Dan13

Hi, I'm really struggling with mine atm but I've noticed you say "free enough" . I have the ra axis free spinning in ever direction except one part when its not exactly stiff and its more of movement to turn. Does this need to be conpleltley free? As in when the clutch is off? I ask becusse I'm certain everything else seems to move fine ( belt cog and ra when clutch is on) but there is a little stiffness when the clutch is off at a certain point, is this acceptable? Many thanks

No worries Billy. Its about 16, here and goes to about 12-13 through the night atm. I am really really really struggling with the worm adjustments! Just said to my wife, this has to be the single most frustrating thing I've ever done! I've been going at it 2 days now! I get to a point where the belt cog spins nicely and there's no rattle but there's always....always a slight bit of stiffness some where! Any advise would be greatly appreciated Dan

thanks billy, tbh its in my conservatory with both doors open and wind blowing in, dont think the temp is too my different to what it is now. i know it drops over night but i guess thats something ill have to deal with then, there no way im trying to do this for the first time in the dark

Hi , thanks, the clutch doesnt seem to be my issue, ive just noticed while taking it apart again that the brass square block that the bottom grub screw hits was actually off centre, also my washer was a little too big and now it runs more freely. i will attempt it again later with another clear head.

Thank you, you have given me something to go on, the thing thats frustrating me is that i get it to a point where the head doesnt have any play and i can also rotate the dec head by moving the belt cog by hand, but when i move the RA head its stiff! i cant get my head round how the worm effects the RA head when you release the clutch, it doesn't make sense to me?!

Seems to work OK but having massive issues with the worm adjustment! Been at it 4 hours and about to throw the mount out the window!

Hi did you ever figure this out? I have the exact same issue...

I'm struggling so hard with this and it's driving me nuts!! I get it so the head has no wobble. I can also turn the belt cog and the dec will move nicely but when I try to kove the dec head by hand its stiff and binding! I've tried every thing please help! 😒

This is great to hear! Thank you, just cut it now and tbh looks great! Fingers crossed

I'm going to give it a go! Can't be worse then not having one surely?! Then ill order the rother valley ones tomorrow

Thanks dave, rother valley do them but its all greased up ready to go now! I spoke to a mate who said his didnt have one either and he cut out a mill carton and used that! Will have to order from rother Valley

Hi everyone things have gone so smooth with the strip down and bearing repalcement but I've just come to put the dec axis back on the housing and see in the astro baby guide it mentions a clear washer on top of the brass worm gear. I don't have this at all and every single tiny piece has been boxed and labelled from the moment I took it apart. Question is, astro baby guide was wirh an old heq5 ( black) has anyone thats done there white newer counterpart found they also didn't have a clear washer? I have both red but no clear. If it must be there and I don't have it does anyone know what type and where I can buy it please. Many thanks Dan

hi did you find the "clear washer" thats mentioned ? The one asteo baby says sits on top of the brass wirm gear. I have the two red ones but def can't find this clear one and now starting to worry

hi Billy I've just purchased your recommendations, can I ask if I need to grease the bearings on arrival or are they already greased? Many thanks

Great news Peter! In a way anyway... yes I intend to keep them particular terth the opposite end to the worm gear and hopefully I'll barely go near them. My wide is a nail technician so may let her loose with them 😄 Just got the RA one off now and looks fine so could have been me! One thing that's troubling me about putting back together is the worm gear adjustment at the end, I can't find a video on it and I definitely observe more with video then writing! Clear skies

I'm not certain but I have a feeling thinking about it now that I may have done this when stripping down but cant be sure. I think I may have been taking a bit a part but found with that section intact it was easier so tightend up the worm gears again so maybe there weren't alligned properly?! Its a HEQ5 pro. To my knowledge with this mount unfortunately I don't think you can watch the gears mating as its housed I csnt be sure but I rekon if I made that part the top part I don't think while guiding it will reach that bit much, I could be wrong. They do still seem to sit flush still and bind as the depth of the teeth is still there. If it really does cause problems I might just have to buy another and replace....

Hi I hope this is the right sub, I had some strange stiffness in the Dec axis of late so I'm currently going through a strip down and have bearings coming tomorrow. I've noticed on 10 of the teeth on the wrom gear seem to be flattened, could this have been my issue or will it be OK to pop back in? Could I lightly file them? I'm guessing most of the time the dec axis only move left to right but not by a hell of a lot when guiding so was thinking maybe sit that part of the worm up the top away from the worm gear if all else fails? Many thanks

Thank you ill get the 224 i think as thats what I've been mainly looking at. Yes im really enjoying the 294 its great. Best Dan

Thank you, that's really helpful that you have both that I'm looking at. Would you say you would prefer the match with the 224 more or the 290 for planetary?

Hi Thank you, that was the first place i tried before coming here but it says its ok for good seeing but not so for poor or ok seeing. Same with the 120 and the 224 but i know people that use these all the time so not sure how good a calculator it actually is? thanks again

Hi, Im not great with the numbers and currently image with my frac, ive purchased a 127mak for viewing and would like to image with this now as well. I have a 120mms but want colour, i do have a 294mc pro but not sure if this will work with the mak well for planetary? my last question is would the 290mc work ok with the mak? many thanks for any advice dan

ok thank you, maybe ill tone it down a little. im just really not happy with the final stack. it doesn't look clean to me and looks messy! not the sort of image im happy with. I had some guiding issues that night so maybe effected some resolution?! could i send you the final stack to look at and see what your thoughts are?

Thanks Vlaiv, i guess im just starting to really understand the histogram and wanted to check im doing things right. for instance... I took a test shot and my histogram was clipped to the right so i moved up to offset 30 and it moved the hist quite far in but looked ok. ive drawn a pic (dont laugh!) should i aim for the histogram here??

Thank you. I ran a sensor analysis and it suggested 118 was best for gain. Maybe I'll try 120 or some even use 129/139. Moon wasnt out till later but I had an L enhanced filter in anyways. Im going to try 120 and adjust offset accordingly... How far away should you keep the histogram from clipping to the right? I think I might of been bit to hasty and could of probably used offset of 15

did you sort this Anthony? i also have that stiffness in a certain position with my HEQ5