HEQ5 with Rowan mod

[johnst]

Hi, I'm considering buying a HEQ5 mount second hand and looking for one with a Rowan upgrade. Is it worth getting the mod as I'm just getting into imaging, looking to improve all the time! Try to anyway😉

[Thorney]

Hello. Please someone correct me if I am wrong but  yes the upgrade will be worth it. I haven’t done mine yet but will be when time allows.  I believe it makes tracking smoother and reduces the backlash as the gears can have play in them. 

[Clarkey]

It does improve slightly - mainly by reducing backlash. It also makes it quieter. I would say you can gain as much by adjusting the worm gear float. This alone will improve backlash significantly. I would say get an HEQ5 - they are good for the money. However, if you get a good deal without the belt mod get it anyway. You can always do it yourself later.

[Budgie1]

I've just fitted the Rowan Belt kit to a new HEQ5 because I wanted the mount to run a good as I can get it for imaging. When the mount arrived there was quite a lot of play in the drive gears, and that was direct out of the factory. I adjusted this out and had a couple of imaging sessions before the Rowan kit arrived, so I can really say what difference it's made but I don't have to worry about adjusting the drive gears any more and, as the others have said, it is quieter. The conversion took me about 1.5 hours to do.

If you do get the kit then I strongly advise getting the motor gear puller. You may only use it once but it's worth cost by saving you having to find another method of extracting the gear off the motor shaft.

[7170]

I've not bothered with a belt mod on mine.

The biggest improvement came from strip down and regressing (after a few years of it being outside), and of course carefully tuning the backlash.

When I first stripped down and regressed it a number of years ago I found that it actually didn't have much grease in there to start with and I'm going through a another strip down and regressing now - I try and do this every 2 or 3 years as it is my portable mount that gets left outside under a cover and moved around the garden instead of being in the observatory.

Setting a lower sidereel rate in INDI for example can ensure that you don't suffer from backlash too much anyway.

[StevieDvd]

The noise reduction is a great benefit of the belt mod, listening to a non belt mount sets my teeth on edge now. It's also more neighbour friendly.