RA clock moves on HEQ5

[Russe]

Despite locking the RA clock with its little screw on my HEQ5 PRO, it moves little by little, after releasing the RA clutch and moving the mount's head.

Is that a common problem?

I was following astronomy shed's YouTube guide for setting up GEM.

Good news is, my polar scope is aligned nicely...

[Olle_e]

Dunno if its common but mine moves just like your does, was abit dissapointing when it was brand new but I use eqmod now and dont have to use it anymore.

Olle

[Russe]

How did you set it up? Sorry, am a bit flummoxed by all the possible downloads and then it doesn't seem to find my HEQ5???

[JamesF]

By "RA clock" do you mean the time ring at the bottom of the RA axis?

James

[Russe]

Yes

[JamesF]

The one on my EQ3-2 is fairly wobbly, too. I don't worry about it too much. I'd not describe the time and date rings as a "precision instrument". The time ring doesn't rotate freely (unlike the date ring), but even with the locking screw engaged it still allows a small amount of rotation.

James

[Russe]

Yeah, the astronomy shed video on how to setup and EQ6 made me quite angry with myself. Why did I spend 750£ if the mount isn't fully operational??

[JamesF]

It can be frustrating, I agree. The NEQ6 is not exactly cheap. But then if you want a GEM that genuinely does seem to work perfectly straight out of the box you'll be looking at paying £4,000 upwards

James

[Russe]

yeah, not happening

[Russe]

by the way, how did you set up your guiding system?

That's my next year's goal...

[JamesF]

A fair bit of my kit is in boxes at the moment for reasons of domestic harmony whilst some work is finished inside the house My plan for this summer was to get my obsy built and move it all to that, but a combination of work and summer not actually making an appearance have scuppered that one for the time being.

James

[Russe]

say, for a guiding set up that works properly, what do I need

An ST80

A dual mounting bracket

An QHY5

Anything else?

[JamesF]

Other than cabling, laptop and software I think that's it.

James

[Russe]

I decided to go for a 9x50 finder scope setup with my 2nd SPC webcam.

65£ for the finder scope

25£ for the webcam adapter

15£ for the SPC900 unmodded

PHD for free

Done.