HEQ5 alitude adjustment

[nty]

Hi,

I've read previous posts about difficulty in adjusting the altitude setting on the HEQ5 mount, can someone clarify something for me ?

Is the altitude adjustment locked ? i.e. do you need to insert the bolt(s) until they hit an unlocking pin ? or is it just stiff and the bolts provide leaverage ?

There are two bolts; one longer that the other; which one do I use ?

If some-one could provide idiot proof instructions I would be most grateful as the manual is not much help.

Cheers

John

[brantuk]

The altitude is very easy to adjust on the HEQ5. The bolts settle on a pin inside the mount and you unscrew the front one and turn the rear one to push the pin forward raising the elevation. You then do the reverse to lower elevation.

The problems come when you don't unscrew one side first - if you then force the other it can bend the bolt or worst case strip the thread either inside the mount or the screw itself. This can also happen if you adjust it fully loaded - even if you unscrew the other side.

The main thing is to polar align before putting the scope on and ensure the opposite screw is undone first. If the PA is off when you load the scope on then you can make minor adjustments but try to support the scope in the direction of tilt first. A common solution is to get stronger bolts which are easier to turn - but the other side still needs loosening first. Hth

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/331079832954?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108

(do them both up once PA is set - the short one goes in the front)

[nty]

Super Giant thanks for the clarification, and those upgraded bolts look the ticket :-)

[Owmuchonomy]

As above but have you set it roughly to your local latitude already using the scale on the side? You can do this while it's off the tripod and sat on your kitchen table for example. Then you can also get a feel of how it adjusts without fiddling around in the dark. As Brant UK says perform fine adjustment on the tripod with the necessary North or South bolt AFTER loosening the opposite side off. Once it's properly aligned you can FINGER tighten both sides. Done properly, the bolts will be fine.

[Thalestris24]

Hi

Just to add that the mount head can be very stiff out of the box, when trying to adjust for latitude (well, my Heq5 Syntrek  was!). In this case you need to use some effort to move it into the approximate latitude scale position (without the front and rear bolts in).

hth

Louise

[nty]

Thanks to you all, yes was just a bit stiff, all sorted. Now just need to collimate and I'm ready to go. Have to say moving up from a 4" Tal to the 200 mm on the Heq5 is quite a jump, this thing is HUGE and heavy. Lol