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What to fill your tripod legs with......


evansj2000

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:D

Well I tried out the scope with a 9.7mm eyepiece and the vibrations dampened down

to between 3.5 - 5.5 seconds, typically 4 seconds. This is as compared to 8-10 seonds.

Even kicking the mount only gave a 4.5 second vibration.

The modifications were:-

1) Removing the little spike on the pillar which was about 1.5mm too tall for the Giro 2 mount

2) Filling the legs with sand.

3) Filling and sealing the top inch or so of the tripod legs with expanding foam

4) Adding a sand bag to 3/4 fill the pillar

5) Locking the legs into position permanently.

The sand completely stopped the ringing....My guess is that the ringing, which was well over 1000 hz had, as you would, expect subharmonics that could account for the low frequency vibrations.

By removing the ringing sound, which I suspect was the tripod's legs natural frequency, I also removed the subharmonic guilty of propergating the vibration.

Interesting the weight increased but didn't really change the way I carried the tripod, it even

assisted when closing up the tripod legs.

The next modifications are going to be antivibration pads and replacing the rubber feet which

are wearing through to the metal underneath.

Many thanks for everyones input

Please...Please....Please feel free to add any other suggestions, or comments

Jase

:D

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Hi Steve,

I think the tripod is an old EQ5 one with 1.5" Steel tubular legs,

Hi Gordon,

I repainted the mount and the extra paint width in the bracket that accept the tripod leg

onto the main mount is helping with rigidity....I'll try and tighten up the legs a bit more

now I know that this might help. The mount is a Giro 2 Mount and it seems very rigid

and well made.....I wonder if it is better to have the counter weights closer to the mount

or further away????? The only observation I've noticed is the further the weights are

from the centre the easier and smoother the mount is to move.....but too far makes it shoot round like a merry go round if you have the misfortune to sneeze! But if the weights are too close then the movement bucomes sticated.....probably the wrong word.....jerky may be better.

:D

The obvious problem I have is that the refractor is a 1200mm 6" "yard canon", so the slightest

touch on the eye piece is like touching the end of a lever...any force is multiplied by the distance

to the pivot,,,sorry the mount....Any Ideas here......

:shock:

Jase.....

Keep the ideas rolling.....as these ideas probably have an influence on most setups and this thread seems to have been read a fair few times.

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The obvious problem I have is that the refractor is a 1200mm 6" "yard canon", so the slightest

touch on the eye piece is like touching the end of a lever...any force is multiplied by the distance

to the pivot,,,sorry the mount....Any Ideas here......

Is the Scope balanced properly?

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I used to use an EQ5 on a wooden Tal Trpod, one word - superb, rock solid and any vibrations wwere quickly damped out, once I get my HEQ6 sorted and behaving properly I'm gonna make some wood legs for it to sit on.

Alan - (Bsc) Bronze swimming certificate :D

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I used to use an EQ5 on a wooden Tal Trpod, one word - superb, rock solid and any vibrations were quickly damped out...

Did you have to adapt the tripod head for the EQ5?

Alan - (Bsc) Bronze swimming certificate :D

Show off :D

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:shock:

Hi all

I'm hopefully recieving some 2nd hand antivibration pads by Friday

from a guy called Richard. (starcase website).

I'll report back as to their effectivness.

Jase

:D

I got the the Anti Vibration Pads through today from Rich In Sussex

(Many Thanks Rich if you read this)

The previous vibrations before this were around 3.5 - 5 seconds with an average

of 4 seconds.

With The PADs on and tighting up the legs still further...

the vibrations reduced to 2.5 - 3 Seconds

Even giving the legs a good kick it only vibrated for 3 seconds.

(an improvement of 1-2 seconds)

So all in all thanks to your help I reduced the vibration from

10 to as low as 2.5 seconds

Nice One

Clear Skies and please...please please post any further ideas to

improve the mount

Jase

:sunny:

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Great news Jase. 2.5 seconds isn't that bad. I doubt you'll get much lower with a long refractor. One last thing you can try is the increase the tension on the mount head in the azimuth. Although saying that the very last thing you can try is a different tripod. Pretty much ANY wooden tripod will work better than a steel tripod. I've seen the TAL tripod for as low as £69, but that mount head is wrong for your giro2 mount. Another possibility is to see if you can get a CG5 2" steel tripod. Might be a little more stable.

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