EQ8 Tripod Woes

[FLO]

When you contacted us yesterday I thought, as others in this thread did, that it was simply a matter of unscrewing the strut from the pier, turning it 180-degrees, then refitting it. But it appears that isn't the case so a replacement will be dispatched today for delivery Monday 

Just thought... Olly should receive his EQ8 around now. He lives on a mountain in France so I'll be crossing my fingers and toes hoping his pier doesn't have the same problem 

[sbooder]

I am only guessing here, but my guess is that the tripod will not be used?  Looking at Olly's setup I would think it is straight onto a pier for the EQ8?

[FLO]

He has ordered the full set with pier/tripod. Fortunately nobody else has reported the problem (I don't think we have heard of any problems prior to this one) so I am reasonably confident all will be well. I am just a little concerned because it is Christmas and he's half-way up a mountain... I think I had better send him a quick email...

Steve 

[sbooder]

He has ordered the full set with pier/tripod. Fortunately nobody else has reported the problem (I don't think we have heard of any problems prior to this one) so I am reasonably confident all will be well. I am just a little concerned because it is Christmas and he's half-way up a mountain... I think I had better send him a quick email...

Steve 

Well if they can't deliver on time and have to leave it somewhere in Northern France, I don't mind looking after it!  I promise I would not be even slightly tempted to play with it...Hee hee!

[Photosbykev]

From looking at the images, it's clear to me that the receiving holes/threads on the either the pier or the legs having been positioned incorrectly during manufacture. i.e the braces should all be mounted normal to surface of the pier or leg equispaced around the pier in order for the bracing sections to be parallel and aligned with their mating parts Good to see FLO are on the ball as usual but disappointing to see the quality control hasn't been improved on a premium priced mount.

[Earl]

I decided to get a Mesu mini Pillar with my EQ8 in the new year, just need to have a custom plate on the top.

[ollypenrice]

Very nice indeed of Steve FLO to flag this thread up for me in an Email. I'll go through it carefully. The mount is schduled to arrive this afternoon but who knows? If it's the driver's aunt's birthday he'll still be downing the Cognac! We are numerous here at the moment with some technical wizards tweaking their resident gear for next year so there are many hands and brains available...

I hope you get sorted, Stephen.

I went for the tripod because I've been hammering, banging, welding, cutting and hurting my fingers for most of this year on assorted astro projects so I thought I'd award myself a break. In the grand tradition of new toys it is whanging it down with rain and since the place has been oozing with visiting kit for weeks I doubt Monique will let me put the mount up in the house. Unless I buy her some shoes. There's an idea!

Olly

[sbooder]

Very nice indeed of Steve FLO to flag this thread up for me in an Email. I'll go through it carefully. The mount is schduled to arrive this afternoon but who knows? If it's the driver's aunt's birthday he'll still be downing the Cognac! We are numerous here at the moment with some technical wizards tweaking their resident gear for next year so there are many hands and brains available...

I hope you get sorted, Stephen.

I went for the tripod because I've been hammering, banging, welding, cutting and hurting my fingers for most of this year on assorted astro projects so I thought I'd award myself a break. In the grand tradition of new toys it is whanging it down with rain and since the place has been oozing with visiting kit for weeks I doubt Monique will let me put the mount up in the house. Unless I buy her some shoes. There's an idea!

Olly

Dam, so there is no chance of me getting to look after it at all...that is just not fair!

[Tinker1947]

Maybe the unit Stephen received is a new type of "Chinese Puzzle" ..........

[ollypenrice]

Mine arrived as expected. The tripod was fine and the mount went together easily. I can't help wondering if some permutation or other wouldn't allow Stephen's tripod to work. It's pretty simple but the possibilities for someone at the factory to create an infernal puzzle are certainly there!

I feel that there is a lot of backlash on both axes. I hope this won't be an issue and I also hope that Skywatcher will publish instructions on adjusting it. It seems to be in the mesh of the worms from what we can see so far.

Two Taks on a side by side bar are shrugged off like a couple of pesky gnats. This is a nice big beefy mount.

Olly

[Stephen]

Mine arrived as expected. The tripod was fine and the mount went together easily. I can't help wondering if some permutation or other wouldn't allow Stephen's tripod to work. It's pretty simple but the possibilities for someone at the factory to create an infernal puzzle are certainly there!

I feel that there is a lot of backlash on both axes. I hope this won't be an issue and I also hope that Skywatcher will publish instructions on adjusting it. It seems to be in the mesh of the worms from what we can see so far.

Two Taks on a side by side bar are shrugged off like a couple of pesky gnats. This is a nice big beefy mount.

Olly

Glad to hear you didn't have my problems Olly

Wonder if this might help with your backlash adjustment question - http://www.dangl.at/ausruest/eq8/eq8_e4.htm

As said I've not even had mine out the case yet, but will let you know what mine's like once set up

Stephen

[Xplode]

Pictures of the mount with Tak's Olly?

There seems to be a small amount of backlash on my mount too.

I hope it can be adjusted away easily

[stephen_usher]

I've no discernible backlash on the RA axis on mine and initially, it seemed, none on the DEC. However, the DEC suddenly seems to have got quite a bit.

[sbooder]

I wonder if the variation in worm mesh on these mounts is down to the assembly technicions trying to meet demand (at this price I would imagine they are at full speed on the production line) and just getting the gears good enough to turn without binding and then shipping them out.

[ollypenrice]

I'll post a pic of the sitting room build up on a new thread in the mounts section. Thanks for the links to the detailed pictures.

Olly

[ollypenrice]

OK, the bad news. You mentioned being surprized at not having noticed backlash in your first inspection of the mount but then finding it later. I have a possible and discouraging explanation. After a lot of net research I've found out how to adjust the mesh of the worms. However...

Stage one is to rotate the dec drive a little at a time using the motors and to feel the amount of backlash at each point. The purpose of this is to determine the tightest point of mesh between worm and wheel before tightening the mesh any further. 

Stage two is no longer relevant in my case because on one half of the wheel's rotation the mesh is tight (no backlash) and on the other half it is very slack. (Lots of backlash.) Even if I felt like trying it there would be no point in adjusting the mesh because the problem, I presume, is that the wheel is not concentric with the Dec axis.  I found an Australian owner who has precisely this problem and was in contact with Tasco who seemed to be trying to fob him off with a software fix. This has to be a waste of time because the problem is mechanical. Adjusting the dec guiding response speed is not the way to sort it. The way to sort it is to have a concentric (or round) worm wheel.

Oh dear oh dear. Not very happy.

I'll copy this onto my own EQ8 thread so as not to hijack your tripod post.

Olly

[Stephen]

Oh bottoms Thanks Olly

[Stephen]

Well I'm happy to report that the new tripod has arrived and went together first time without problem

Top marks to FLO once again

Currently gusting at 25mph and raining cats, dogs and horses ... guess it will be post Xmas before I get first light with this