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Drift alignment vs fear of bending NEQ6 Alt/Az bolts

AndyUK

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Hi all,

Now that I'm started guiding, I've discovered some odd star aberrations towards the top left of the frames of my MN190 and I'm trying to track it down - One of the suggestions is to more accurately polar align (which I'm assuming will involve drift alignment).

I've also recently seen a thread regarding how it's possible to bend the alt/az bolts if trying to force them...

To date I've been polar aligning with just the mount attached to the tripod (ie no load whatsoever) and then, having levelled the mount, I've used polarfinder.exe to adjust the alt/az bolts to get Polaris in (more or less) the right place on the "clock". I then add all the rest of the kit, balance, 3-star align and off I go...

My question is this - Once the mount is fully "loaded" and whilst drift aligning, how can you adjust the alt/az bolts without fear of forcing / bending the bolts? I'll admit I have tried moving them fully laden, and adjustments are really difficult (especially in az) due to there being 35Kg+ weight bearing down [i have checked them - They're not bent... yet :icon_eek:]

Am I just being over-protective, or is there something I'm missing? I thought of polar aligning with the guidescope only, but by the time I'd then got the full imaging rig on, balanced, 3-star aligned and tracking started, the mount would be out of alignment again :)

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Cheers Alan - I actually already have those fitted (the previous owner installed them after his bent!).

If it's just going to (potentially) be "one of those things" one has to live with, then so be it. Obviously the bolts can be replaced, but I also had fears how much the end of the bolt might be chewing up the inside of the mount :)

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moocher

moocher

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I do think your "pushing" the EQ6 if you have 35 kgs of weight on it!!! Its rated for about 24. My old one had a 10" LX200 ota on it a Borg 77 ed (god i misss that scope) and all the ccd, filter wheel etc. TBH i wasn`t really happy with that much weight on it.....

Alan:D

Have you actually weighed what you have on it?

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AndyUK

AndyUK

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Hi Mike - That weight I quoted is inclusive of counterweights. The imaging setup itself weighs about 17Kgs (MN190, ST102, dovetails, guiderings, camera, etc etc) which is then balanced with 4x5Kgs on the other side...

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Vega

Vega

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I ruined my EQ6 Pro GOTO within the first week by not taking note of which way to screw the bolts! uuupss. Thanksfully, I managed to just about get the ruined bolts out of the housing. I got some really great (very tough) replacements easily tho.

My advice is go ahead with the drift aligning as you need but just take the time to learn which way to screw them. Unscrewing one first then screwing in the other means you wont put any un-nescessary strain on them. Problem is its easy to get confused and end up screwing them toward one another!

Remember clockwise screws in, anti-clockwise screws out. But they face each other.

Matt

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