EQ8 backlash issues, age old story.. :)

[BillyBoy]

Hi All, am new here..
I am a proud new owner of a three year old EQ8 mount head, and it was a great deal so am happy..
Now I have read the many posters on here regarding backlash on these mounts and mine does have a bit in both DEC and R.A., but my questions are:

1. Does the R.A. backlash really matter when guiding and the fact that the drive is always engaged and moving...apart from during a flip of course, if not then I may well just leave that alone.

2. I Have the instructions for removing DEC backlash and seems fairly straight forward, so may well give it a go. mine is a three year old mount, so from around 2016, so would I be correct in thinking that some of the issues were sorted before mine was built, ie with earlier versions..? And any tips on doing this adjustment will be helpful... 
Thanks in advance

Billy

[sloz1664]

Hi Billy and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

The issues were on the initial batches of the EQ8. SW have tightened up the quality control on the later batches.  It's negligible so PHD2 guiding will can check the amount and compensate. Check youtube for guides on how to adjust  RA & DEC backlash.

Steve

 

 

 

[BillyBoy]

Just now, sloz1664 said:

Hi Billy and a very warm welcome to the Lounge

The issues were on the initial batches of the EQ8. SW have tightened up the quality control on the later batches.  It's negligible so PHD2 guiding will can check the amount and compensate. Check youtube for guides on how to adjust  RA & DEC backlash.

Steve

 

 

 

Thanks, yes I know how to adjust, just wanted to know if it was needed on the R.A., or whether it’s not a problem as it’s always being driven, DEC I know is a different story..

[cotak]

Some say RA doesn't matter but it does. You'll need to balance east heavy to ensure that the OTA stays on one side of the worm on RA. Otherwise you could get a bit of movement at some orientation where the spacing all it to freely move. Make sure it's east heavy or you'll be running the mount where the worm is letting the wheel move with gravity rather than driving it. If you never turned a worm by hand with loads applied against and with the direction of movement, you'll quickly find that with the load with you it causes a rough feeling in the worm wheel interface. You don't want that roughness. 

Edited April 30, 2019 by cotak

[martin_h]

I have a brand new EQ8 that suffered a shed load of DEC backlash, it was a fairly painless exercise to tune it out.

[BillyBoy]

3 hours ago, martin_h said:

I have a brand new EQ8 that suffered a shed load of DEC backlash, it was a fairly painless exercise to tune it out.

Hi,

any tips, I have the instructions for it, but tips from someone who has done it successfully are always better..

[martin_h]

2 minutes ago, BillyBoy said:

Hi,

any tips, I have the instructions for it, but tips from someone who has done it successfully are always better..

I just followed the instructions to the letter, make sure you rotate it under power for at least two full turns in both directions to check for binding.

[ollypenrice]

Backlash in either axis does matter for guiding. Its negative effects in RA can be reduced by running east heavy and in Dec by being slightly polar misaligned, with only one guide direction active in the guide program. Hwever, a bit of wind can soon catch you out. Best to fix the backlash mechanically.

Olly

[Astroscot2]

The backlash issue I had with my EQ8 was DEC only,  The issue manifested its self when I tried to calibrate the guiding, the software struggled to adjust the mount take up the backlash., calibration would often fail. When calibration worked, guiding was smooth. I was not for tinkering with the mechanics on a 2.5k mount.

 

Mark

 

[Northernlight]

anyone got any good youtube links - I just did a quick search for EQ8 Backlash adjustment and didn't see anything.