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EQ Platforms in the UK

ZOG

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johninderby

johninderby

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Yes that looks like a good price at £499.00, providing that it does work as advertised of course. Be interesting to hear from someone on SGL who actually gets to use one.

The next step up from an EU manufacturer is the Geoptik EQ platform at about £750.00, it is a very nice CNC machined alloy one though.

John

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ZOG

ZOG

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Well I'm in the process of ordering mine so hopefully it won't be too long John, I'm sure David said he has some ready for delivery. Of course it means that the imaging project has to go on the back burner for a wee while, but I've been banging on about an EQ platform for ages so I just have to have one :D

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ZOG

ZOG

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I really dont know but I do know you have to switch off the sidereal clock while tracking. The other option is to leave the clock on then push the platform to the start position before you go to a new target. Should be interesting, if I ever get a clear night to try it out.

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ZOG

ZOG

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Platform arrived this morning so I left work an hour early to have a look. First impressions are that it is well made, from quality components. The wooden parts are well painted with the top surface having an ant slip coating. Bearings are stainless steel and the running surfaces are covered with aluminium to prevent wear. The motor drive is a celestron unit (#93514) it has a on / off switch, North / South switch, and a variable speed control. Power is supplied by a 9volt battery. The platform also has a "end of run" cut off switch tp prevent it from over rotating. It arrived pre set to my latitude of 55 degrees and with the motor set to sidereal speed. A compass and a 2 way level are also supplied (nice). The instructions are quite comprehensive but unfortunately are a few printed sheets stapled together at the top corner. (Note to David, it would have been so much nicer to staple down the middle and make a booklet).

Hopefully, I'll get a clear night over the weekend so I can do a first light report. I'll add some pics tomorrow.

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ZOG

ZOG

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Right, I'm not very clever with this photo upload stuff so lets see if this works. Also apologies for the picture quality, these were taken with my bluetooth !

frontview.jpg

The groundboard with the North bearing and roller drive facing the camera. The small white switch is the end of run cut off switch.

Southbearing.jpg

Groundboard again, this time showing the South bearing

driveroller.jpg

Close up of the roller drive

drivemotor.jpg

Close up of the Celestron drive motor

assembled.jpg

The assembled platform. I haven't had a chance to put the dob on it yet, but I'll post more pics when I do.

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  • 2 months later...
Moonshane

Moonshane

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I may be thick but cannot understand how this works. the angle of 'tilt' on the upper board seems to be nowhere close to 55 degrees and how can a scope stay on a board at 55 degrees??? so obviously I am not understanding it.

obviously it's too late for my brain.

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irishbloke

irishbloke

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you only have to have the angle that makes it up to 90 with the latitude ie 90-55= 35 degrees and its the arcs under the top board that are at this angle not the the actual board. It's not like a wedge more a pivot to match the rotation of earht for a while.

Saying that I still haven't worked out my centre of gravity etc!

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JamesM

JamesM

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An observing chum has got one of these and took it out with the group one evening. Now I didn't inspect it too closely but from what I could tell, its build quality looked fine but I thought that the variable tracking adjustment knob could do with being larger so that you could adjust the timing of tracking with more ease and accuracy than having to keep fettling with it to get the tracking absolutely right. The other issue was the amount of time the tracking lasts for (25mins?) as it wasn't long before the whole thing had to be reset from the beginning. The guy who brought it out did seem a little preoccupied with its running through the whole evening and at £500 my personal view (I'm not a dob owner) is whether its really worth the money given that one of the advantages of a dob is that it's quick to set up and go. Short tracking, achieving accuracy and levelling - sounds like too much of a distraction.

Apologies for being negative but it was what I observed.

James

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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you only have to have the angle that makes it up to 90 with the latitude ie 90-55= 35 degrees and its the arcs under the top board that are at this angle not the the actual board. It's not like a wedge more a pivot to match the rotation of earht for a while.

Saying that I still haven't worked out my centre of gravity etc!

ahhh cheers for that matey - I knew I had it wrong but could not suss why!

my centre of gravity is just above my belly button :)

seriously though, I presume its where the alt pivot is?

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