EQ5 with SynScan upgrade

[Stu1smartcookie]

Hi everyone, I have just purchased an EQ 5 along with the SynScan upgrade . Fitted the motors on ( 2 hrs 💤) and it seems to work fine . The only thing that worries me a bit is that the mount is a bit “stiff” in both axis . Whereas the  Heq5 that I had was very smooth . I seem to remember way back that my last EQ5 was a bit like this . Is it just because it’s new ? I’ve not tested it in anger yet as since I’ve bought my 72Ed it’s been cloudy ( 2 bloody weeks  ) I did do a dry run indoors and it did seem to slew to it’s supposed targets ok , with no apparent stress . Surely these mounts come well greased ... I have reported the issue to Widescreen Centre where I bought it . Anyone else had a problem like this? 

[DaveL59]

When you say stiff, that's before the motors were fitted yes? Could be the grease is a bit claggy from sitting in storage, maybe it'll improve once the weather warms up and if you work the axes through the range a few times.

I've 2 older (black) EQ5's that I bought used, one runs smooth and no stiffness where the other does have some resistance in parts of the RA movement. This latter did have the SynScan fitted and it'd seem to skip on the gears which sounded horrible. I've since transferred the SynScan onto the other EQ5 and it runs fine. I do plan to strip down the now non-goto EQ5 and re-grease etc, one day tho it works fine for manual and I've other priorities at the mo.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Thanks for the reply , yes it was before the motors were fitted .. I also hope/ think that it might free up with continual use . Just a bit strange when my Heq5 has such free movement ( that was a second hand mount though ) . The thing is , I don’t want to put unnecessary strain on the motors .. it seemed fine , although quite loud compared to the Heq 5 but that mount had the rowan upgrade . 

[bobro]

RA or DEC on an EQ5 should be easy to move with the cable controls - even with the cables disconnected and just the remaining stub to move with fingers it should be easy. Tightness may be due to the worm gear (backlash) being too tight. If this is the case rotating the RA/DEC control over 360 degrees could result in some periods of slack and some of tightness. Adjusting the worm is a bit of a compromise, especially for astrophotography where backlash doesn't help imaging. For visual it isn't so much of an issue.

Some info here:

 

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

many thanks for the reply bobro .. to be honest its easy to turn with the slow motion controls , i reckon it will free up a bit , if i ever get chance to use it !! Set everything up about an hour ago only for some really dark clouds to completely swamp my patch of sky   .

 

Edited July 11, 2020 by Stu1smartcookie

[michael8554]

In what way do you think the mount is "stiff" ? 

You've said the mount can be easily moved with the slomo controls, so how does this "stiffness" manifest ?

Michael

[Stu1smartcookie]

hi michael , when i rotate the mount with the clutch fully released it seems " balanced " even when it certainly isnt ( it seems to be freeing up a bit now , but its certainly not as "free" as my other mount . Using the mount as i write this and everything seems to be fine ... its tracking superbly , with no strain to the motors so i guess everything is fine .