RE: [ATM] Flex Rocker Question

["Peter" <peter@kitgear.com>]

John,

I like your approach! Quite innovative.

How would you protect the strip against dust, dew and mechanical damage? You
will need to design some sort of protection. Please share those ideas as
well.


Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: atm-bounces@atmlist.net [mailto:atm-bounces@atmlist.net]On Behalf
Of john sherman
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 3:32 PM
To: atm@atmlist.net
Subject: Re: [ATM] Flex Rocker Question



Hi Chuck,

>What is a strip reader and encoder strip?

I went to US Digital <www.usdigital.com> and did a search on "strip". Here
is one of the pages I got to http://www.usdigital.com/products/lin/  It
shows a picture of a strip which appears to be a series of bulls-eyes. US
Digital makes the encoders used by some of the commercial DSC units, so
these things should be immediately compatible (you'd have to adjust the
number in the DSC unit).

A strip is a long skinny piece of plastic with alternating reflectors on one
side (red and white, for example). The reader shines a light on the strip,
and as you move the scope the light "flashes". Each flash is read as a
certain amount of movement. I think the regular encoders have the reflectors
lined up on the outside of a disc, with the reader built in. So imagine
separating the two functions into separate units.

In our case, I'd want to line the inside of the groundring with a strip, and
mount the reader to the underside of the rocker (to measure AZ). This
arrangement should allow you to mount your scope arbitrarily close to the
ground. If you're not careful, your mirror box can be made so low as to hit
the ground.

If you go this route, please post your experience. I'd really like to know
how it works out. Thanks,

John






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