NEQ6 rebuild queries

[twintin]

Hi folks

as you may know from my previous posts i have built up an eq6 from 2 broken ones. All well and good but for a couple of minor problems which i'm hoping for a bit of help with?

1. The proverbial bendy bolts ! As i'm doing this on the cheap am i as well just getting a couple of ss M10 bolts or is it best to spend the £ on the readily available sets?

2. I have a bit of movement in the dec axis. It's not backlash it's in and out movement. If i push inwards on the weight bar i get a small amount of lift at the head end. If i tighten up the weight bar clamp it pushes on the bottom bearing and locks the axis up so i back it off until it's free but i then get this movement. i have read all the guides re the shims but i can't work out how that stops the in-out movement unless you really screw the weight bar clamp in tight (then it locks up)?

Any thought gratefully received

Mark

[sbooder]

2 sounds like you could be missing a Teflon spacer?

[laser_jock99]

1) contrary to popular belief there is not a lot wrong with the supplied Skywatcher bolts. It's just the mount design means they act upon the push lug at a crazy angle at these latitudes. Any amount of forcing results in a bent bolt.

The sensible thing to do if you have the mount in bits is to modify the lug position so the forces are more orthogonal to the altitude bolt. A number of SGL'ers have done this in different ways.

Here's my variation on the theme http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/187034-eq6-latitude-lug-modification-or-how-to-avoid-bent-bolts/?hl=%2Blatitude+%2Blug#entry1957211

[sloz1664]

Hi Mark,

10mm SS Bolts will be fine and a lot cheaper than the "specialist" bolts.

You have missed a spacer, thats whats causing the slop. Check out Astrobaby's superb EQ6 refurb proceedure, specifically the supertune section:-

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

cheers

Steve 

[twintin]

Cheers chaps i'll check the spacers again but i still cant see how it makes a difference if you have to back off the counterweight bar clamp as this introduces movement?

Mark

[1parsec]

Hi Mark,

As a test, gently tighten the counterweight bar collar until the axis locks up.   Then loosen the 4x M6 socket cap heads that hold the Dec worm housing to the main casting.

If the axis then loosens off, the problem is missing or incorrect shim washers, where tightening the counterweight bar collar pulls the ring gear hard in to the side of the worm preventing the axis turning.

On reassembly, usually you'll tighten the counterweight bar collar to snug up the bearings, then adjust the worm in to msh with the ring gear.

Cheers,

Dave.

[twintin]

Thanks chaps, it turns out it just needed a bit of tweaking on the worms so all done now. Thanks for the input.

Mark