Orion STARBLAST 6/6I - Manual (Page 8)

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baseplate. Make sure the short nylon bushing seats up
into the hole.
Now temporarily place a piece of duct tape, masking
7.
tape, or packing tape over the head of the azimuth axis
bolt (
Figure 8). This will keep the bolt from sliding down
as you install the top baseplate, which you will do in step
10.
Place the azimuth encoder disk, flat side down, over the
8.
azimuth axis bolt and rest it on the bottom baseplate.
Make sure you’ve got the correct encoder disk! The
azimuth encoder disk has a smaller center hole than the
altitude encoder disk.
Place the brass bushing onto the azimuth axis bolt so
9.
that the wide end of the bushing is closest to the encoder
disk. Seat the bushing onto the encoder disk so that the
registration feature on the bushing goes into the hole in
the encoder disk. You may need to move the encoder
disk around on the azimuth axis bolt a bit for the bushing
to seat properly.
Note that for the IntelliScope version (#27126) of this tele-
scope, you will not need the long nylon azimuth bushing and
Teflon bearing disk that you removed during the baseplate
disassembly (
Figure 4). Those parts are only utilized for the
non-IntelliScope version of the StarBlast 6 (#9926).
Carefully position the top baseplate over the bottom 10.
baseplate and lower it so the brass bushing goes up into
the center hole of the top baseplate. Place the remaining
fender washer onto the shaft of the azimuth axis bolt,
then thread the hex lock nut onto the end of the bolt and
tighten it only finger tight, for now. Note that the brass
bushing protrudes slightly above the surface of the top
baseplate. This is by design.
Tilt the assembled base at a slight angle (as little as
11.
possible) and remove the tape from underneath the
bottom baseplate. Now, with one wrench (or pliers) hold
the head of the azimuth axis screw still while turning the
hex lock nut with the other wrench (
Figure 9). Tighten the
hex lock nut just until the top fender washer is no longer
loose, then tighten the hex nut 3/16 to 1/4 turn beyond
that. This ensures proper spacing between the encoder
disk and the azimuth encoder board.
Attach the encoder connector board to the side panel.
12.
Place a wood screw into each of the four holes of the
connector board and then a washer onto each screw.
Sliding the washers all the way down on the screw
shaft should help keep the screws from falling out while
installing the board. Still, the installation may take a bit
of dexterity, so don’t get frustrated if it takes a couple
tries. Align the screw tips with the four pre-drilled holes
in the side panel so that the modular jack fits into the
rectangular cutout. Then thread the screws into the holes
with a screwdriver. See
Figure 10.
Figure 8. Placing a piece of duct, masking, or packing tape
over the hex head of the azimuth axis bolt will keep it from
dropping downward when you replace the top baseplate onto
the bottom baseplate.
Figure 9. To reassemble the baseplates, tilt them only
slightly, as shown. Do not place them on their side. Use
one wrench to hold the azimuth axis bolt head steady while
turning the hex lock nut with the other wrench.
Under side
of bottom
baseplate
Head of azimuth axis bolt
(and fender washer)
Tape