HEQ5 Pro Rowan conversion

[wxsatuser]

Heard all the talk about noisey gears etc......so got the Rowan Astronomy belt conversion.

The mount is very quiet now with just the motor whine, nice!

Ordered the kit pre Monday morning and it was here Tuesday the next day.

http://rowanastronomy.com/productsa1.htm#heq5beltkit

This is a very nice kit with very good instructions and can easily be fitted within a hour.

I bought the pinion extractor as well as that makes life easy.

Here is a pic of after the fitting.

[kookoo_gr]

Very nice mod. Two questions,

1. Have you had the chance to try it at astrophotography?

2. Is it easy to revert back at the factory gers ?

[SnakeyJ]

Great mod this which I recall from Rowan's original thread - useful as it maintains the gear ratios/synscan controller compatability. Look's very neat to thanks to the shim to raise and retain the gear cover. The before and after PEC graphs looked impressive, though I've little experience on this front.

Look forward to here how it performs in real use Mike and may well follow.

[wxsatuser]

Very nice mod. Two questions,

1. Have you had the chance to try it at astrophotography?

2. Is it easy to revert back at the factory gers ?

1/ not yet but soon hopefully, just setting it all up with EQMOD and CDC, big learning curve.

2/ I would say yes if you keep all the bits.

I have the the old parts in the seperate bags that Rowan supplied with the parts, just don't lose anything.

[wxsatuser]

Great mod this which I recall from Rowan's original thread - useful as it maintains the gear ratios/synscan controller compatability. Look's very neat to thanks to the shim to raise and retain the gear cover. The before and after PEC graphs looked impressive, though I've little experience on this front.

Look forward to here how it performs in real use Mike and may well follow.

Really impressed with the quality, it is very easy to fit as there are very good instructions with lots of photos.

[JamesF]

That does look very neat.  I like the use of the idler wheel.  Looks like it means there's a lot more belt on the driving wheel than would otherwise be the case.

James

[wxsatuser]

That does look very neat.  I like the use of the idler wheel.  Looks like it means there's a lot more belt on the driving wheel than would otherwise be the case.

James

Yes thats right James......it's a very small drive cog......without the wheel there would be little tooth area.

I got EQMOD working with CDC, after messing with Stellarium for ages and the slewing and tracking works

ok, very quiet with only motor whine apparent.

Was hoping it would be clear last night but no go, so alignment will have to wait.

[johnrt]

Looks super, very interested to see what improvements this brings over a standard HEQ5 for long exposure DSO imaging.

[kirkster501]

Looks good.  However, being devil's advocate what's the issue with the mount as standard?  I found my HEQ5 (and latterly my NEQ6) to be superb mounts and very accurate without any modification?  Or does this mod make the mount even more accurate?

[Rustmonkey]

Good question.....also, do you have to change the gearing ratios in your software or does this way negate that issue.

[SnakeyJ]

Good question.....also, do you have to change the gearing ratios in your software or does this way negate that issue.

Dave's (1Parsec) mod preserves the heq5 standard gear ratio  (9T-47T) so retains synscan compatability.    Other ratios aren't an issue if using EQMod, which allows you to set custom ratios - I think someone had sent a feature request in to Skywatcher to see if they could add custom ratio feature to future releases - though probably not worth holding breath for this

The original thread - http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/189089-heq5-standard-ratio-947-belt-mod/?hl=%20belt%20%20ratio%20%20heq5 covers the evolution and has some nice details on this.    There are some useful before and after PECprep screens showing significant overall reduction in amplitude and much smoother wave form - might be interesting to see how this looks compared to other non standard belt mods.

I think Rowan is providing the kits as the above link - also looks like an EQ6 mod is in development!

[JamesF]

Looks good.  However, being devil's advocate what's the issue with the mount as standard?  I found my HEQ5 (and latterly my NEQ6) to be superb mounts and very accurate without any modification?  Or does this mod make the mount even more accurate?

I think the main reasons for the mod are to get rid of the backlash associated with the gear train between the motor and the worm and to remove the periodic error they generate.  People who have done the mod have also said that it reduces the "clatter" when the motors start up for slewing.

My understanding is that if you go for a simple 4:1 or 5:1 ratio rather than 47:9 it makes the periodic error easier to analyse and correct for, but I may have misunderstood that.

James

[johnrt]

Indeed my HEQ5 has quite a backlash issue, however once it is eaten up at the start of a run it does guide very well. But I'd be keen to eliminate the backlash and I can always use a guiding improvement, especially after seeing a PHD graph from a Mesu!!!! 

[wxsatuser]

Thanks for posting the info Jake.

Cannot comment if mine will be better with conversion as will not have used it with the gears.

Must admit the gears on mine did look like they were not to bad, no large amount of backlash.

There was a small amount of a clear grease smeared here and there.

After reading posts about noise etc I saw a video with this mod and took the plunge.

[SnakeyJ]

No prob Mike, My EQ6 may be some way off so I may well follow in your footsteps.   It looks a nicely engineered solution, but nice to maintain the gear ratio so I could pull the mount out of the obsy and head out with the Synscan for a star party or dark site without the laptop and all the other paraphenalia

[Jonk]

Sorry to dig up an old thread (that search button is useful though!), but I've just bought the same Rowan kit for my heq5 pro.

I was going to ask for experiences, but this thread made me feel better about the purchase and ease of fitting.

I hope to have it ready for the next clear night, so I can slew about in the garden with minimal noise!

With the weather this week however, it appears I have plenty of time...

[Owmuchonomy]

Interested to hear how you get on. My mount is pretty quiet anyway apart from some motor whine so I'm not convinced of advantages, yet. If it proves to have benefits for tracking accuracy then I would be interested. I'd also need reassurance that the load capacity isn't reduced after the mod.

[Jonk]

I wouldn't think the load capacity would decrease as in theory, there's no more load put on the motor. if anything, the torque response will be better.

The kit should come tomorrow, so hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be able to report with maybe a before and after video.

My mount was second hand, so I don't know the age, but the noise was awful before it gets going, regardless of the amount of grease in there!

I can only see the belt being a massive difference to the gears as there's a greatly reduced chance of any play, therefore better movement / accuracy.

[Jonk]

Well, I did the mod today and due to the amount of grease on the gears from the previous owner, it was a bit of a mess.

Following the instructions were easy, but for the non-engineering mind folk out there, they may be a bit tricky.

I took the opportunity to clean the insides and all the bolts / joints etc so gave the mount a good service.

It probably took around 2 hours in total, and the horrible grinding clunky noise on slewing accelaration is now long gone but it remains to be seen on the accuracy side of things.

The only mistake I did make is fit the wrong tensioner on each motor (d'oh), but this was quick to swap over.

Taking the large gears off was a bit tight, and I had to use a screwdriver to lever them off the shafts.....so be careful if you have the same issue. A bent shaft will be extremely difficult to rectify.

All in all, quite pleased with it. The cost of the kit + tools + delivery I though was a bit steep at first, but then I'm not able to make the parts and don;t run an engineering company, so it is what it is.

My advice, a worthwhile upgrade.

[frolao]

Hi, 

I'm following with great interest this post, hope to see shared experiences with this mod here. Thanks.

[SnakeyJ]

Cheers to everyone going before on this - I have just taken the plunge and ordered my own conversion kit.   Looking forward to doing the upgrade and hopefully some clear sky next week to do some testing

[Jonk]

Good luck....set your self an hour or 2 and be careful when you pull the motors out as the wires will be twisted with the others.

Also, don't go heavy handed with the grub screws else you'll ruin it.

[wxsatuser]

Having used mine for a while it does the business.

Quiet, apart from the motor whine and I get very good results.

I have very good PA and have done subs to 20minutes.

For the price, I think a worth while upgrade.

[sloz1664]

Good luck....set your self an hour or 2 and be careful when you pull the motors out as the wires will be twisted with the others.

Take photos so you know how everything is supposed to go back.

 

Also, don't go heavy handed on any screws, it's soft metal  and you could  ruin it.

Also, print off AstroBaby's excellent guides for reference/

http://www.astro-baby.com/EQ6%20rebuild%20guide/EQ6%20Strip%20Down%20Home.htm

cheers

Steve

[SnakeyJ]

My kit was dispatched on Monday and arrived on Tuesday - fair play to Rowan Astronomy!   I stripped the mount covers and fitted this on Tuesday, taking just over 2 hours.   Though my HEQ5 is one of the older white HEQ5 Pro's with the hexagonal threaded bolt on the idler gear.

kit and instructions, as delivered:

Dreaded older style hex bolt on Idlers:

Very simple install and excellent instructions supplied with the kit, but I had to drill out the bottom threaded part of the idler shaft on both motor mounting plates to allow the idler shafts to slip down to the required depths.   My motor mounts plates also only had the one grub screw at the bottom of the shaft - otherwise the instructions were spot on and revised instructions were available on the RA website.    The extra fettling took around forty five minutes - mostly in finding a decent 5mm drill bit.

On fitting the motor cover, now raised by the 5mm spacer plate, I found that the RA idler shaft was pushed up above the level of the drive gear the cover plate and contacting the cover plate - raised by the grub screw.   At this point I stopped and turned in for the night and the installation was completed last night.

On first test I found the drive gear grub screws were contacting the inside edge of the RA motor mount plate, which took a few minutes to loosen and recenter the motor on the plate.        A dry test was performed last night and I then closed up and remounted the OTA and electrical harness.

Tonight I've been out for an hour or so checking, with a quick peek at Mars, Saturn and the moon - all seems to be moving very nicely, with substantially reduced backlash on both axis and no mechanical noise other than the motor whine at fast slew.    The seeing was predictably poor, but all systems go for a guided test when conditions improve.

First impressions - excellent mod, nicely packaged by Rowan Astronomy and a straightforward fix.   Glad I brought the pinion extractor, which worked effortlessly without undue stress on the motor shafts.