Eq3 Noob Questions

[gpt]

Hi all,

Firstly complete new guy here, had never even seen a mount before i collected it the other day let alone used one

Despite having my new scope and mount since Thursday this is the first day I've had free to delve into everything. Because i collected my scope and mount the tripod and mount were already connected so I've simply attached the scope and started looking at basic movements.

As i don't yet have a power unit to power the synscan (unless there is anything around the home i can use?) I though i will manually star hop later.

So... I've grabbed the manual, located the locking screws for ra and DEC adjustments. Both work fine. But altitude and azimuth adjustments don't seem to do anything. I've come to the conclusion the altitude bolt has seized, similar to this thread

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=88207

However i noticed half way down people asking the question why you would need to adjust this unless moving any great deal north or south?

Obviously i must be wrong here but i would have thought if you wanted to look nearer the horizon manually, this would be the way to do it? Or is it a DEC adjustments leaving you counterweights in the air :s

I have not used the synscan yet, but could the seized altitude bolt damage motors later if synscan tried to move anything?

Thanks

Pete

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[RikM]

An equatorial mount normally moves the telescope with only the DEC and RA axis. The altitude and fine azimuth adjusters are only used to align the RA axis with Polaris. It takes a bit of getting used to

If your altitude adjuster is stuck DON'T FORCE IT! SkyWatcher seem to use lead solder instead of proper steel for the bolts, so you will likely bend them if you try too hard. If it is set at about 53° just leave it alone for now. One of your tripod legs should have a North arrow on it. Point this leg north. Either pointing at Polaris or using a compass until you get to know where things are.

Have a look at this video and it should be a bit clearer. I don't know if your EQ3 has a polarscope fitted or if it just has the hole through the mount where a polar scope should go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkB5NCnFps

Your mount should now be roughly polar aligned, and you can either power up and try a GoTo star alignment, or slacken the RA and DEC clutches a bit and push the scope about to find cool things to look at.

[Stargazer33]

Hi Pete, first of all welcome to SGL and astronomy.

The altitude bolts - one on the north side of the mount and one on the south - are for setting the mount up to your location. There is a scale on the side and a pointer. Slacken off one of the bolts and adjust the other to set the pointer to your degree of latitude. I'm on the south coast so my latitude is 50 degs.  You are further north than me so yours will be higher at 53 degs.

The azimuth bolts - horizontal thumb screws - are used for aligning the mount with the celestial north pole, or more normally the star Polaris. Once your mount is levelled and pointing roughly north you look through your polar aligning scope, or the hole where one would be and again slacken one bolt off and tighten the other one to move the mount left or right until Polaris is in the right place. You will probably have to loosen your leg spreader clamp (eyepiece tray) here or you run the risk of breaking the pin that the bolts push against. Or you may bend the adjustment bolts. Once everything is lined up you can then tighten the tray back up.

The altitude adjustment then doesn't have to be done unless you travel significantly north or south of your present location.

Once you slacken off the RA and DEC clutch locks you can push the scope about manually to find your targets until you can get a power supply.

HTH

[gpt]

Actually just found useful YouTube vids, should have looked first still got to sort this bolt out. Wd40 n a good whack!

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[gkec]

You need to adjust these to ensure that the mount's equatorial axis is correctly aligned with the rotational axis of the Earth.  The azimuth controls move the mount left and right.  You have to slacken on off before you move the other as you kind of clamp the mount in position.

The same is true on some mounts of the altitude adjustment.  However on the photo I couldn't see the opposing bolt.  So maybe  it's held in place by gravity.  They do tend to be stiff especially when the scope is mounted on it.  It should be set to your latitude.

[JamesF]

The alt adjustment bolts are horribly arranged on the EQ3-2.  They're bad enough for me at 51N.  At 53N they'll be even nearer the limit.  If you can I'd remove the bolts completely to see what state they're in.  If the north side one will shift they that may allow you to wiggle the mount about enough to see what the south side bolt (the more likely one to be damaged/bent) is like.  In fact, if your "north" bolt is like mine it threads through a bracket that can be removed with an allen key by undoing the two bolts either side of it.  That might help you see what's going on inside.  it could be that the south bolt is jammed because it has slipped past the adjustment cam and got jammed.  If you can release the north side allowing you to move the mount to a higher latitude setting that may release the other enough for you to remove it.

James