HEQ5 Upgrade to Synscan - advice needed

[Astro_Baby]

Well I went out of my mind a few days ago and bought a Synscan upgrade to the HEQ5 mount.

The upgrade seems to have gone mostly ok but I have a few nagging problems so any advice welcome on this.

1/ When I manually slew at max speed both the RA and DEC motors sound a little like a coffee grinder/squealy kind of sound on start up. Once running they just whine like a turbine and sound fine but the initial start-up creates a nasty grinding sound. They also do it when they run down to stop.

I have set the gear teeth slightly out so they aren't pressed too hard againts each other so I wonder of this is the normal noise from an HEQ5 pro mount when the motors kick off.

2/ The RA drive sometimes seems to stick and makes a really bad grinding sound as though somethings stopping it moving. It happens at one particulat position only ( when the counterweight shaft is at about 45' ) Again I have set the gears at what I believe to be correct. It cant be the balance of ths scope because it does it even with no scope or weights. Its not consistent - sometimes it does it sometimes not. I have slackened off the RA set scale and fiddled about with the gear teeth distances but it doesnt seem to get any better. The motor goes kind of clack - clack grrrrrr and just stops.

3/ Super oddball problem here - when the scope is set to slew and you hold the button down to impress friends and family with how fast the slewing is the scope has twice now 'run away' - the slewing has continued even with finger off the button. The only cure is to power it off before it crashes into its own mount.

At the moment I am running it off a 7aH power tank and with the standard supplied Synta cable - I'll get an astronomiser canle in a few days from Steve but I cant see that would be causing these problems.

Oh the handset says the formware version is 3.1 if thats any help.

Any advice most welcome.

[proflight2000]

Astro, firstly, get some (if you have not done it already) some silicon grease and coat the cogs. The other bit with grinding. The plate that covers the gears on the scope, remove at first 1 screw, test it, if it still growls remove a second screw, it wont do it any harm, you may find the gears are rubbing against the inside of the cover plate.

Also, make sure the balancing is spot on, any overweight issue on either the dec or the ra movement will cause the motors to fight to run, play with the balancing, Also, go to the skyscan site and redownload the latest firmware and reload it to the handset, a corruptive firmware on the handset can cause issues of over running. HTH keep us advised.

Just to mention, when you loosen the side panel on the heq, run the tracking and watch the plate, if you see it bobbing up and down then thats your issue with the grinding, I know this as it did it to my old one.

[beamish]

TBH ,if it's a high pitched squeal at the start and end of a slew-perfectly normal. Shouldn't sound like a grinding noise though.

[steppenwolf]

The grinding shouldn't be there, these mounts normally sound so sweet they 'sing'. When I upgraded my EQ6 mount, I pressed the motor cog as hard up to the little section of exposed cog projecting into the body of the mount as possible before tightening the motor retaining bolts as suggested in the installation manual and this has worked really well. This mesh is very important so it might be worth trying this with yours but make only one change at a time.

This hand controller 'crash' is not good news although it could be as simple as the power supply - does the LED on the mount flash at any time? If it does then your current draw is compromised and you will need to arrange a better source of power. If it is not this then an update to the the firmware could well resolve the issue

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

The stopping bit is the clutch arm hitting the head, mine did that. Just take the lever off and put it back so that it doesn't hit any more.

Kaptain klevtsov

[Whippy]

1/ When I manually slew at max speed both the RA and DEC motors sound a little like a coffee grinder/squealy kind of sound on start up. Once running they just whine like a turbine and sound fine but the initial start-up creates a nasty grinding sound. They also do it when they run down to stop.

Mine does that as does a few others I believe. It doesn't seem to affect the operation of the scope so it's not a biggie. I cured it purely by accident by cleaning the cluthes and the surface they rub up against. Still can't quite work out how or why, but it seemed to have done the trick.

3/ Super oddball problem here - when the scope is set to slew and you hold the button down to impress friends and family with how fast the slewing is the scope has twice now 'run away' - the slewing has continued even with finger off the button. The only cure is to power it off before it crashes into its own mount.

At the moment I am running it off a 7aH power tank and with the standard supplied Synta cable - I'll get an astronomiser canle in a few days from Steve but I cant see that would be causing these problems.

Not wishing to quote grandmothers and eggs, but it's not the button on the handset sticking which is causing your mount to go AWOL is it? It's happned to me once or twice especially when it gets a little chilly.

Again, you most likely already know this but keep that powertank fully charged because these mounts don't 'do' low power.

Tony..

[James]

1/ When I manually slew at max speed both the RA and DEC motors sound a little like a coffee grinder/squealy kind of sound on start up. Once running they just whine like a turbine and sound fine but the initial start-up creates a nasty grinding sound. They also do it when they run down to stop.

Mine does that as does a few others I believe.

Both mine and FLO's own EQ6 do exactly the same. Much like Tony I've never found it to cause a problem but as an owner of a CG5-GT perhaps my hearing isn't what it was?

James

[Astro_Baby]

Thanks guys - I think I have it sussed out now. Last night I was so tired I could hardly type.

The grating sound has gone away - I let the drive cogs off a small amount and also gave the cogs a clean and recoated them in litium grease. The motors still sound a bit whiney when they kick off but its much smoother now. Last night I was using the SW supplied grease which although hasnt been a problem till now I think it may not have been up to the job.

The sticking position - well thats still there. I suspect its a bit of grot on the RA drive cog inside the mount ( the one that connects to the RA worm gear ). I have taken the worm gear out, cleaned it down with some white spirits and regerased it and its ball races and the problem has been reduced. I have now found with the scope mounted the problem isn't there - it still is with no load on the mount though which is a bit puzzling. I suspect with the mount loaded whateever bit of grot is unable to stop the scope with the mass moving around.

Thats for future invetsigation when I finally strip the entire mount - IF I ever find a decent guide on how to do it.

Runaway motors - thats an odd one - I cant make it reproduce that fault tonite. But none the less I'll down load thge latest firmware.

Thanks as ever for all you help and watch out for the 'how to take the HEQ5 to pieces guide' from me if I cant find anyone else who has done a good one. :grin:

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I found that the screw for the setting circle causes the mount to jam up sometimes.

http://www.gas.uk.net/HEQ5/ is a link to a web page I did.

For a take it to bits guide, I've found none better than this, you have to scroll through some other good stuff to get there:-

http://ozastro.dyndns.org/index1.html

Hope this helps,

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Ant]

1/ When I manually slew at max speed both the RA and DEC motors sound a little like a coffee grinder/squealy kind of sound on start up. Once running they just whine like a turbine and sound fine but the initial start-up creates a nasty grinding sound. They also do it when they run down to stop.

Mine does that as does a few others I believe.

Both mine and FLO's own EQ6 do exactly the same. Much like Tony I've never found it to cause a problem but as an owner of a CG5-GT perhaps my hearing isn't what it was?

James

I bought a upgrade kit and mine did it. I then bought a pro mount (white jobby) and that did it as well.

Seems to do it when it get's to speed 6.

I wrote this when i did the upgrade, maybe it'll help, maybe not http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,25972.0.html

Ant

[beamish]

AB I'm sure you've seen this but if not, I used this site as a guide for stripping and regreasing

http://ozastro.dyndns.org/dec_lube_adjust.html

http://ozastro.dyndns.org/ra_lube_adjust.html

[Astro_Baby]

Thanks guys - yes I have seen the ozastro article but its a bit vague in places and and he doesnt say what tolerance should be ( probably cos no one actually knows - not even Synta ).

I'm going to strip mine down very soon and when I do I'll document the whole thing with words and pictures like a Haynes manual type thing. I'm a bit nervous about doing it though cos the HEQ5 seems to have all sorts of stuff for which I dont have tools - jewellers wrenches etc and living in a flat I lack the workshop I used to have to make things up on demand. I suppose I'll have to be inventive but the last time I started taking the HEQ5 to bits I got a bit worried.

I'v taken lots of things to pieces and reassembled them in my time including a Bonneville 750cc engine, a V12 Jaguar and a Triumph Spitfire 1300cc engine and gearbox. Even did a bit of helping out with a Bristol Syddley Orpheus years and years ago but theres a big difference - all those engines had manuals which told you what to be messing with.

Ah well - if I am free this weekend I suppose I'll have to go into the wild blue yonder and take the HEQ5 to bits.

One things for sure I'll make this mount sing smooth eventually. :grin:

[beamish]

AB given your experience with the engines the HEQ5 will be a synch ! I took the opportunity to replace all the set screws with better quality ones (not hard to do!). I printed off the pages from the ozastro site and just took it step by step with lots of little plastic "take-away" trays to hold the bits and a reservoir of solvent to clean all the gunk off. Just tick off the stages as you go . Good quality Lithium grease and be wary of the thin transparent shims !! Easy to overlook and yet vital for a smooth running mount. The ONLY tricky bit I found was the flat washer type nut at the top of the Dec axis, beneath the puc, that was a devil to loosen and required some creative thinking in the absence of the correct tool (2x 4mm drillbits and a wrench from an angle grinder )

YOU WONT REGRET DOING IT !!

Karlo

[Astro_Baby]

The bit that worries me the most Karlo is the worm setting/shims. But I suppose I'll have to give it a go - its in my nature really. I'm going to photograph the whole process step by step - actually my sone will photograph it for me as I go and he'll be taking notes and helping me. Its good experience for him really to get a bit of spanner time with mum even if it does embarass him that mum is better at engineering than most of his friends dads LOL.

[beamish]

"The bit that worries me the most Karlo is the worm setting/shims"

Narrr it's nothng to worry about, crikey I did it and if you knew me you'd know that's saying something If you follow the step by step guide I really can't see how you might get stuck You'll be ever so surprised to see just how simple a design the mechanics in the mount are :shock:

Karlo

[Astro_Baby]

Well I have spent all day taking the HEQ5 to bits and reassaembling. Its taken ages because I have been photographing and taking notes at every step ready for a guide on how to do it complete with pics.

Currently I'm really struggling with the worm adjustment on the RA which seems to leave the RA a bit 'floppy' each time. As I suspected the worm adjustment has been a complete pain and at the mo the RA always ends up with a small amount of movement when its locked down. Not entirely sure whats wrong. Earlier it seemed fine but after mounting the scope and weights its gone loose again.

As soon as this is licked and I can understand whats happening I'll write it all up into a super duper 'how to guide' for idiots like me.

Mostly its gone ok and the axis are lots smoother than before. Also found some horrid swarf inside and some blistered off paint gumming up the works, All nicely coated down with lithium grease just trying to pin down the slop in the RA axis and then its done.

Special thanks to my son, Carl, for helping me out with it all.

[proflight2000]

Good to see you adopt those female abilities Astro and read the instructions, me, well like all blokes i throw it together then wonder why it dont work.

[Astro_Baby]

I'm very methodical but also slightly obsessive/compulsive - when things dont work how I want them to I can spend hours just messing about and I'm never really happy til its just right.