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Rowan NEQ6 Belt Conversion?


sbooder

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Hi All,

             about to purchase the Rowan Astronomy NEQ6 Belt Conversion Kit and wondered if anyone has done this yet with this particular kit and what the results are please?

I would just like to know before I buy.  But if nobody has yet I will buy anyway and post results  here after a few nights viewing.

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Hi Mike,

              Well I have ordered it now.  Inpatients got the better of me.  So we will see what it is like.  The thing I liked about this conversion kit compared to others is, there is no alteration of the mount so if for any reason it does not work I can go back to the gears.

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Mainly to eliminate backlash but I am hoping it will also improve tracking altogether. I did a strip, re-grease and rebuild not too long ago so I may not bother with a re-grease this time.

On a scale of 1-10 how challenging was the rebuild? I have backlash issues but just heard so many stories of rubbish black grease etc that I will attempt a rebuild sometime, maybe after the main winter season. Belt drive seems a natural progression too. Did you use lithium grease?
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Kingboya, have you tried following astrobaby's guides on tightening the worm gear stuff with just some allen keys without opening the casing; I did that and reduced my backlash greatly. My mount comes with drive belts and I still had backlash, so I'm not convinced the belt mod will necessarily eliminate it on its own, but in conjunction with other measures will likely reduce it.

James

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That's what I used Astro Baby's strip and rebuild guide.  I think the most important thing to remember is prep. Get your space setup and pick a quiet 3 - 4 hours and take your time to do things right.  Yes I did use white lithium grease.

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Nice looking kits, and it's nice to see someone with the skills to program CNC machines contributing to the hobby too.

I can't speak for these kits, but having been one of the first people to develop a belt conversion for the HEQ5  ( http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/121114-heq5-experiments-with-belt-drive/  )I can assure you guys that a belt conversion will improve the tracking accuracy, reduces backlash as there is no idler gear, and makes the mount a lot quieter.  My version used a 4:1 ratio as I use the mount in an observatory driven by EQMod.  The only advantage this ratio has over the stock ratio is that it's easier to resolve the PE

Personally I would recommend converting an HEQ5 or EQ6 to belt drive.  For the small cost the improvement is amazing.

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I only spotted the Rowan kit after I did the Beltonline kit mod. Either one is well worth doing. The Rowan kit does look a better design with intermediate plates and idle rollers, although the idle roller may add some harmonics to the drive. The Beltonline kit is 1/2 the price of the Rowan but some fettling is required.

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Hi I have also purchased vthe Rowan Astronomy NEQ6 belt conversion. I am waiting for a few bits to arrive. The most important coming from Sweden to eliminate the altitude adjustment problem. I was thinking of ordering new SKF bearings when everything was open. Do you think it is worth it.

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Hi I have also purchased vthe Rowan Astronomy NEQ6 belt conversion. I am waiting for a few bits to arrive. The most important coming from Sweden to eliminate the altitude adjustment problem. I was thinking of ordering new SKF bearings when everything was open. Do you think it is worth it.

Well, this thread has caused me to buy this kit! What other bits are you waiting for? New bearings? :D
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Hi I have also purchased vthe Rowan Astronomy NEQ6 belt conversion. I am waiting for a few bits to arrive. The most important coming from Sweden to eliminate the altitude adjustment problem. I was thinking of ordering new SKF bearings when everything was open. Do you think it is worth it.

Depends how old the mount is, I replaced the 4 worm bearings, the 6 radials were sound and with hindsight I should have changed the 2 taper rollers as the OEMs weren't very good quality, although easy to do at a later date.

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As a side note on assembly, I adjusted the worm shaft end play before adjusting the crown ring backlash. I then adjusted out the backlash before connecting the belts and stepper motors. I also made sure that each axis was vertical before adjusting the worms' backlash, so that casting weight was evenly distributed. I got close to zero backlash on the RA axis and just a tad more on the DEC axis. My auto guided PE is now ~1arcsec, I was lucky to get 2.5arcsec before the mod.

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For those about to do this mod, if you have no tools to unscrew the polar scope collar, here is one I made out of an old pair of mole grips and a piece of old fan belt.  Just let the grips but against the belt when turning and it acts like a filter wrench and tightens around the collar.  It saves a bit of cash and keeps the collar from scratching.

filter_wench.jpg

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I decided to strip down the mount while waiting for the belt kit to arrive just to do some general cleaning and re-greasing and place all components in freezer bags while I wait.

In doing so I think I found the reason I have never been happy with the balancing of the scope during setup.

Like many others who I have read about in the past with this problem I have always found the mount to be stiff when the RA is horizontal when balancing the scope with counter weights.

What I found was some raised burrs in the RA housing in the base unit (see photo) which match scratches I found on the RA worm gear barrel.

I have now filed these down using an old diamond nail file blade and some 1500 grit wet and dry paper.

I will not be able to tell if this has solved the problem until I have reassembled the mount after conversion to the belt drive.

Watch this space!

ra_base_housing.jpg

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I decided to strip down the mount while waiting for the belt kit to arrive just to do some general cleaning and re-greasing and place all components in freezer bags while I wait.

In doing so I think I found the reason I have never been happy with the balancing of the scope during setup.

Like many others who I have read about in the past with this problem I have always found the mount to be stiff when the RA is horizontal when balancing the scope with counter weights.

What I found was some raised burrs in the RA housing in the base unit (see photo) which match scratches I found on the RA worm gear barrel.

I have now filed these down using an old diamond nail file blade and some 1500 grit wet and dry paper.

I will not be able to tell if this has solved the problem until I have reassembled the mount after conversion to the belt drive.

Watch this space!

Posted Image

very interesting. I will keep a look out. My kit arrived yesterday, but it is a birthday present so get it on Monday!

I tuned the mount yesterday, so happy with the procedure to setup once all reassembled.

I hope that the rest of the work goes well:D

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Yes I ordered the tool too.  I thought if it makes life a little easier then it is worth the extra £12.

It is worth getting one of them, it makes the job a lot easier, and that's a good price - prior to Rowan providing these, the only other place that I could find one was from the USA and by the time I'd paid postage it was around £30!

One thing to note - on some mounts SkyWatcher decided to lock the rings in place with some form of superglue, so if you find yourself with one of these, apply a bit of heat for a little while to soften the glue.  I used one of those pencil blow-torches.

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