EQ6 play, what causes it?

[mike bacanin]

I have an EQ6 non go-to, about 18 months old.

It works and tracks fine. I noticed the other night, when i locked the Dec axis, that there is some play when i held the focusser end of my refractor and moved it.

the play is rotational,and with the ota off the mount, i can just detect it by trying to turn the puck section with the dec clamp on.

any idea what's causing the play?

mike

[Astro_Baby]

Its most likley the worm gear engagement - theres always a small amount of play in my HEQ5. It used to drive me nuts wondering what it was and for ages I thought it was the dovetail bar flexing.

Getting the worm engagement right is about getting it tight enough to hold the scope firmly but not so tight the motors cant drive it.

It could also be that the clucth isnt biting hard enough but I doubt it.

If you want to see how the worms are adjusted I have an HEQ5 guide - the EQ6 is similar but theres also some links on my guide to EQ6 pages which may help you.

The guides HERE

[rikyuu]

I agree with Astrobaby and have the same on my EQ6. Too tight and the motor won't drive it. I read that the smoothest tracking is when the weight is slightly balanced against the direction of drive so it's effectively pushing the mount around. With this in mind, a small amount of slack should not make any difference until it 'tips' the other way of course, but that's easy to plan around. Hope that makes sense.

[beetlejuice]

I have an EQ6 non go-to, about 18 months old.

It works and tracks fine. I noticed the other night, when i locked the Dec axis, that there is some play when i held the focusser end of my refractor and moved it.

the play is rotational,and with the ota off the mount, i can just detect it by trying to turn the puck section with the dec clamp on.

any idea what's causing the play?

mike

My EQ6 Pro and my EQ5 both have the same issue. I've just stripped and rebuilt my EQ5 and getting the gear mesh adjustment right was an almighty fiddle - 5 bolts to mess around with. There is a very fine line between tight and loose - the trick is to get it not too too tight and not too loose. Not easy! I have accepted a slight bit of backlash in RA & Dec. I haven't adjusted my EQ6 as, in practice, I haven't found it to be a problem.

[roundycat]

I think I have the same movement as you describe. As others have said, if you do not have this movement you run the risk of binding gears and much worse. The time to start worrying is when you can detect no movement (backlash) at all. My mount is an AP1200 by the way, not known to be a troublesome beast.

Dennis

[Astro_Baby]

I thought I was going to go insane with the RA worm engegment on the HEQ5 after rebuilding it. Its one of those jobs where you really need to walk away and leave it alone for a bit - before returning to sort it out once and for all

Its a really fiddlesome bit of work and you need the 'Goldilocks' position - not too loose, not too tight.