EQ6 Belt Mod

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi,

After having my EQ6 for 9 years now I have decided to belt mod it over the summer to try to get my guiding down even further.  It seems like the mods take all the backlash out of the mount and also make the PE a lot lower than standard and only costs about £50 to do.  Also its a reversible operation if I get it wrong.

Chris

[JohnP]

Be really interested to see how you get on - make sure you document. Why do you want PE even lower - doesn't your guiding take care of it all? I am sure I've seen you doing 15-20min subs before so doesn't sound like a major issue unless you are planning on imaging at really long Focal Lengths...

John

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi,

It's more to see if I can do  less corrections than modding the guiding today.  But I will do a full before and after on the mod.

Chris

[JohnP]

cool - is there a webpage detailing the mod?

[RobertM]

Chris,

I'm going to be doing the bearings on mine shortly.  Is that something you've done and could share experiences of ?

I've also seen the belt mod, looks interesting.  Is it a direct drive belt i.e. no gearboxes ?

Robert

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi Rob,

The bearings mod is easy, but its only worthwhile replacing the small ones at the end of the RA and DEC and not the larger ones.  Also cleaning up the guu from the worms is a must.  It's easy to do the only special spanner will be a pipe wrench I used a rubber one for getting jam jar tops off with.  Takes about 2-3 hours.

I would recomment getting a new set of washers and setting the space between the gears and worms correctly so that they mesh well, again its easy to do.  http://astrotroniks.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=14  I got mine made by a guitar maker.

The belt Mod I was thinking of is the 5:1 ratio direct drive mod.  Here an uba thread on the subject.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/119826-eq6-belt-drive-modification/

Chris

[RobertM]

Thanks for that Chris, that's quite a thread !

It's a shame that the belt ratios preclude the use of the handset but I guess we can't have everything.  the belt mod is intrigueing none the less and if it gets rid of that backlash then it's got to be considered.

Both the axes in my NEQ6 are quite tight and do not move that easily so I'll probably order bearings for both axis and do everything at the same time.  It'll probably be August when I do it now as I've other equipment issues to sort out plus an OU residential course to prepare for.

Thanks
Robert

[Rocket Pooch]

Rob,

If you release the clamps and try to turn each axis and its tight, its not the bearings.  The casings sit onto the bass section above the worm, was going to say flange there!  You cannot test the bearing smoothness manually  The way to make the smoother is to put some grinding paste into the case and turn them around a lot!  Or take them to a machine shop and get .001 mm hacked off them....

If you look at this image the worm is in the case the brass that the clamps squish onto is outside, this is what cases the tight feeling.  



This is the key part to getting the mount tracking very well http://www.astro-baby.com/EQ6-Supertune/EQ6%20Super%20Tune%20Guide.php


Chirs

[RobertM]

That's brilliant Chris, thanks very much.

Robert

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi,

Did you read the mount revision history it seems like if you got your mount in 2008 they are the better ones, when Mike and I got ours it seems they were at their worse!

Chris