During my maintenance stay in September/October 2025, I planned to document the progress of the repairs and improvements in a three-image mosaic of the Veil Nebula, NGC 6960.
The northern third was still taken with the jerky focuser and the unresolved problem of vibrations in declination.
I was able to image the middle third with the cleaned focuser and focusing motor running smoothly again: Autofocus under NINA finally delivered reproducible focus results again.
The southern third could then be imaged with a repaired declination axis: During the installation of the AstroPhysics mount, I had routed the Y-cable that supplies the declination motor with power and control pulses incorrectly. As a result, it was frequently under enormous tension. Additionally, it was often pinched between the right ascension motor and the mount body - which did not contribute to stable guiding either. Above all, this fluctuating stress - likely combined with the enormous temperature variations in Extremadura - loosened the mounting screws of the gearbox, including the declination motor and worm, over the course of a year. As a result, even the slightest breeze could cause the long tube protruding from the roof to wobble. After correctly routing the Y-cable and adjusting and securing the gearbox according to an AstroPhysics guide, the mount ran smoothly again without any wobble.
Despite the differences in handling and performance of the mount, the effects on the triple mosaic are barely noticeable.