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Ishan Mair

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Everything posted by Ishan Mair

  1. Done the belt mod myself. Not sure how much it improved. I guess only time will tell. How tight did you keep the belts? Please post your results in future.
  2. I think you have Dec gears too tight or there is stiction somewhere. My HEQ5 too has been plagued occasionally by such strange problems. Can't help you though as I have no idea about getting rid of it. Let's see what others opine.
  3. Imagine my horror when I got a new HEQ5 Pro, the altitude head adjustment wont work because it was too tight. I called my local dealer here in India and they said its "normal" its not supposed to move !!😒 I thought how am I supposed to polar align this thing... I searched the web and found Astrobaby's guide and loosened those three hex bolts a little...Now I can adjust it fine. Its still a bit jerky with heavy gear on it but definitely not a problem. Needless to say, in the seven years that have followed, I've never thought about buying any item from that dealer.
  4. Interesting. I took the mount apart 4 years ago. I think I did put the red washer back. Maybe I should take it apart once again and try adjusting things.
  5. There is not undercut in HEQ5 brass worm wheel. I think I didn't put grease on the worm wheel. But it could be that I polished the worm wheel too smooth while cleaning it. So now the clutch doesn't hold it. But I was swinging the axis freely so clutch was unlocked. So it can't force the axis.
  6. Of course, its not new anymore as that post was in 2014 🤣 My observation with my mount has been slightly different from almost everyone on this planet. I I notice that when I hand tighten the RA nut, the axis is way too smooth for clutch to hold it. With clutch locked with enough force (confirmed that it does not touch the stop), I can just pull a cable little bit and it would slip. Balancing is a nightmare. Now the interesting part. As I would gradually loosen the RA nut, the axis rotation becomes more and more dragged. Ultimately, when its too loose, lateral play shows up. I have tried setting the RA lock nut up in between too smooth and too dragged, but have been not been successful.
  7. If the mount is under warranty, contact the seller. I've tried something. I wouldn't say I its sorted. Frankly, I know almost nothing about how the mechanism works. So I wouldn't like to suggest anything. I'm sorry I can not help. You could try starting a similar topic. Others with knowledge will give good advice.
  8. Thanks Martin. It seems a little purple-ish. I tried a slightly more bluish one. Didn't like it as Ha regions were diminished in it.
  9. Thanks MarsG76. Funny that isn't it ?
  10. Thanks Shivam. I replied to your post on another forum as well. I ordered these from dealers like OPT or direct from ZWO website. We have to pay the usual customs and duties etc. My experience with dealers in our country has been average so far. Thank you.
  11. Thanks Mark. That's what I thought as soon as I merged the L with RGB. The pink blobs of gas were sitting right there. Thanks again Ray. I have some of those lying around. I'll put those in the next time.
  12. Thank you for the comments, Ray. Yes I agree corrector spacing is not right. I use a Baader MPCC and I used the image train arrangement as shown on ZWO website but couldn't get it right (55mm). Filter's thickness and refractive index play a role, don't they? Does the spacing need to be more or less? I have no idea.
  13. Finally, this project is completed and so is this season (I hope not)... The LRGB version of M51 is here..Took me 5 nights (1 in April and 4 in May) to image the whole thing. And very long to process. Wish to add Ha but its been cloudy since a week and a storm expected this week. Here's the Astrobin link https://www.astrobin.com/k6o2c0 I have not been able to get the star cores and colors right. Tried using HSV Repair Script in PI but to no avail. Please help me out with that. L : 220 x 60s R : 90 x 60s G : 98 x 60s B : 120 x 60s All frames at Gain 0 & Temp. -5C..while ambient stayed above 33C entire nights. Equipment Camera : ZWO ASI1600mm Pro Telescope : Skywatcher 130PDS Mount : HEQ5Pro Guiding : Orion 50mm guidescope, Orion SSAG Camera Filters: Orion LRGB Other/Accessories : ZWO FW, Pegasus Dual Motor Focuser Location : Gujarat, India. (Bortle 5) Thanks for looking.
  14. So that rules out 2 and 3 like I said. You may wish to reconsider your choice of putting the 8" f/6 tube on a mount for astrophotography. It will be a relatively more frustrating and costly way of doing it especially if its your first mount. I am not saying its impossible just quite difficult.
  15. Hi Krishnam. What would you like to do with this setup? Imaging or visual/observing? If imaging, choice no.2 and no. 3 are eliminated. The tube of 8" f/6 is simply too long and heavy for CEM40.
  16. I think it might be tracking problems but I'll be careful the next time for tilt due to focuser as well. Thanks for the tip.
  17. Thanks Mick. The stars are elongated as the tracking was poor. The RA and Dec RMS for guiding were each above 1 arc-second. So I wasn't too surprised by it. I hope now that the moon is less obstructive, RGB should come soon.
  18. Here's only L for M51 I captured two weeks ago. 220 x 60s L exposures with ASI1600mm Pro and 130PDS. Hopefully, will be better with more L and RGB data. Spent a lot of time processing it. Pretty good for my skills but the background still isn't "right". It appears blotchy and smoother than what it should have been. What do you reckon? Your tips/comments/criticism are most welcome.
  19. Thank you for the video . Gives me a chance to compare. Mine is perhaps a little more free in RA. Same as yours in Dec though. So I dont have a lot of problems balancing on Dec. May be I should disassemble RA and try again. How did you check for the "90 degree" movement for axis-shaft mentioned by @teoria_del_big_bang in this sketch in topic earlier ?
  20. Can our mounts be averaged out? That would make the both of us happy !! I would not try sanding it down more than that if does guide good in declination. My HEQ5 rarely achieves less than 1" with 130pds. Heq5 just has just one red washer so I wont have to worry about it.
  21. Thanks @masjstovel. I will watch the video series again. I will clear the surface of housing and brass-wheel when I disassemble it. Could you please shoot a video that shows how easy and smooth is rotation of axis while balancing? I hope its not too much to ask for.
  22. Masjstovel, congratulations for making progress in solving your problem. I hope you wont mind if I continue discussions for my problem in this topic as the drawing and video provide good help. To Steve... Thank you for the drawing. It did its job very well. I am sure the brass button is there. I've also adjusted the lever, it does indeed contact the RA axis spindle before it hits the stop. I must confess that I am quite surprised by what I will mention now. While you say that RA black nut should not have anything to do with axis rotation or slipping, I've noticed that if I keep the RA black nut hand tight, axis becomes very free to rotate by hand. Thus clutch/brass button cant stop the rotation of RA axis even against a small force. Is it possible that RA worm spindle (made of brass) and or housing is too smooth that brass button doesn't cause enough friction?
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