Resolved STXL-16200 and "Shutter Error"

I have one of the earlier STXT-16200 cameras and sometimes get a Shutter Error - it happens in CCDOPS and Sequence Generator Pro. When it happens, I can see the shutter move, then the error appears.

Disconnecting the camera and reconnecting almost always works. The error is random - today I'm getting it every 30 or so images and yesterday it went 150 with no problem.

Is there anything I can do to try and debug the issue?

The camera is in a remote observatory that's a 2-day drive, so I don't get there very often. Sending it in for me is a last resort - I won't be able to take pictures for several months, until I visit the observatory again.

Thanks - Eric

 

The Shutter Error has been going on for a couple years but is getting a lot worse. It used to happen once every couple weeks, maybe? Now it's up to multiple times a night.

To see the shutter move I shine a flashlight down the refractor with the Lum filter. Very easy to see.
Latest version of CCDOPS and latest drivers per Drivechecker.

I'll take the camera off and look for anything obvious. If I don't find anything I'll send it in (how do I do that?).

 

Here's the bottom of the shutter from my STXL-16200. When I loosened the top bolt and remove the shutter, these two pieces came out. There were also some small pieces of black rubber (?), similar to what the filter wheel uses to keep the filters in. The rubber didn't make a complete circle so I don't know if it was on the bottom of the shutter or was from my filter wheel.

When I put the piece on the left with ball bearings into where the screw is on the right, then put the washer on that (either way - curved side up or down), then screw it back into the camera, the shutter wobbles and one side rubs against the camera. It's as if there should be another washer or something similar to raise the shutter a tiny bit to keep it from rubbing the camera.

Couple questions:
1. Does it matter which way the washer goes on? Bent side up like a "U" or down?
2. Is there another piece that I'm missing? Possibly rubber?

If there's something missing, that could explain the intermittent nature of the problem - if the missing piece is causing the wheel to wobble, it may sometimes wobble such that the tiny magnets near the edge of the shutter are too far from the sensor so are not detected.

Eric

 

Tim,

The first picture is a closeup of the BOTTOM of the shutter, including the bolt, ball bearing device, and washer that go in the middle of the shutter.

Here's the TOP of the shutter on the camera. Ignore the blue cloth - it's to keep dust out of the camera.



Here's a closeup of the picture above. The bolt is the same on as in the original picture on the right.


The order is: 1) the ball bearing device goes in the hole on the top, balls down, then 2) you put the bolt through the hole in the ball bearing device.


If you turn the shutter over, you'll see the bolt sticking through the hole (see original picture). You put the 2nd ball bearing device in, balls down so the bolt sticks out.

I'm not sure what comes next on the bottom. The washer? Which way - bend up or bend down?
Is there another piece that goes on the bottom before screwing the bolt into the camera?

 

@Tim,

EXCELLENT! Just the info I needed. Thanks!

I'm missing the Washer (51413) on the bottom which is hopefully why the wheel wobbles.

Do you have a part number for Washer (51413) so I can buy it at a hardware store or on-line?

If not, what's the fastest way to get one from you? I'm in New Mexico.

If I get the washer from you I might as well get a new Silicone O-Ring size 2-047 (11-12322-00)

Eric

 

Thanks @Doug and @Tim. Great service.
The order arrives Monday.

 

I put on the missing washer and a new O-Ring, then used CCDOps to take 1,500 pictures and had NO errors. Yea!!!
Thanks again @Doug and @Tim.