FaDG

Ah, by the way, yesterday I had to apply urgent surgery on a friend's EQ2 (bought new with a 90 f10 achro) . He bought a motor to go with it, but the mount was totally seized, due to lack of lubrification and wrong spacing, with the RA axis bolt locked super tight and the worm pressed against the Gear. The motor would have stripped its reducer within one minute. So we thought kinda, what the heck, no reason for shipping it back, as they'd anyway not spend the same time and care we could: so now it's buttery smooth and yet firm. But what if he didn't ask for advice? Fabio

Hi Alan, what a huge effort on the small EQ. Did you notice that your tripod legs are EXACTLY the same as those of my EQ1, clamp included? The design of the new EQ1s is a shame, they really didn't even think of the basics, just some anodization to attract people.

That's wonderful. Are you just aiming at visual or also short focal length photo?

For sure I can understand your position. As @vlaiv wrote, upgrading a foc is an operation a lot of people choose to do anyway. On my side I'd try to look at an opportunity: if you can reach focus, you can star test the scope and, based on this, choose to keep anyway if the optics are really top Class, and agree with them that they provider remote support for the focuser replacement (eventually you could propose to pay half the cost for an upgrade to a feathertouch, if applicabile) Else, you insist on a full replacement. Fabio

Yes, sorry I had the EQ5 in mind. For the HEQ5, those three screws only Lock the worm structure in place, they do not set the distance (which is what originates the backlash). So you have to loosen them, and then play with other two small Allen screws in the side to increase/reduce the distance of the worm wheel to the Gear. Look on astrobaby's tutorial, where this is explained.

Question 1: the screws act in a push-pull way, first release the Central one to get the System free, tighten the external ones to reduce play. When you feel that the axis still moves without stress but the backlash is acceptable, tighten up the third one. Caution : the two external screws shall be balance, or you'll turn the block on a side. Operate in an iterative way, until you're convinced that you have it "just right". Second question: the way to feel for backlash and smoothness is by turning the axis as mentioned above. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating (especially in dec) ; and this you can only get at night.

I didn't mean that the guy will show up phisically at his place... ? But TS may need to send photographic evidence, and possibly details as per insurer's request. Anyway, knowing that the parcel had insurance is reassuring, isn't it? ? What i feel strange is that from @parallaxerr pics, the focusser seemed damaged DESPITE the external envelope being intact. I think this is what TS shall sort out. Anyway, we'll see, and I wish him everything turns out the best. Fabio

I might be optimistic, but what they're writing is that they'll have it sorted out, but they need to provide evidence of the mishandling by the courier if any. If not, I hope they'll manage it directly on their side. Good luck

I got to use a CG3 (EQ2 equivalent) sold with an Astromaster 130 newt, a few years back. It has the same new look as your CG2 but it also had a BIG design flaw: the saddle is not centered on the axis (your seems to be), thus balancing the relatively heavy 130 just wasn't possible. Are you planning to add a small motor on it?

The suggestion to fill the legs with Sand is actually aimed at increasing the weight and reducing the centre of mass when loaded. Can't imagine the benefit of the foam: maybe reduce vibrations?

3D printing a support to keep it blocked while in use?

He, he... I wrote: "some of its elements". Actually only the Gear and worm wheel (which has a measured PA of about 150arcsec! ?). Not completed yet, so I don't know if I can get anything usable out of it. But I'm trying to convert it to an astro tracker. If I succeed you'll find some info in the DYI section. Else, only some time lost. Fabio

Only tripod still available. The head (an old japanese model, even without elevation screw and bolts to fix a motor) has been dismantled and I'm reusing some of its elements in another Project. But the tripod is really sturdy and ideale for the Star Adventurer. No small photo tripod goes even close to this for its stability. Here is a pic.

Have you asked FLO directly for support?

Hi Ags. Are you referring to the scope?

Yes, yes, I know. A friend of mine had one of these 130 (1000 fl, i think) on the equivalent of a Lidl mount (Bresser skylux), and it was already undermounted: in fact it broke after some time. The barlow-like doublet is used to keep the tube short and yet extracts the focus. I'll be interested in your opinion on the scope, let me know! And yes, for your 600 f12 the EQ-1 will just be fine! ? What I dislike is the choice of proposing it to newbies saving on the mount, with the result of frustrating them out of the hobby. Ah, I forgot: i have one of these EQ1 myself, which i bought for its wooden tripod. The head was close to useless, but I'm trying ti get something out of it anyway. If i succeed I'll let you know!

... A further reason is included in your first pic... A 127 newt on an EQ1? REALLY? ? Manufacturers have the use of undermounting their scope, but this is extreme even visually. If used visually with a very small scope, it makes sense and allows one-handed following of the sky rotation. But if proposed for imaging or to hold a heavy or long focal scope well, it's the recipe for frustration. Fabio

Here you are, before frost covered everything except the two lenses which were equipped with the (dew) heaters.

But then you will know, as PHD will display increasingly larger corrections in its graph, until finally formally complaining that "Due to the max RA/DEC duration setting it can't compensate the Drift". Yet, in the images the OP posted in the previous page, when guiding the graph remained nicely flat, and the drift was only in the unguided ones. Again, this rather points to flexure. Fabio

Then, no way it can show up in images, even extremely long ones. You'll have to look elsewhere, i fear.

You're basically right: if guiding, huge PA shows up as field rotation around your guide star, and if it's quite far from the centre of the FOV it could seem drift. If unguided, PA misalignment induces mostly Dec drift and a slight RA drift. BUT, misalignment needs to be quite hefty to show up like that, a small amount is often kept to ensure consistent dec guiding without backlash. Well, for us mortals, anyway... I never used a Mesu! ? ? ?

Maybe just a Simple test before passing to something more complicated: do you have another (less heavy) scope, or can you borrow one? If issue still there it would point to mount/saddle plate, otherwise definitely to the scope or scope/camera interface. Fabio

The answer is: it depends. As others wrote, the exos2 is basically an EQ5 with... basically the same Level of performance of an EQ5! So, it could be used up to a 6" newton (barely) or an 80mm ED, with lightweight guiding gear. But general consensus around is that it's soo much easier to use an HEQ5 (same as Orion Sirius) with the same kind of ota and get better results. Don't look At a 8" Scope, though. Disregard manufacturers' claims on payload rating. A good rule of thumb is that your gear (FULL GEAR, including imaging camera, guidescope and guidecam) shouldn't exceed 50%-60% of the rated value. Yes, i've also heard several people complaining of the AVX, which is same Class as The EQ5: I don't know if everything has been fixed recently, but it was regarded as a slightly complex mount, sometimes temperamental.... Maybe someone owning it may correct. But for the polar Scope the claim is that it's not needed thanks to the assisted polar alignment routine: the new HEQ5 firmware has this function too, yet i prefer to use the polarscope. I have not checked: does the EXOS2 GT have an ST4 autiguiding input? Basically you can forget serious (Long exposure) astrophotography unguided So, it depends: if you want to start on a budget you May get some results with an EQ5 Class mount, but my advise would be to look for a used HEQ5 /Sirius in good shape and apply the Rowan belt mod to increase accuracy and remove backlash, while making it much less noisy. Fabio

Here the pic

Hi Tim, looking at your image, the centre of the curvature seems to be about 75% right on the horizontal and 1/3 up. Form the star shapes I'd say that you have a slight tilt and specifically that your left side has less backfocus from the flattener than the right one: so I'd shim on the left side, a bit downward from the centre. This looking at your data, then I don't know if your specific sensor swaps right/left and up/down.