Recently my STLX 11002, 3 years old, has developed shutter problems. Not every time, but one time out of 3 ... 5, the exposure is not taken or the shutter edge appears in the field of view. When the camera is controlled by MaxIm DL6, I get "camera error" messages after many errors, and the camera needs to be stopped and restarted. When the camera is controlled with CCDOps, I get a "shutter error" message. The problem may, or may not, be related to a significant maintenance I did on my camera a few days before encountering the problem. My flats were showing a little piece of dirt located directly on the CCD, not on the window of the CCD as usually. No idea how this little piece of dirt could have arrived there. So I undertook to open the CCD enclosure to blow away this little dust piece. To access the CCD enclosure, I took away the shutter assembly, attached by 3 little screws to the CCD enclosure. I also unplugged two shutter cables. I guess one for the motor and one for the sensor. I reassembled in the reverse order, and I think that my camera was back in normal operation after. But I cannot rule out a relation between my dissasembling the shutter assembly, and the shutter assembly failing not long after. Now here are my question: 1) do you have an hypothesis after reading my description of the issue? 2) do you have a suggestion about something I could do to solve the problem? 3) I am in Europe and you are in USA. Is there someone in Europe able to service SBIG STLX 11002 cameras? 4) If you think that it is the mechanical shutter assembly, or the shutter sensor which is defective, can you sell me and send me spare parts that I could reinstall myself? 5) I hate the idea of sending back my camera to USA, but do you think it is the better solution? Friendly regards Yves
No telling what the problem could be considering it has been disassembled. As unpleasant as it may seem, I'd recommend sending it in. -Bill
Hi Doug, hi Bill, After discussing with Bill, and exchanging pictures, it seems that replacing the complete shutter assembly would be a reasonable option. I asked Bill if he could send me this sub-assembly (against payment of course) , but he tells me that he cannot offer me this assembly, and that I should contact Diffraction Limited / SBIG about buying this assembly. So this is my request to Diffraction Limited / SBIG: can you sell me a complete shutter assembly for a STLX 11002, as illustrated in the attached picture? Is there another place to present my request? Friendly regards Yves
Yes Bill would not have the parts. We would have to build you one here in Ottawa. We'll look into this and get back to you.
