EQ1 on a EQ5 Steel Tripod

[PeterStudz]

I’ve been meaning to write this up for months and at last the flu has given me a bit of time And it might help someone. Some of the pictures taken back in the summer.

After seeing a member review of the SkyWatcher StarQuest-130P from @Chris I liked the mount. I’d grown to like EQ mounts and this looked far better than the wobbly EQ1 I had for my old SkyWatcher Skyhawk 1145p. However, you can only buy the StarQuest as an OTA, mount and tripod package. But looking at it the StarQuest mount exactly fits a EQ1 head plus aluminium tripod. Here’s the 1145p last January still with EQ1 doing some white light solar. I still like it. The OTA itself isn’t at all bad, it makes a quick grab and go, reasonable for wide-field and I find it complements my 200p Dob. I’m not interested in goto but do like the ability to track for visual. Surely something could be done.

Seeing the mount only being sold second hand for a knock down price was too hard to resist. So, on the spur of the moment I bought it. It’s the exact same fixing as an EQ1 and fits an EQ1 tripod perfectly. In fact I’m sure that the tripod that is sold with the StarQuest package is a just EQ1 tripod.

This worked fine. I could use the StarQuest in Alt-Azimuth mode or track in EQ mode with the little motor. Stability had improved but the aluminium tripod still let it down. At high magnification the issue was obvious - the legs of the tripod would vibrate like string in a guitar. 

I had  bought a second hand steel EQ5 type tripod from another member on here. Thanks again @Stu1smartcookie! However, I did not plan to use it for the 1145p. Now, the EQ1/StarQuest both have the same fixing with a M10 thread. The EQ5 is for a mount with M10 thread. But the EQ1 & StarQuest have a shaft that makes it incompatible with a EQ5 tripod. In fact it’s not compatible  with any tripod apart from the wobbly old EQ1 aluminium tripod. Why oh why SkyWatcher can’t use a fixing that will attached to any other tripod I just don’t know. Well, I have an ideal that it’s deliberate - so you can’t do what I wanted and easily upgrade in stages - you are forced to spend more money. 

Not to be beaten I made a riser block out of a bit of scrap wood. It needed a bit of a lift anyway as the extra spread of the EQ5 meant that the end of the OTA would hit the legs at certain angles when near zenith.

 

This did mean that the fixing shaft of the EQ5 now wasn’t long enough. An easy fix would be to get a length of M10 threaded rod, but for me that had a few disadvantages. For one the rather basic way of polar aligning the StarQuest means loosening the fixing bolt. So, the plan was to get a M8 star knob that would pass through the bottom of the EQ5 hub without engaging the M10 thread and use a M8 to M10 adapter to connect to the mount. While getting bored waiting for the cheap M8 star knob to arrive from China I decided to make my own out of an M8 coach bolt and scrap plywood. Wish I’d thought of this before as a spade bit and jigsaw (you could use a hacksaw) had one made in around 20 minutes. Plenty pf instructions on the internet of how to do this and the result is far better than a plastic version. For a start it just feels so much better and is just the right size to grip. I’d certainly do it again if I even need a star knob.

 

Of course now the tripod accessory tray didn’t fit. The tray also gives a bit more stability and I like accessory trays anyway. A few 45mm exhaust clamps at £1.45 fixed this, with the tray rammed up against the legs.

The end result is something that’s rock solid and a joy to use. At last, no more wobbles! I can use the mount in EQ with or without motorised tracking. And I can also use it in Alt-Azimuth. I’ve kept the EQ1 aluminium tripod as a travel option - last summer I fitted the whole thing in hold luggage on an aircraft.

A couple of other improvements. I find that the counterweight rod, whatever the mount, can wobble even if slightly. A penny washer fixes this. The thumb screws on the slow motion controls can work loose. A tiny section of plastic tubing (I used model aircraft fuel tubing which I had at home) provides some friction when tightened down and stops this happening. 
 

 

 

And just to show that you can, here’s the EQ1 on the EQ5. It’s amazing how much of the wobble actually comes from the aluminium tripod!