Thalestris24

Hi If you don't seem to be getting anywhere then maybe try doing what I did i.e. take the bottom cover off and look at the motor gears to see how much backlash there might be. The gears drive the worm which drives the main RA gear. So you can't easily tell whether you have motor drive backlash except by looking. I was thinking that motor gear backlash may not be too obvious except in the first sub of a run since any slack will be taken up thereafter as the RA only goes in one direction - unless you are stop starting a lot and/or guiding. Any apparent mechanical play you can feel in RA is going to be linked to the worm gear rather than the motor gear. However, I'd advise against adjusting the worm drive unless you feel you absolutely have to. That's because you can't really judge whether it's right or not so once you change it you could be into a lot of trial and error! Good luck! Louise

Hi Um, I wasn't going to bother. I don't think it needs much and there's probably enough still there. I have to do a small electronics mod (adding a 2.1mm socket for 5V). Then I'll put it all back together and give it a test Louise ps will finish it tomorrow

I did the motor adjustment ok. Had a go at adjusting the worm but that was not a very positive adjust - it seems worm drives never are!

I have a Samyang 500mm (cheap!) in a box... There's nothing wrong with it as such but I found it really difficult to focus. Any tips?? Louise

Thanks for the mention! Further down in the above thread I posted images of how to disassemble the SA in order to get at the motor gears in order to adjust the backlash . It would have been a great help if SW had included a 'porthole' that would have allowed access to the second motor screw thus facilitating motor adjustment without having to undo everything. I'm tempted to drill a hole in the body that would do the job! My SA is out of warranty so no worries on that score Oh, worm drive adjustment is 'easy' since it's just the silver hex bolt visible on the time lapse switch side after removing the bottom cover. Louise

Ok - I figured it out! Wasn't difficult... Anyway, you just need to take off the Dovetail holder, then the RA mechanism, then undo 2 hex bolts et voila! 1) Taking the dovetail holder off reveals 4 hex bolts 2) Then the RA clutch mechanism and gear comes off. Then just undo the two hex bolts under the polarscope. One of them was very tight on mine! 3) Hopefully, I 'll be able to adjust the backlash now. Will it ever work well? We'll see. Louise

Thanks - no help at all! I'm sure someone must have had a go? Louise

Thanks though I'm not about to fork out any money on it!

Hi I'm looking at my old SA with a view to maybe resurrecting it... It has never worked properly - at least, not to my satisfaction... Has anyone ever stripped out the block that holds the motor and gears? I can't see an easy way of doing it (I'm probably missing something obvious). There seems to be quite a bit of backlash in the motor gears which I reckon could be minimised. I made a quick video I have a sneaky suspicion that I'll have to undo the polarscope in order to remove the motor + gears en bloc? Thanks for any help Louise

That's one of my main dislikes of Linux - too many different versions, flavours and 'dialects', as it were! Though the basic os is pretty reliable. Otoh I get fed up with the Win 10 updates and the tendency for things to not properly work after an update. Can't win... Louise

I seem to recall there was tons of room on my RPi3 with just a 16Gb sd card. You can always have a bigger card (32 or 64gb) though you only need enough room for 1 sesh anyway cos you can just transfer images to your main pc/laptop Louise

It worked ok The idea was for it to be easily portable for little, weak me! I was going to have a 12v battery-powered dslr, the RPI3 and the mount, also battery powered. I'm sure it would have been fine. I even bought a bike trailer to put it all in. I was going to put everything in the trailer and hopefully be able to take the kit downstairs. But I found the trailer on it's own was too heavy for me to get up and down the stairs - so end of another bright idea As I say, I might revisit it if the mood takes me. Louise

You can always run Linux from a usb stick: https://www.pendrivelinux.com/ (I guess you'd need a computer that will allow booting from usb). I've never tried it and not sure if it has any limitations (other than you'd expect from a usb stick) but I might have a go one day. I'm terrible with projects - I frequently pick them up one day then lose interest after a while - tut! I set up a Linux system on an RPI3 at the beginning of the year. Got it going with PHD but somehow drifted away from it. The aim was to get a low electrical power portable standalone system based on the eq3 pro that I'd bought. But I've never got the eq3 out of the flat. Maybe I'll revisit it one day. Louise Edit: apologies to Spillage who already posted a different link re usb Linux

Sorry, I've not read through all of this topic (it's late), but I was thinking that since Win 10 now supports a Linux partition (can dual boot) then there's no need to completely migrate? Louise

Yes, the setting circle is useless - time they stopped even including it! Best advice is to leave it loose permanently. Adjusting the worm gear is very tricky - just tiny movements and can take a number of iterations to get just right. Hopefully, you won't have any further problems now. Louise

Hi What is the history of this problem? Presumably it hasn't always been present - had you adjusted anything prior to the judder showing up? What kit do you have loaded? It may just need some adjustment such as the worm gear - see Astrobaby's wonderful maintenance guide: http://www.astro-baby.com/heq5-rebuild/heq5-we1.htm Louise

I built my one about 25 years ago. Of course I was fitter and stronger then, lol. Even so, I cheated a bit as I made use of two existing low walls on one side of a paved area. So I just had to add two more walls. I think they were only about 18" high and I used a sheet-type pond liner. I loved it when it was done and I really miss having a house and garden ?. Mind you don't do yourself an injury, Gina! Louise

That looks like hard labour, Gina! Louise

I built a pond once (back in the days when I used to own a property...). It was a raised pond about 9' square. I used to love sitting by it with the cats and watching the fish. Happy days. Louise

I just happened to have a 'spare' heq5 tripod as I put the heq5 mount on a pedestal. Otherwise I might have made do with the supplied eq3 pro aluminium tripod though it seemed a bit too lightweight to me. Louise

Hmm… there are lots of factors that determine fwhm. Clearly, the heq5 is bigger, stronger, better and has better stepper motors. The eq3 has a low payload - ~5kg, I think, for imaging. But, certainly, with an heq5 tripod it seems to perform quite well. I probably wouldn't use it with more than about 500mm focal length. But it's portable, even with the heq5 tripod. The eq5 is the mount in between the two in terms of payload. It all depends what your looking for and how you're going to use it. Louise

The heq5 is superior to the eq3 pro in every way - except price and portability! The eq3 pro on an heq5 tripod seems quite good Louise

If I'm brutally honest to myself, I think I've probably wasted my money Although I'll probably get the odd clear night or two over the course of a year, it's not enough to be able to justify the expense of several imaging setups. Especially not when you add in the increasing light pollution. I think I must be a masochist. Hey ho. Louise

Hi Lars One possible treatment (if not cure) is to fit a motor focuser. Apart from being very useful in themselves, they hold focus tubes tight Louise

Here's Astrobaby's wonderful heq5 strip down and adjustment guide HTH Louise