Belt Drive System

The Belt Drive System is a technology designed for the astroimaging field based on timing belt transmission.

No Peaks, No Play, No Backlash, No Maintenance

The project was born from the passion for astronomy, astroimaging and mechanics, it's aims is the maxmimum performance, overcoming of all usual issues coming from the traditional gear-worms mounts that every astroimager knows as: peaks, play, backlash, maintenance.

Total reliability project

The Belt Driven System give to Avalon Instruments mounts great reliability: the mounts are silent, steady, accurated. Assuming a good polar alignment, setting up accurate guide parameters on depending on the setup specs, the mounts provide the ortogonal calibration and subpixels tracking necessary to obtain well tracked images and well rounded stars.

Why we choosed timing belt system

This system is based on four stage reduction timing belts. The medium PE of the four pulleys it is about +/- 7 arcsec per two minute, on depending on the 4 stage reduction pulley.

This PE is large, gradually and smooth, inconsequential when guiding with autoguiding softwares or autoguider.

The benefits that comes with this exclusive system are very interesting: high performance in tracking even at high focal lengths and in any position of the mount, smooth movement without sudden peaks, due to the overcome of the gear-worms typical backlash. Furthermore, the belts and pulley doesn't require grease, oil or other kinds of lubricants. This mean that the mount is maintenance free.

In the classical gear and worm systems there is only one contact point between the two mechanical organs. In this conditions the draft arms and the stress produced in the mount-telescope system generate little non-linear in the movement transmission visible as a micro-moves in the images.

This micro-moves are proportional to the focal lenght of the telescope: the longer is the focal lenght, the bigger are the micro-moves.

In the Belt Drive System the belt pledge arch pulley goes tipically from 50% to 90% circumference of the tramsission wheels, so the movement are conveyd from a timing belt: slow and accurate, gradually and regulary, without peaks or increase/decrease that gear and worm system meet often, producing noising "moved" on the long exposure pictures, even if driven by efficient autoguide system.

As it known, often autoguide are not enough quick to fully offset tipical problems of gear and worm system.

Happen often - and almost every expert astroimager knows - to obtain moved pictures even with gear and worm system with limitated tracking errors with modern and well calibrated auto-guide system.

Always well tracked pictures

Since the first tests with the prototypes Avalon-Instruments mounts provided excellent performance and well tracked pictures even with long exposure.

On the other hand, in visual mode at high zoom, amaze the low noise, the quick damping vibrations, the total absence of play and backlash and the immediate and smooth response to the electric commands, without plays and shakes even when the mount has high charges.

No maintenance, zero adjustment

Another timing belt benefit is that they don't need lubrification. Thanks to the tensioner the system doesn’t produce plays when is charged.