Penguin

Had a bit more of a fiddle. Much happier now. I think it's ready to do back on the pier. Massive thanks for all you help! Telescope mount 3.mp4

Loosened it a touch and it seemed slightly better but not to anything like the Dec. I might have a bit more of a fiddle.

Hopefully this video will upload... Dec is lovely, smooth and free and I've got rid of most of the backlash (I'm not guiding so hopefully it shouldn't matter) RA was a bit of a mare: I'd stopped referring to videos for each step so of course I missed a bit: the top bearing! Took it apart again and got the bearing in after a bit of persuasion. Again, I've got rid of most of the backlash but as you can see from the video, it's still very stiff, though I think it is better than it was before I started this whole adventure. Any further ideas on the RA or is this acceptable for this kind of mount? shotchut art.mp4

Thanks so much for all this help. I did move it to where it was binding and loosened it off and now it runs smoothly all round in both directions. I think I understand what to do now and I will tighten it up to minimise the backlash at its tightest point. You are probably right that it has always been like this but I have not really noticed before now.

Ok, so if it is that the RA main gear (do you mean the worm gear?) is slightly eccentric, what can I do there? Reseat it? It seems to be binding at the same point every time (at least when going clockwise), with the scope down so not an area it will be in very often. I haven't done the belt mod and I'm not guiding so I appreciate backlash shouldn't be a massive issue for me. Thinking about it, I am noticing, as @teoria_del_big_bang said, I can feel more backlash in some positions than in others. I'll see where the least backlash is and whether that correlates with the binding. Dec seems to be fine, nice and smooth, no obvious backlash and no binding anywhere in the rotation.

Ok, so I've taken it apart, cleaned of the old black grease, replaced the bearings, regreased and re-assembled. No detectable backlash on Dec and that rotates smoothly, but I have what seems o me to be binding in RA even with significant backlash (horrible grinding noises at parts of the rotation and the the axis judders at those points). Do I re-do the RA axis? something else?

Thanks, that's exactly what I was hoping you would say. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new grease now.

So, I've stripped it all down (both axis) and degreased everything (except the bearings, I was going to replace them). The grease was thick, goopy and black. New grease is on order. I have replacement bearings but I don't know what they should feel like: they seem if anything a little bit stiffer than the ones I have taken out. I took all the grease out of one of the old ones and it spins much more freely. Should I degrease and re-grease the new ones with the lithium grease once it arrives? Should the bearing s spin freely? I'd imagine that packed with grease they would have some resistance but I really don't know. can anyone advise?

Fantastic walk through, thank you. I am very tempted to try this myself now.

Just watched the walkthrough by Martin's Astrophotography and this does look eminently do-able. With the age and fact that it has not been serviced probably ever, I think it would be worth replacing the bearings, which will cost about £70, so with the belt mod that's around £200 in parts. On the other hand he is also referencing DarkFrame Optics. They do seem to be the go-to guys for mount tuning so I am wondering if they just had an off period for a while. It's a quandry as there is also a lot to be said for the learning experience of doing it myself.

Hmm, ok, interesting experiences some have had. I will ponder on this.

That sounds ominous! I'll try later this evening. Can anyone recommend other suppliers in case my googling puts me off?

Thanks for all the suggestions guys and I was just on DarkFrameOptics site, looking at the belt modification which I thought I might as well do at the same time, when I saw their tuning service: https://www.darkframeoptics.com/StellarDrive__5_Mount/p2013568_19207915.aspx They'll collect it, strip it down, de-grease, replace worn bits and upgrade others, re-grease, add the belt drive modification, put it all back together, test and return it to me. Considering I bought it 2nd hand several years ago and have never serviced it, it might be worth the cost to have someone experienced give it the full works. Any opinions?

I'd thought of number 2 and the option of a longer grub/bolt if there's enough thread left but the other options are new to me, thanks. When I do strip it down, what grease to I use when putting it together?

Thanks, all. Yes, I am certainly not using it till I have it sorted out. I bought it second hand around 7 years ago. I am reasonably happy to strip it down using Astrobaby's guide but I'll wait to see if anyone from my club can help first. I also strongly suspect a stripped housing since, as you say, the grub screw looks ok. Alistair.

Thanks. Situation now though is that it is either binding or skipping and I can't adjust it! I think it is skipping as when I move east/west, or track, it gives me a regular clicking. I've turned it all off and I fear I will need to strip it down to find out why the lower grub is spinning so that I can then do the adjustment I originally intended. Not happy! I'll have to see if there is anyone in my local club who can lend me some expertise. Then I'll look into the belt mod and maybe PEC and guiding for the winter.

OK, thanks guys. It was cloudy last night so I wasn't able to check the alignment. I can definitely feel backlash in RA but can't detect any in Dec. I did realise something last night: yes I had watched Astrobaby's video and no, I had forgotten to loosen the locking nuts! Hope I haven't damaged anything there. If it is periodic error then I assume guiding is the solution? Would doing the belt modification also help?

Been trying to diagnose why I always get elongated stars (see attached crop of a sub from last night) and I think one possibility might be the backlash I have in the RA axis. I've been looking at videos on how to remove this but unfortunately the adjusters don't seem to work: it's as if the grub screw at the bottom of the mount is broken or there's a stripped thread inside or something: I can unscrew the grub fine but screwing it in, it never tightens, it goes in so far and then just keeps spinning. The screw itself looks ok to me (see picture). Can anyone diagnose what is going on here? On the other hand, since I am just tracking and not guiding, surely backlash should not be too much of a problem? Maybe it's my alignment, although the mount is on a permanent pier and I spent a while getting the alignment right last year. I will double-check that tonight. Any other thoughts?

Hi All, I am wondering what might be the best next purchase for my setup. I currently use a skywatcher explorer 150p on an heq5pro mount (controlled through StellariumScope) and an unmodified canon 450d (controlled through APT). I've also got an SP900 but haven't used it in years since it doesn't seem to go well with the SkyWatcher. This week I got plate-solving working in APT, which I am very happy about. I have a couple of hundred pounds burning a hole in my pocket right and was wondering what to spend it on... On AstroBuySell, there is an Orion Starshoot all in one for £180. Seems like it could replace the SP900 for planetary, possibly replace the 450D (would it be an improvements on that?) or could be a way in to autoguiding with the 450D still taking the images. There are also some ZWO ASI 120MC's all at around £100 And there's a QHY IMG0H-CT for £150 Or a Starlight Xpress SXVF MX7C Cooled CCD camera OSC with SX Guide camera for £200 Of all of the above, the Starshoot seems the best buy to me. Do you guys think this would be a good move? Any other suggestions? TIA, Alistair.

Hi All, I currently use an unmodified canon 450D on a Skywatcher Explorer 150p and HEQ5 Pro. I also have a phillips SP900 I have not used in years. I'm thinking I would like a more dedicated CCD and see someone is selling an Orion Starshoot on AstroBuySell. Looking at reviews, specs etc, it seems the StarShoot would be an improvement for solar system over the SP900, but would it be any better than the SLR for deep sky? I am also tempted to try autoguiding and it seems like it would be a good solution for that. So, planetary: improvement over SP900. Autoguiding: improvement over nothing at all. Deep sky: I don't know. Can anyone advise? Are there any other options I should look for for a 'jack of all trades'?

Hi All, I am after some advice on getting a games controller working again... When I bought my SW150P and HEQ5pro off Astro-buy-sell, the previous owner also gave me the Saitek wired game controller he used with it.. I then bought a wireless controller with a USB dongle, get it all set up in EQMod and used it for a couple of years without problems. Then we moved house and I've only just started using the rig again. I think the wireless controller is actually dead so I tried the original wired one. No luck. So I bought a generic controller off ebay. Again, no luck. Device Manager says it is connected and working and that the drivers are up to date but the gamepad configration dialog gives '---' for all controls and nothing seems to work. Can anyone offer any advice?

Very useful post, thanks. My V2 Synscan controller has given up and it seems to be the LCD: the controller functions but will not display anything so it's pretty useless at the moment. Rather than forking out 3 figures for a new controller, I was wondering if you managed to source a compatible replacement LCD for your V3 and if so, where from? --- Alistair