NEQ6 WARNING

[willcastle]

After getting my new neq6 I thought it would be great fun to put the scope on and test the slewing..... But when the scope was horizontal it came crashing down onto the tripod! Argh! ! MAKE SURE YOU BALANCE AND PUT ON THE COUNTERWEIGHTS BEFORE MESSING AROUND WITH YOUR TELESCOPE ON THE MOUNT! This is the only reason I can think of that caused this to happen and my scope is now full of dents ! So be careful peeps

[barkis]

That must have been a horrendous few seconds, and a heart stopping fear of permanent damage.

If the worst that has resulted are a few tube dinks, then you can consider yourself as being lucky.

I hope that is all that has happened, as a worse scenario might have been stripped worm, and, or, wheel teeth.

A mount should always carry both C/W's, and telescope in a well balanced state, whatever functions are being checked out.

Of course I'm not being facetious here, merely repeating what you already know. Now.

And I do hope the damage is slight.

Ron.

[The Sailor]

Your not the first and won't be the last

Jim

[willcastle]

Errrr I'm rather hoping the worm/wheel teeth are fine :s dunno how I would check... But er it seems to be fine

Have you done the same thing Jim?

[FarSide]

Been there almost. I once out the head of my EQ3 mount onto the tripod but failed to screw mount into the bottom of the head. I then tried to put my scope onto it and the head crashed down onto a concrete patio. It made a dent. I have and NEQ6 now and trust me everything is secure before i do anything else!

[Matt Scunthorpe]

Yep been here with my EQ5. Luckily i caught the scope before i swung all the way down.

[earth titan]

There should be a club for those of us that have done this. Luckily I had no damage.

Typed by me, using fumms...

[dmahon]

There are also two ways of attaching the mount head - they tend to come "the wrong way".

[Dunkster]

Thanks for posting that, I've now reversed the pin on my NEQ6

[Skylook123]

Sigh, did that the second time out about six years ago. Forgot the weights. Added forty pounds of SCT, Telrad, 9x60 finder, diagonal, 50mm eyepiece, and told it to align on the first star. A half second later it crashed into the hand controller plastic carrier and exploded it. No other damage, though. Now I have velcro patches all over the head to stick the controller SOMEWHERE, now that its caddy is plastic dust.

[laser_jock99]

My routine is ALWAYS put weights on first- if anything goes wrong only the weights hit the deck. Then mount the scope. Next balance the scope in both RA and in DEC (mark the balance point of the scope with electrical tape to make it quick next time). Only when the scope is balanced and the axis are locked should you switch on the mount and start playing with the slewing. Doing so with an unbalanced scope will at best strain motors or worst case even damage the drives.

[ronaldo999]

Yes its shows how important the weights are, balance is one of the most important things to have an accurate scope setup

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

What a terrible thing to happen. Worst I have done so far is drop an Android phone in the dark and accidentally tread on it (this summer). I always check the balance of the scope.

[Ant]

Yep, I've done that as well... just assembled in the wrong order by mistake...

Luckily for me someone caught the scope before it made contact with the tripod - it was Daz if I remember correctly. Lightning reflexes...

Hope the dents can be pulled out!

Ant

[ely_ellis]

Sometimes I forget to lock the mount when I take the scope off, and as soon as its lifted from the mount, the weights take over and spin the whole thing round. No damage yet but it does catch me out occasionaly.