FYI: Mount Bases

[The Thing]

Saw this on the EQMOD forum and thought it might be useful especially to those with permanent setup and Skywatcher mounts. Other mounts may have similar issues and similar fixes. My HEQ5 is a shocker to the extent that I have shimmed the altitude pivot bolt with tinfoil :} to try and improve things.

Hi Guys.. The main weak spot on the EQ6 (besides the tripod in stock form) is the base casting. It DOES flex quite a bit. There are new base configurations on the market but the cost is quite substantial. I am working on a solution to this and a prototype.
This SHOULD vastly improve the weight capability of the EQ6 in general. The bearings and main head casting is extremely stiff, but the base is where the wiggles happen. Immediate improvement can be had by taking off the side plates (plastic discs) to expose the small set screws that press on the washer that controls the pivot tension. drill those out and retap to 1/4-20 or 1/4-28 or 8mm and use socket head set screws to lock the axis solidly once polar alignment is set on the mount. This takes all the pivot play and "weakness" from that assembly based on the inaccuracy of the main pivot pin/bolt)
Cheers
Dave Yates

[MarkS]

An interesting solution but is it really necessary?

If you have polar aligned with the full load in place then the amount of load on the base should not change during imaging because everything is balanced with counterweights.

Admittedly it might change if you later use a different scope.

Mark