zero backlash neq6 worm

[spillage]

Not sure if anyone else has seen this but rowan astronomy has release a zero back lash neq6 worm mount.

http://www.rowanastronomy.com/productsa5.htm

Not too bad for the price and looks very well engineered.

 

No heard of any testing on these..If @RowanAstronomy need any field testers then I would be more than happy to help out  

Edited April 10, 2019 by spillage

[Frank the Troll]

12 minutes ago, spillage said:

 

Not too bad for the price and looks very well engineered.

plus the cost for this  --  Note: The mount must also be belt converted to use this upgrade

[FLO]

On 10/04/2019 at 13:28, spillage said:

No heard of any testing on these..If @RowanAstronomy need any field testers then I would be more than happy to help out  

There is one on it's way to FLO 🙂 

When it arrives my colleague, Grant, will assess it with a view to FLO stocking it later this year. (Grant's NEQ6 is already upgraded with a Rowan belt mod kit). 

EDIT: The Rowan Astronomy Zero Backlash Worm Mount for Sky-Watcher NEQ6 is now in stock. 

HTH, 

Steve 

[bottletopburly]

20 hours ago, FLO said:

There is one on it's way to FLO ? 

When it arrives my colleague, Grant, will assess it with a view to FLO stocking it later this year. (Grant's NEQ6 is already upgraded with a Rowan belt mod kit). 

HTH, 

Steve 

Watching with interest ?

[spillage]

Will be interesting to see how much it improves tracking. I generally get 0.7" on average but have seen it as low as 0.4" (on rare occasions). If it can improve on this then it would still be a cheaper solution then having to upgrade to a better mount. Still if you need a second opinion I'm just up the road ?

[SteveA]

The prospect of eliminating the play in my RA axis makes me very tempted to order this, though I think I may wait and see how any early adopters get on with this before taking the plunge.  I couldn't see any documentation on the site dealing with installation and adjustment which I think would be a useful read prior to ordering.

Steve

  

[spillage]

Here is a link to the instructions.

[johngm]

I just stumbled across this post. Has there been any feedback from Grant yet Steve ? or has anyone else tried it ?

 

John 

[spillage]

So far I have not seen any new about it.

At nearly £300 it really should be good, but after installing the belt mod and mk11 wedge I find myself thinking is it worth putting more money into the mount?

[WanderingEye]

I would have thought this would have been built for the DEC drive, as really on the RA you only need some slight weight bias to eliminate backlash...the Dec would have been more useful I would have thought.... 😀

[russj]

Has anyone fitted this mod, I'm interested to hear if its increased performance of the mount.

[Peter Drew]

Nicely made but nothing new as a principle, 20 year old Meade LX200 mounts use this facility.     😀

[1parsec]

 A guy in the USA posted some feedback on Cloudy Nights a few months ago - 

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/663553-has-anyone-seen-the-new-rowan-astronomy-zero-backlash-drive/

 

[mbalkham]

I've installed this mod today and preliminary results are showing a slight improvement but not quite what I was hoping for right out the box. Needs a little more tinkering. Well built and install was pretty straightforward. Adjustment not as easy as the instructions would have you believe and still rely on feel. Not sure if I'm expecting too much under the load I have on it (20kgs of OTA and 15kg counterbalance!). Will try under less load another night. 

Also waiting for Geoptik counterweight upgrade to stiffen that connection. 

[Mike M]

On 08/06/2020 at 19:56, mbalkham said:

I've installed this mod today and preliminary results are showing a slight improvement but not quite what I was hoping for right out the box. Needs a little more tinkering. Well built and install was pretty straightforward. Adjustment not as easy as the instructions would have you believe and still rely on feel. Not sure if I'm expecting too much under the load I have on it (20kgs of OTA and 15kg counterbalance!). Will try under less load another night. 

Also waiting for Geoptik counterweight upgrade to stiffen that connection. 

I also just received this from Rowan and finished fitting this morning.  Quick question - with yours when you move the RA left and right with the clutch locked and the end caps removed, do you see the whole worm assembly moving up and down? I feel like with mine it moves way too easy after adjusting out the backlash.  I can easilly push it with 1 finger with minimal force left and right which causes the worm to move up and down when viewing without the end cap. I'm going to have more of an adjustment over the weekend.

Cheers

[Peter Drew]

Worm movement up and down isn't backlash, it's end float.  This too is adjustable and needs to be adjusted.     🙂

[Mike M]

7 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Worm movement up and down isn't backlash, it's end float.  This too is adjustable and needs to be adjusted.     🙂

Nahh it's not the end float, I adjusted the locking ring to stop the end float and there's zero float.  I'll get a video of it tonight and show what I mean.

Cheers, Mike

[mbalkham]

Yes mine moves as you describe. I cant adjust it out. I figured it was supposed to have some movement as the spring compresses? Tightening the 5 locking screws that attach the mechansism to the casing did help a little.

[wimvb]

On 10/04/2019 at 15:32, FLO said:

There is one on it's way to FLO 🙂 

When it arrives my colleague, Grant, will assess it with a view to FLO stocking it later this year. (Grant's NEQ6 is already upgraded with a Rowan belt mod kit). 

EDIT: The Rowan Astronomy Zero Backlash Worm Mount for Sky-Watcher NEQ6 is now in stock. 

HTH, 

Steve 

Does it fit the AZ-EQ6 GT?

[Mike M]

32 minutes ago, mbalkham said:

Yes mine moves as you describe. I cant adjust it out. I figured it was supposed to have some movement as the spring compresses? Tightening the 5 locking screws that attach the mechansism to the casing did help a little.

Ok cool thanks mate.  I had super tuned my NEQ6 Pro years ago with the belt kit + bearings + super lube etc and always got reasonably good total oscillations of around 0.5-0.7 with a 10" F5 (4 counterweights) in my observatory, but of course wanted better backlash control and didn't want to spend $8k on an EQ8

Cheers

[Mike M]

32 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Does it fit the AZ-EQ6 GT?

I think it's only for the NEQ6 Pro unfortunately

Cheers, Mike

[mbalkham]

Excuse the crying baby in the background!

[mbalkham]

I wish i got down to 0.5-0.7". I'm nearly there now. I did the belt mod, bearings superlube but am still some way off. Any tips?!

1) before belt mod 1.25"RMS

 

2) After Bet mod ~1"RMS

 

3) After zero backlash 0.9"RMS

Edited June 11, 2020 by mbalkham

[Mike M]

8 minutes ago, mbalkham said:

Excuse the crying baby in the background!

Ahh perfect thank you - that's exactly what mine is doing.  That makes me feel a lot better! I'll put the 10" on it during the weekend, balance it and give it a slew to make sure all is good.  We've got clouds and rain for the next 2 weeks so can't test for a while. 

[Mike M]

4 minutes ago, mbalkham said:

I wish i got down to 0.5-0.7". I'm nearly there now. I did the belt mod, bearings superlube but am still some way off. Any tips?! 

I'm cheating a little I'm using 1s exposure times on phd2 with the ZWO OAG and Orion SSAG.  What FL are you running at? Are you using an OAG or guidescope?