emailed him three times, left a message by telephone, and sent him a FAX. I should get used to the difference between American and Japanese service, but it is hard for those like me who are used to Japanese customs. Dave explained that the transfer of money between banks was slow. He gave me a UPS tracking number for my equipment and said I should receive it in 2 to 3 days.
When ordering from Japan, it is much easier to use a credit card unless you are worried about security. When ordering from the United States, you should correspond in English and be very patient. Because I haven't received any equipment yet, I have nothing more to say now.
Today is already Tuesday. I verified on May 8th of last week that the money had already been deducted from my account. Today I called my bank and verified the name of the bank used by TECH2000 and the amount deducted from my account. It has now been more than one week. Yesterday I tried telephoning TECH2000, but no one was there. There was nothing to do but leave a message. I also sent an email, but nothing happened. What's going on?
If I had placed an order with TECH2000 from Japan, I would be very worried right now because I have received nothing and I would have to resolve everything in English. So today I tried to send a FAX to ask if they had sent the materials already. Well, perhaps tomorrow will be better than today. Waiting for a long time is very painful.
If we could use a reliable agency to place an order, it would be a relief, but the price would probably be high.
Well, I still haven't received anything and I am getting nervous. Because America is a huge country there is a time lag between California and Ohio. Monday I will telephone Dave directly to check on the situation.
By the way, my Dobsonian telescope is a SkyQuest XT-10 Intelliscope from the Orion corporation. I installed the encoder for the Intelliscope. There is not enough space inside the mirror box for the Dobsonian drive when the encoder is installed, but I do want to install it there so the telescope will be easy to transport and easy to use in the dark.
As shown in the photographs above, there are two 1 inch Teflon bearings on each side of the mirror box and there are Altitude bearings on both sides of the telescope tube. Finally, I decided to modify the Altitude pulley as shown in the drawing below.
To reach the final decision, I used trial and error several times. Without the Dobsonian drive and the drawings that come with it, I made a mockup of the Altitude pulley. The drawing below represents the results of the trial and error mockups that I made out of 1 1/2 in thick white plastic sheets. Honestly speaking, I am not sure that I can install the Altitude motor and belt inside the mirror box because there is not enough room on the inside.
Well let's think about the Altitude pulley modification. To prevent interference between the Altitude pulley and the two Teflon rolls, I cut an irregularly shaped groove in the Altitude pulley as shown in the lower part of the drawing. The depth of the groove was half that of the thickness of the plastic sheet. The maximum angle of the Altitude pulley that curves around the telescope bearing and gives the Teflon rollers access to the bearing is large enough to allow this rotation.
The next issue is how to put the Altitude pulley on the telescopic bearing. I am thinking about attaching the Altitude pulley to the telescope tube using bolts and nuts in a way that is similar to the way the telescope bearing is attached to the tube.
In the drawing, A and B are the original positions of the Teflon rollers and B' is the final position of the B Teflon roller when the tube is horizontal. To allow this motion, the angle of the groove around the telescope bearing should be approximately 80 + 90 = 170 degrees.
The DDR2-RIM is for the larger sized Altitude telescope and is designated by RIM. On the other hand, the Azimuth driver installation is very similar to DDR2-SYS. On this site, an effort is made to make the Azimuth axle rotate more smoothly. This means the Azimuth axle should be as smooth as possible. However, I am not sure whether the current axle is smooth or not. The key idea is using teflon supports for the Altitude pulleys in place of the rollers.
The template sheet provided by TECH2000 is very useful. Actually, many people have made their own mirror boxes, but finding the balance point and the driving point are very difficult without a template sheet.
Well at this URL he discussed difficulties with the installation. For example, it is very difficult to get the placement of the teflon bearings correct. To get good traction with the teflon bearings, the balance and position of the bearings is very important.
In addition, it is important to keep dust and sand off the base board. This would be a problem even if we did not install the DDR2. If we want to take photographs, it is important to pay attention to this. At this site, he introduced a skirt to keep the dust out.
Other reasons that installing the Altitude driver is difficult are that it is big and space for a latch is also needed. Usually, because space is limited inside the mirror box, the Altitude driver is installed on the outside.
For these reasons, I should now measure the tube and the mirror box of my Dobsonian telescope and I should decide whether the installation of the DDR2 will interfere with the telescope operation and if the traction on the Azimuth pulley is sufficient. I prepared the polymer resin model of the pulley to find the optimum place for installation. If it is possible, I want to install everything inside the mirror box of the telescope to avoid showing messy cables. However, I also want to avoid interfering with the operation of the telescope.... For these reasons, I felt that the key parts were the Altitute bearing and the driving belt, so I ordered an extra one of each. In addition, what should I do about sand and dirt??
Even if you suffer setbacks when DIY (doing it yourself), if you eventually succeed it is a good hobby. (If you suffer and don't succeed, that is the worst case. Be careful.)
I want to talk about the other products of TECH2000 because I haven't received anything yet. When considering these products, you should ask for the TECH2000 brochure. There is also a lot of information on their website. I am not sure whether they can send the brochure to Japan. (I am living in the U.S.) There are two kinds of Dobsonian drivers described in the brochure (DDR2-SYS and DDR2-RIM) as well as other subsystems, options, and parts. This time I ordered teflon bearings (DDR-TE) and the driving belt. In addition, I ordered the lubricant "MicroGlide", which is not on the web site. It is $20.00 (US), but it says that this lubricant is non-greasy, non-waxy, and creates only a thin film.
There are tripods, mounts, reflecting telescopes, Tele-Vue eyepieces, batteries, and weights. If the total amount is over $100.00, the shipping fee is about $60.00 to send outside the U.S.
The Dobsonian driver is used to move the telescope so that it can automatically track a particular star. This makes it possible to photograph the star. There is not much information available in Japanese, but there is a lot of information in English on the web site of the TECH2000 company in Ohio, U.S.A. and the driver can be purchased there.
The response is slow, but when you send an email (in English), a representative named Dave will answer your questions.
After exchanging emails with Dave, I became very interested in adding a Dobsonian driver to my telescope, so I decided to purchase one. I will install the driver on my telescope and record the process in this blog.
やっとDaveから電子メールが届いた。既に電子メール3回、電話でメッセージを残すこと1回、FAXを1回送った上での結果。米国のサービスと日本のサービスは考え方の根本が違うから慣れるしかないのですが、つらいもんですねえ、日本の習慣が身についちゃっている人間には。
今日はもう火曜日。先週の5月8日に銀行から代金が引き落とされているのをネット上で確認していた。今日は銀行に電話をかけて、TECH2000が使っている銀行の名前と実際の手続き完了を確認した。ということは、既に1週間経過しているという事。昨日はTECH2000に電話してみたんだが、誰も出なかった。仕方なくメッセージを残し、かつ、電子メールも入れたんだが無しのつぶて・・・。どうなっとるんじゃ？？？
さてさて、まだ発注した材料が届きません。だんだん不安になってきました。アメリカは大きい国で時差があります。オハイオ州とカリフォルニア州も時差があるので、月曜日に直接Daveさんに電話して状況を確認しようと思います。
今回私がインストールしようと考えているDDR2-SYSではありませんが、DDR2-RIMの導入事例でいろいろ写真が出ている人のサイトです。
昨日、銀行の口座を調べたら発注額同等分が引き落とされていたので、詐欺にでもあわない限りそろそろ商品が来るはず。でも、今日も来なかった。がっくり！