EQ5 Motor Drive and Vixen GP

[mikeDnight]

After suffering a temperamental Vixen RA drive on my Vixen GP for the last four years, I finally decided to replace it. I ordered a EQ5 dual axis motor drive with the new EQ5 hand controller from Rother Valley Optics on Thursday and it arrived by lunchtime on Friday. I installed it straight away but both Friday and Saturday night's were cloudy, so I couldn't give the motors a test drive. Sunday evening was cloudy but there were quite a few large sucker holes to take advantage of. Aiming the scope at the Pleiades and using a 25mm plossl at 30X, I was pleased to see the cluster remained in the field without showing any noticeable drift. Turning to my 3.4mm Vixen HR eyepiece giving 218X, I centred a star and left the mount to track for five minutes or so. I was pleased to see that the star remained bang on centre throughout.   Using the hand controller set at 16X, the control of the telescope was precise and the mount responded immediately in whichever direction I moved it. There was no delay in command even at high power!  Finally on this first motorized session, I aimed the scope at the double cluster using the 35mm Eudiascopic, but changing to the 17.5mm Morpheus,  The deep stellar background not so obvious in the 35mm became very evident. Again the mount tracked flawlessly!

I've yet to observe the Moon with this new hand set with its lunar rate option, but if the stellar rate is anything to go by it should be a joy to use. I'm looking forward to some hands free sketching!!   Now rather than using the battery pack I'll try and find a transformer for use while in the observatory.

[John]

I did just the same with the Vixen GP DX that I had Mike - the Skywatcher EQ5 set fitted straight on and worked very well. The Vixen motor sets are lovely but pretty expensive.

[mikeDnight]

The Vixen motors cost more than I wanted to pay John, so I thought I'd try the SW drives. I knew they worked fine on the Vixen mounts so it wasn't much of a gamble, and now I've got the advantage of observing hands free.  Ironically,  when dismantling the old motor and clutch, i think i discovered what was wrong with the original Vixen RA drive. Still, I've now got dual axis drives!

[Ibbo!]

Good to hear, I have just got the Syn scan for my GPDX as the motors/cables/connectors have been playing up for a while.

I hope my fitting goes as well.

I might get it fitted tomorrow as long as I am not called to get the sewing machine to do its job properly - again, today I learnt the shortcut for " Oh dear the needle has broken again"

[mikeDnight]

Thought I'd add a pic showing the only adaptation I had to make. The cogs on the motors had to be released using the two grub screws and the cogs slid away from the motor body by a couple of millimetres; this allowed full engagement of the worm cog/clutch with the motor cog.  However, when sliding the Vixen motor cover back onto the mount, both the motor cog and the worm cog made tight surface contact. My solution was to heat a piece of 22mm copper tubing and melt my way through the plastic cover where the cogs made contact. I used the copper to to enlarge the hole until it was large enough to allow the free movement of the RA cog and worm cog. I then used my pocket knife to debur the build up of plastic that resulted from the hot tube technique. Genius! 

[robbymain]

I'm planning to add the enhanced EQ5 dual drive kit to my GP in the near future - I did have my heart set on finding a used mount with Vixen drives included, or picking up a pair of MT-1s used but they seem to be rare as hen's teeth nowadays! But anyway it is nice to hear that you are satisfied with the Skywatcher solution.

[mikeDnight]

Hi Robby,

Two months on and I couldn't be happier. The tracking is spot on, enabling me to finally sketch hands free at high power. I can also go and have a brew and come out again half an hour later and the object is still exactly where I left it in the eyepiece.  At the relatively low cost for the SW drives, I doubt I'd buy the Vixen drives even if they were available. ☺

[robbymain]

That's a good enough recommendation for me! Off to the FLO website to order the kit 😃

[robbymain]

On 27/03/2019 at 14:31, mikeDnight said:

Thought I'd add a pic showing the only adaptation I had to make. The cogs on the motors had to be released using the two grub screws and the cogs slid away from the motor body by a couple of millimetres; this allowed full engagement of the worm cog/clutch with the motor cog.  However, when sliding the Vixen motor cover back onto the mount, both the motor cog and the worm cog made tight surface contact. My solution was to heat a piece of 22mm copper tubing and melt my way through the plastic cover where the cogs made contact. I used the copper to to enlarge the hole until it was large enough to allow the free movement of the RA cog and worm cog. I then used my pocket knife to debur the build up of plastic that resulted from the hot tube technique. Genius! 

Funnily enough I remember the same problem when I owned a GP with a single axis Skywatcher drive back in the mid-2000's! I did have some grand ideas about having the brass gears machined down to reduce their thickness and create some clearance to the plastic cover though I didn't bother in the end.

This time I shall no doubt do a similar modification as yourself sir 😃

Now, what about a cover for the Dec motor?!