HEQ5 bearing upgrade

[oshb5]

Hi all

When I bought me HEQ5 pro it made the awful noise when starting to slew in speeds 7 through 9 So much so I even got the seller to log on to the internet to see about the noise. He got some you tube videos up and qute a lot of them also had the start up noise. I even rand my friends that have the HEQ well only one was available and he has the HEQ6 but on listening to it over the phone he said it sounded much like his.So I bought it.

When I giot it home after playing with it and making all the extra interfaces for EQmod like the serial the USB and the bluetooth one I then decided to find out why some do and some dont make this squealing/crunching or grinding sound at the start of the high speed slew.

I read a article about setting up and adjusting the idler gears as there did seam quite a bit of play on them, So I stripped out the motors and adjusted the shafts and end float plus reset the gear meshing Although I could do nothing about the play on the idler gear shaft as it seamed there was some wear within the brass gear bore itself. That said it all went back together smoothly. However on powering the mount back up and trying a high speed slew it had not made much difference to the noise. So was somewhat fed up.

So back to the drawing board. I have just read the article about the belt upgrade but felt that was a bit far for me to go at the present thats when I got to thinking about upgrading the actual gears them selves That is machining them out and fitting in roller bearings. When I stripped them I measured the gears and shafts Them being 5mm shaft diameter and the gear 5mm thick. Iv scourced some bearings at 5mm x 13mm x 5mm and only £1 each so think this may be my next move.

That is unless someone else can offer any other suggestions as to any way of silencing or at least quietening it down somewhat.

So im open for your suggestions.?

Regs Andy

[Starlight 1]

A video of this mount may be a good start as a lot of them do make lots of noise from 7/9

"it seamed there was some wear within the brass gear bore itself "This bit is like it from new

[kookoo_gr]

The noise comes from the fact that the gears are not meshed correctly. At my heq5 pro the gears both at the motors and the at the mount were not meshed properly when i serviced my mount that noise turned into a humming noise barely noticeable at the field when i meshed the gears correctly, Also i had a lot of backlash at the motors' gears. I think there are some post about it at iceinspce.com and at astrobaby's site

EDIT: I changed the the bearings at my mount but they don't make any difference at the noise level. It comes down to meshing the gears. In your shoes i would check the mesh of the motors' gears, i meshed them completely with no play between them and i also tightened the silver screw the motors have. These two actions were the most important that led to a quiet mount at high speed slew

[oshb5]

I only get the noise at the start and the end of the high speed slew as soon as it starts it makes the noise for a few seconds then it goes to the hum you talk about. and yes I meshed them tight when I re installed them. But still it made the noise.

I used to have a Ioptron and that had soft start and stop so it was quite in all speeds.

The sound it makes is like a bag of gears all crunching together. Being a engineer I feel as though I ought to stop it there and then and not use it till its mended. But thats the engineer in me. Seeing the videos iv seen on the net I know im not alone at all by a long way. That said I still feel I want to do something as it makes me cringe every time I hear it LOL. I could try remeshing the gears again But to tight and being brass on brass they will just wear each other away.

Reg Andy

[G6RAR]

Hi Andy,

It could be helpfull for you to have a look at the HEQ5 tutorial by Astrobaby

HEQ5 Strip Down Guide

Cheers

Dave

[G6RAR]

Andy,

Section 5 of the tutorial maybe is what you are looking for regarding the 'play'

Good luck

Dave

[oshb5]

Hi

Thanks for the suggestion Iv been there done that so to speak And have chatted to AB quite a lot via PM trgarding the mount (not just this issue). And another reason iv thought about the bearing in the idler gear upgrade project.

I have been studding the other way (belt drive) today and now not sure which way to go I could do the bearings first as the bearings are winging their way to me as we talk and if that does not have the desired effect I could go on and do the belt conversion and it will have only cost less than £2 to try the bearing way..

I hae also been thinking about the noise scientifically and that the geart faces ar always pushed hard together because of the pressure on them to move. where as the idler gear on the stub axle is free to move on that shaft. Also Iv used a tool iv not used for a long time and its a stethoscope with a long probe fitted to the front. You use it for listening to engines, machinery and their mechanical operating bits like steering control and suspension to find out where creaking or rubbing noises originate from and the closer you get the louder it becomes so you can change the offending bushes or bearings and such. the loudest was when the probe was on the axle that the idler gear was slotted on to. so this also makes me think the noise originates there?

Andy