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EQ5 Teething Trouble


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That mount will keep you going for decades if you look after it and will easily take the 200P for viewing purposes and even photography if you choose a windless night. Anything bigger than the 200 and you will be looking at another mount too....

John

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1 minute ago, brantuk said:

Just ensure the counter weight bar is screwed fully into the mount head and all should be well.

Yep. I'm not chancing it landing on my feet, or the cement garage floor :D.  I would not be in Dad's best books if that happened :D.

I've hit on an idea which I think will work--taking the mount off the tripod, and setting it on the floor, then I can get someone to help steady it while I try to balance the axes out. When its done the mount should sit upright on its own. Then I can leave the tube rings in position and mark the counterweight bar, and all will be fine (I hope). Do you think that will work?

John

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Set it up in living room on it's tripod with no load. Weights off. Counterweight bar off. Put just the dovetail on the clamp to give you some leverage. Unlock the Dec axis. Lock the RA axis. 

Does the Dec axis turn smoothly by hand by putting pressure on either end of the dovetail?

If not, I'd be calling the supplier before doing anything more drastic and get their advice.

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Hi,

Just to report: following Brantuk's advice, I contacted FLO, and I got a reply very quickly explaining what was wrong. Turns out, the actual bolt that tightens the axis was too tight, so that the adjustment knob reached its limit before the bolt was unscrewed. 2 minutes' work was all that was required to solve the issue...thank you to everyone who has helped me with this mount upgrade; the motors arrived today, so I am (almost) ready to use the mount for some imaging and viewing......Clear Skies, All!

John

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Hi,

1st of all, Welcome to SGL!

This is what they said: thing is, I had figured what was needed, and sent an email checking that it was ok to do.

'H Jon, Thanks for your message what you describe is normal for this mount especially if it's cold the grease will be a bit stiff it will over time loosen up also is the clutch full open?, if you have further problems the do get back to me.'
 

So, you unscrew the small cross-head screw on whichever locking bolt you want to loosen. Take it right out, and put it to one side. Then, you get small hammer, and give the underneath of the locking knob a gently tap. It should lift up off the actual bolt that goes down inside the mount. Pull the knob right off. (It's ok, the knob is made of metal, so it won't break easily) You will see that the top of the bolt is a square, which fits into a series of kinks inside the knob. Loosen the main bolt, then put the knob back on again, checking you can loosen and tighten it without meeting the stump that prevents you screwing all the way round. When you are happy, just tap the knob back into place, and screw in the screw to make sure its firm.

 

Hope this helps!

 

John

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Did you have much trouble balancing the scope itself? For me that little tiny mm makes the scope move when it's in a almost straight upward or downward position. If I put it horizontal it's fine.

Ive tried moving the bar a bit and the "straps" and a combo but its always a bit too much even with the tinyest adjustment :(

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Hi,

I'm not experiencing any issues with that with the EQ5, and as far as I can remember, my old EQ2 was quite easy to balance. That may be because I am using a smaller scope. What size is yours?

Perfect balance isn't mandatory, just so long as it's close you won't be putting any appreciable strain on the mount. I used (when using the scope for finding galaxies) to slightly imbalance the scope so that it would always drift upwards a bit--that way I could push it up and down against my hand when scanning the sky.

John

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And on the motors? I just retried it and I can get it as far as perfect balance except the scope when its facing upward it just moves a degree or 5...

It moves very slow so perhaps its logical. I still need to connect stuff to it anyway, perhaps that will balance it out a 100%...

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You'll find the best results from balancing up with everything loaded on the mount - including any finders, guide scopes, cameras, reducers, etc. For imaging it's best to just very slightly overbalance it in the direction that keeps the gears and screws engaged depending on whether the motors are pushing up, or pulling downwards. E.g. if the scope is imaging and tracking rising objects - slight overbalance downwards towards the east keeps everything engaged. Hth :)

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On 05/01/2017 at 18:44, mikeyj1 said:

Go to astronomyshed.co.uk and watch his tutorials on complete scope setup :)

Dion does a great job covering all aspects...i

I can't seem to be able to register as you can only see one post as a guest. Wouldn't mind seeing some tutorials.

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