I would like to thank the author of this video (I am speaking generically because it was a list of videos that led me to this result) for his work and for having helped me to greatly improve my HEQ5 setup. Previously it drove with about 3.0" RMS and could barely capture anything. Combined with the terrible seeing here and the brightness of the city (Bortle 8), I kept trying for 6 years and almost gave up astrophotography. Well, I tried to make a last effort and cleaned and lubricated the HEQ5, installed Rowan's belt kit and changed the Hypertune's bearings. In the last few days I had open skies and was able to test the results. The HEQ5 is incredibly accurate, averaging 0.4" RMS and easily holding 0.3" RMS if you have a good guiding star (the seeing here is still very bad). Yesterday I managed to reach 0.28" RMS with a wind of about 5 to 10 km / h capturing the nebula of the lagoon (Messier 8). I am very happy and will continue strong and steady in search of new catches. If you also have the same problems I have, believe that they can be solved.

Great video Martin. You managed to get all the necessary content in there and explained clearly with good shots of everything but without going on for ages or repeating yourself 👍

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Dan. Appreciate your positive feedback. Clear Skies!

Thank you so much for explaining/showing this in detail. The diagrams were very useful for understanding how things actually works. I learned something. Thanks again

Brilliant I had significant backlash in RA and DEC, this really helped sort it, my PHD2 graph has never so good.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Clive Roberts That’s great to hear Clive! Thanks for letting me know.

Thank you for the excellent Tutorial Martin.😀👌🏼 I have an Orion Sirius and was nervous to take it apart and clear my dec backlash but your hands on explanation has eased my mind. Clear skies 🌌

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comment Ranjit. I’m really glad it gave you the confidence you wanted. Clear Skies!

Thanks for this masterclass, great amount of information and very clear to be understood all process. Good teacher !! 😅 Im gonna buy an heq5 in a few days and I found all this ads very important to improove my knowledge all about it. Thanks again for share from Canary Islands.😎

Super helpful video. I just bought this mount and will do the belt mod next week (parts on the way) and then take out any backlash as you clearly demonstrated. Thanks for taking the time to make this.

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the positive feedback. Hope your belt mod upgrade goes well. Clear Skies!

Thanks for a good tutorial. I adjusted both DEC and RA backlash on my HEQ5 Pro. Now both DEC and RA are very smooth and much quieter.

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Great! Glad it was helpful. Clear Skies!

Thanks for this tutorial... clear directions and easy to understand

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Ergio. Clear Skies!

Thank you so much for this video Martin, very well explained and demonstrated - it was a straightforward process after watching and I definitely see why you said to keep reducing the angle of turn on each adjustment as towards the end the wobble reduces very quickly. I've had my mount since January and had thought nothing of the huge huge wobble I had in RA, not knowing any better, and it had always felt much looser than Dec with the clutches disengaged and I now know why. I also did the Rowan belt mod before I saw your video, so fingers crossed between that and the worm gear adjustment I'll get some great guiding. Thanks again and clear skies!

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear that this has helped you. I learned a huge amount by taking my mount apart. It is a pleasure to share that in order to help others. Thanks for going to the trouble of commenting. So let me know if the performance has improved…I will be surprised if that is not the case. Clear Skies.

Very useful instruction! Thanks a lot!

Thank you so much for your extremely helpful video. It helps me remove my terrible grinding sound and serious backlash in my mount. Now I am waiting for a clear night to test it out. But from the sound of it, it should greatly improve my poor guiding. Subscribed. Keep up the good work.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comments and for subscribing. I’m so pleased it was helpful. Clear Skies!

An excellent tutorial Martin, thank you.

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for that. Clear skies.

Excellent tutorial, had issues with my Dec, all done and dusted thanks to you....👍

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear that Ian. Clear Skies!

Thank you Martin. Followed your instructions on my heq5. Dec backlash was removed on first try. RA on 2nd try. All nice and tight on both axis, no binding, and slews nicely all the way around. Great explanation on the worm carrier and grub screws. For the grubs I suggest barely tight on each end and tighter with the housing screws. Great vid.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Mark Kraz Hi Mark. Thanks for the comment. Glad it helped you. Yes, the grub screws on the worm carriers are just for moving it very small amounts. It’s the three larger bolts that hold the carrier (and worm) firmly in place. so the grub screws should not be tightened. Clear Skies!

Thank you. That was what I needed to fix the backlash in my Orion Sirius EQ-G mount.

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Andrew. That’s great to hear. Thanks for the positive feedback. Clear Skies!

Thanks for that Martin - had seen a few others and tried but your diagrams (courtesy Astrobaby) made the difference. Now I understand how it works I can understand the process. The retighten the securing bolts after the initial unlocking makes a huge difference. If they are too slack when you complete the adjusting process it all shifts so back to square one! Cheers.

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped Phil, and thanks for commenting. Clear Skies!

Thank you very much for this excellent tutorial.

Excellent ! Thanks of lot, very clear and useful !

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you Stephan! Clear Skies.

Great video! This really helps with my eq6-r pro mount as well!.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Great to hear!

Excellent Tutorial, Thanks for sharing.

Very good video, thank you for taking the time to make this.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks James. Appreciate the comment.

Thanks for posting this Martin. I managed to drop my brand-new Rowan-modded HEQ5Pro onto concrete the second time out, and not surprisingly there was a lot of play in the Dec axis once I’d dusted it down and stopped swearing! Probably surprising that it worked at all, testament to how solidly built these things are. I followed your instructions and it seems much better now. Not sure if I’ve slightly over-tightened, might be a little noisier, but no obvious binding when I rotate it through 360. Supposed to be a clear night tomorrow so will test it properly then. Cheers!

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback. It must have been a horrible moment. But it’s reassuring to know it survived!

Different layout, but the technique works on a EQ6R too! Thank you!

amazing, worked great.Thanks!

I have an HEQ5 Pro that is about 10 years old (although not used much). There was a fair amount of backlash in both DEC and RA as measured by the rocking test. In my case, the problem was not with the worm gear but rather the three gears in the motor housing (which in your case, has a belt). Because of the high gearing, you can rotate the very small motor gear with your finger and the DEC and RA will actually rotate (very slowly of course). There were quite noticeable gaps between teeth of the three gears and the backlash was quite visible and obvious. The way I solved this was to loosen all six of the screws you mention in your description. This allowed repositioning the three gears relative to one another (you need to loosen the screws only a little bit, just so that the gears will slide back and forth a bit). As you say in your worm gear discussion, the degree to which the gear teeth mesh with one another is critical. Too loose and there is backlash and too tight and the motor has to work too hard and there is the potential for binding. My method was to push the three gears together so they were very tight and then turn the small motor gear with my finger while gradually allowing some slack to come back into the system. When you can smoothly turn the DEC/RA backwards and forward with your finger using the small motor gear, you have found the optimum position. Now the trick is tightening the six screws without moving the gear positions. First tighten two of the screws that hold the motor and then two of the screws than hold the gear housing. If all still turns nicely, tighten the remaining pair of screws. If all still turns nicely, give all six screws a final tightening (to match the original tightness, which you can check with the still tightened RA screws, assuming you started with DEC). In my case, I got rid of 90% of the backlash in the system. In addition, the loud clanking noise at the beginning of high speed slewing disappeared for the most part. I think proper tuning of the three gears is almost as good as the Rowan belt mod, although it takes a bit of touch and dexterity. There is not a precise position, just a feel for when things are not too tight, not too loose. But at least you can see how far apart the gears are, unlike with the worm gear adjustment. I suspect the Rowan belt mod once done probably does not need readjusting very often since the belt has some spring tension to it. The positioning of the three gears likely needs to be done more frequently as there is nothing that provides any spring tension to keep the gears in good alignment.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Douglas. Thank you so much for your detailed description of a ‘non Rowan Belt’ addendum to my video. Hopefully others without the belt mod will find this useful if, like you experienced, their backlash is dominated by the gear engagement rather than the worm engagement. I would still recommend doing the belt mod at some point. The quiet operation that results, and the reduction of the risk of backlash, are together well worth the money in my opinion. From the detailed nature of your message it is clear to me that you are easily proficient enough to do the belt mod yourself, and there are a number of very good KZread videos showing the process that you can study before deciding/committing to taking it on. Either way, thanks again, and (corny though it is) Clear Skies!!

@douglassmith1215

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography I had fully intended to do the Rowan belt mod when I began thinking about doing a mount tune up. I agree with you that it is a superior way to couple the motor to the worm gear. However, after tuning up the three brass gears as I described, the noise is not much different than I hear on the Rowan belt videos I have watched online. Most likely it won't stay that way; I will have to monitor it. With regards to the worm gear backlash: I found on my HEQ5 that the difference between being able to detect backlash by the rocking test and overtightening is very slight. A little bit too tight and my mount made bad noises that sounded like the worm gear was skipping (I checked that it was not the three brass motor gears that was skipping -- it was not). I assume the manufacturer plays it safe and errs on the side of putting excessive slack in all the gear mechanisms. This is probably the prudent thing to do but of course the slack will always increase with time and usage, not decrease. Interestingly, by rotating the middle brass motor gear with my finger, I could detect a slight periodic increase and decrease in resistance. My hypothesis is that this variation in resistance is the origin of periodic error in the system. So rather than being an error in the gears (which can be made extremely precisely), PE is more likely from frictional variations around a cycle due to bearings. So doing a thorough cleaning, as you describe elsewhere, reduces and makes more uniform the frictional forces along each rotating axis. Thank you so much for making your videos -- they are both very informative and gives me (and others) courage to attempt some mount maintenance.

Thanks for that Martin. I have just bought a secondhand HEQ5 Pro that I think needs a bit of tuning. Your tutorial is likely to be very helpful. Waiting for the Rowan Astronomy belt kit to arrive and will tackle that first and then take a look at the position after that is installed. Cheers from Oz...

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Sounds good Brad. Thanks for your comment and I hope your Rowan mod goes well.

Thank you from Reunion Island !!!

Nice tutorial, I wish my CGEM was that easy to get to. Thanks!

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Don. I haven’t used a CGEM. Clear Skies!

Fantastic video, thanks very much.

@martinsastrophotography

8 ай бұрын

Thanks. Glad it was useful!

This is great. I have an EQ6R but looks to be nearly the same or the same procedure. Very helpful! Thanks!

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it’s helpful. Clear Skies Gregory!

@MayfieldCreekObservatory

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography I finished adjusting my EQ6R last night. I actually got it on the first try perfectly. I felt lucky. I hope the backlash doesn’t ever develop again. Thanks!

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

@@MayfieldCreekObservatory Nice job Gregory! I have hit the target first time a couple of times in the past and it’s such a shock it makes you feel it can’t be right…but it just is!! Clear Skies!

Great video. Thanks.

Wow that’s a brilliant guide! I’ve just got a 18 month old HEQ5 Pro and about to fit Rowen belts so I can check for back lash now and I’ll know how to sort it if there is any. It’s my first ever mount and videos like yours are so helpful. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Now to chose a telescope for visual use to see if I enjoy the hobby enough before spending far to much on Astrophotography 👍

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad it’s helpful for you. Do check out the other videos on my channel. Be aware that you won’t see much beyond moon and planets when you do visual. Most of the nebulae and galaxies are so faint that only long exposure photographs can see their detail. Clear Skies!

@geo2472

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography I spent the day fitting the Rowen belts and adjusting the back lash. It didn’t feel like it had any at all until I was turning only the 47 tooth gear so that’s a great tip you gave there. The RA drive was a little sensitive and finicky to set, either loose or to stiff but got there in the end. Was thinking of a Celestron C6 or C8 for visual, or a Newtonian. Not sure yet. Understand it’ll be fairly limited to planets but hoping for a good view to try and spark an interest for family and friends.

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

@@geo2472 There is a nothing more cool than giving people the opportunity to see Jupiter and Saturn’s rings with their own eyes for the first time!

@geo2472

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Here’s hoping! Next step is checking the polar scope is calibrated, another of your videos 😂

Thank you, just did it with my HEQ5 Pro. Very easy to do and follow with your video. Could you do a video on cable mangement and how to secure them to the mount?

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Mikael, I have quite a long list of video suggestions to get through. Thanks for your idea. I'll add it to the list! Clear Skies.

Awesome, I had to do this for my star adventurer pro 2i also which came from factory with horrible setting and adjustment, the worm was not even engaging the RA gear.

If I were the queen of England, I would have knighted you for this explanation :D Thanks!

@martinsastrophotography

Жыл бұрын

So I’m thinking that means you quite liked it?! Thanks so much.

Hello again Martin, another useful video! I wanted to ask you which kind of allen key do you use to "tune" the two inner screws for backlash removal. Thanks a lot.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Alvise. You need an M2 Allen key for the backlash adjustment grub screws.

Thank you for your great tutorial. I am about to fine tune my HEQ5 to remove the Dec backlash. One question: on the RA axis, which grub screw (the one on the flat side or the one on the curve side) I need to tighten to remove the backlash? Thank you

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

The two grub screws you describe work in opposition to move the worm carrier in or out enabling you to engage the worm drive more or less into the gear. Therefore it is not possible to say which grub screw you need to tighten! You need to move the carrier in and out until the backlash just disappears, then tighten the larger bolts that hold the worm carrier to the body of the mount and check it is still good (no backlash and no binding). This is all explained in the video. I hope it goes well for you. Clear skies.

EXCELLENT tutorial! Good job! You got yourself a sub! Any plans on relubricate the gears and make a video on it? I have a heq 5 pro and it is really stiff..

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the nice comments and for subscribing! Yes, that’s on my “to do” list. I have done it once already without making a video ..... I wanted to learn first, then make a video once I know what I’m doing! :)

@Calzune

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography great!

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Calzune. Just to let you know that I just published the video on how to strip-down and re-build the HEQ5, including cleaning and re-lubricating the gears and bearings. Hope you like it!

@Calzune

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography I saw that;) Im watching it right now :D

Very nice tuto, thank you, but i have a question. To reduce the RA backlash I didn’t really understand what screw I have to unscrew and what screw I have to screw? Thank you😊

@martinsastrophotography

5 ай бұрын

The worm carrier has two small grub screws on it. They face in opposing directions such that loosening one then tightening the other moves the carrier in a certain direction, thus changing the amount of engagement between the worm and the gear, which adjusts backlash. The securing bolts must be loosened first of course or the carrier will not be able to move. Watch the video a few times and make sure you understand fully what you are doing before you try it, or you will make things worse, not better. Note that when you get close to the right position, only a VERY small adjustment is needed to make a LOT of difference, so use 1/16 of a turn adjustments only. Good luck.

@patrickbigoud9213

5 ай бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography thank you for those explanations, am going to try soon, i have an important backlash on RA 🙏

This is very interesting could your blacklash test be applied to a SW EQM 35-pro? I'm currently having backlash issues with it in certain positions atm.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, the principles are the same, but the mechanical design has some differences of course.

Hi Martin, thank you for your invaluable contribution to the community, your videos have been extremely helpful in getting to grips with my new mount. I need to correct for some backlash on my RA, I was wondering what the end float adjustment achieves (under the rubber caps). If you are already seemingly moving the worm gear closer to the worm itself by moving the carrier? Is this adjustment simply for micro adjustments after you tune out your backlash? Regards!

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Sien. Many thanks for the kind words! The end float adjustment controls how much the worm drive can move along its own long axis. If too loose it can cause backlash. If too tight then it can prevent the worm drive from turning freely. I do it up very gently until I feel some resistance, and that’s all.

@Sien11

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Thank you, that makes perfect sense. I'll get to screwing around with it later on and hopefully less screwing up.

Great video instruction! But I'm having an issue with excessive play on the r/a almost 1/4 in play. This is a new mount only used a few times. First I was, a automobile technician for 24 Years and have rebuild many differentials adjusting ring and pinion's and had led backlash than this mount. So I understand how this set up works. But can't get the excessive backlash out of ra movement with the stepper motor binding and shuttering (In one direction only) And if I readjust the set screws for no motor binding than the excessive movement in ra comes back I noticed with the excessive movement the large gear or worm drive gear moves inward and outward from case to cover when I physically move the r/a by hand so the worm gear shaft moves in and out excessively. I tried to lose a move the gear closer towards case but didn't help The adjustment I made would be fine but the stepper motor binds and shutters in one direction only and on high speed doesn't seem to do it on normal tracking speed. Any ideas that would help? And I don't understand why moving the counter balance Rod to check it? And yes the rod itself has excessive movement. Also could it be I losend.the 3 back plat screws to much when I made the first initial adjustment? Your feedback would be most appreciated! Or anybody else reading this. Thank you!

@martinsastrophotography

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for your kind words. It’s hard to know from your message what is wrong. The amount of adjustment in the RA worm carrier between binding and excess backlash is tiny. Extremely small adjustments are needed, and even then the act of tightening down the worm carrier can push it out and mean you need to try again. Requires perseverance. Using the counterweight bar is simply to exploit its length to magnify the backlash and hence make it easier to see. That’s all. Good luck with it. If all else fails, take a look at my strip down and rebuild video. As a former automobile technician you should have no problem doing it.

@jimcarter2092

3 ай бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography thank you for you response, I will try again from scratch when I get home from work today, and follow your steps carefully I had used someone else's instruction before. But I really liked your tutorial better Basically to get that 1/4 inch of play Out of the R/A movement the motor Shutters and binds. (Won't move) If I adjust back so the motor turns ok Than the excessive 1/4 inch play comes back, but maybe I had the 3 back plate Allen Screws to loose. ( Very loose) when I performed and check the adjustment I am most likely going to purchase the Belt mod upgrade and with the pinion pulley puller tool, and I know from other experiences this is a better way to go And the fact there is no gear mesh Thank again very much! For you help And the quick response

Thanks for another great video. I don't have a backlash issue , but more of a binding on my Dec. Would I turn my grub screws opposite of what you do for Backlash? The RA is fine. Thank you.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, that’s exactly right. Very small adjustments! The difference between backlash and binding is very little adjustment indeed. Clear Skies!

@yervantparnagian5999

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Thank you for the quick reply!

Hi there, thanks for the help. Hopefully can try mount out. One question, when you loosen and tighten the grub screws, are they meant to be tight against one another if that makes sense?

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Jake I understand the question. You are moving the carrier until it is in the right place, but when it gets there you do not want it to shift again, so keeping both opposing grub screws tight against the metal surface that it engages with stops it from shifting. If the three large bolts holding the carrier down are tighter, then it is less likely to shift, so it becomes less critical to keep both grub screws tight against each other. A bit of practise will reveal to you how tight to have the 3 large screws and how tight the grub screws need to be. I hope that helps.

@BSVGenius

3 жыл бұрын

Ok thanks. I’m not sure I did them up against one another very tight; but after the 3 main ones are good there doesn’t seem to be any backlash and binding. Hopefully it doesn’t come loose.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Jake Once the 3 large screws are fully tight, it really doesn’t matter if the two grub screws are tight or not. The grub screws are for moving the carrier, whereas the 3 large screws are for locking it in place. The only reason to keep the two grub screws tight against each other during the tuning is to prevent the carrier from shifting before you have fully tightened the 3 large screws.

Hello Martin, thanks so much for the guide. I had major backlash on the RA and I was able to adjust it perfectly. One thing I was wondering: Am I supposed to tighten both grubs screws so that their tips touch these block on the inside of the mount or can one of the grub screws be left relatively loose?

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Dominik. If the worm carrier large bolts are tight then the carrier cannot move, so then the tightness of the grub screws is not important. The grub screws are there to allow you to move the carrier by small amounts. That said, if you leave a grub screw loose before tightening the large bolts there is a high risk it will move when you tighten the large bolts! So I alway make sure the backlash feels good when both grub screws are tight, then tighten the large bolts, then check the backlash is still good. Does that make sense?

@dominikhahn2351

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography that makes perfectly sense, thanks! The difference between no play and no grinding sounds and no play and horrible sounds was maybe a 8th of a turn so I was happy with what I got and didn’t want to ruin it with the other grub screw. 😅

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

@@dominikhahn2351 Good. Yes, it is VERY sensitive!!

Hello, another question: does this tune procedure work if I have a different internal mechanism ? My HEQ-5 is brand new and presumably not modded of course... But I have three gears, instead of the 2 gears+belt.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi. Yes, it works exactly the same way.

For the RA, which grub screw does one undo initially? I think I have backlash in the RA.

@martinsastrophotography

Жыл бұрын

Loosen either one, then tighten the other. Then check whether the backlash got bigger or smaller. (Too small and it will bind.)

Where to put the second like?

👍👍👍👍👍👍

Is backlash only an issue for autoguiding? If I haven't bought a guider yet, do I need to worry?

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Hi Hamzeh. Thanks for your question. It is still a good idea to tune out as much backlash as you can, even if you don’t autoguide, to reduce the risk of ‘shifting sides’ of the worm gear meshing during imaging. Some people deliberately bias their RA balancing slightly East or West to ensure the RA worm drive always stays at one side of the backlash and does not swap back and forth during tracking.

I see you have done your Homework . Great Job , Ive spent a year Tuning up my Rig , And now i got a Guider and it all works , i even trained PEC and park my mount like a pro .You have to to do that far as i know at this point , so the mount knows its PEC position and can Restart proper . Anyhow , now ive ran out of things to improve , so i have some time to improve the mount . Question , if i put Belts on instead of Gears , would that improve anything ? I kind of think that if you have a proper connection on Gear set , then Belts can only reduce noise , cant really improve it any further . Am i correct ?

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Nice one Pavle! Sounds like you have mastered many things. I really like the belt mod. As you say it makes operation much quieter but that doesn’t improve your images of course. However it also reduces any backlash between the motor pulley and the worm drive, so it depends how much backlash you have there. If you have very little the improvement in performance will be very small. Clear Skies!

@dedskin1

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Its best to show you , This is my result with the Guider shorturl.at/lryKW on stock HEQ5 and ED80 My guiding was from 1-1,5 Arc Second precision , my image scale is 2,5-3 Arc Seconds /Pixel So as it is im in sub pixel precision territory . i have for now , Astro modified 600D Canon . I had some Dust Marks on my Sensor , , so i cleaned everything and made sure to do proper Polar Alignment for next night , and got my guiding to 0,5 to 1 Arc Second precision .About 1/3 better . But it was cloudy . That is the image of VEGA, when i look at it , its perfect . I didnt have this good of an image even on clear nights before ,let alone trough fat clouds . You know what i mean . PHD sometimes says there is Excessive backlash on DEC , im sure its correct but it doesnt make problems , not that i can see . Where i am Belt mode is around 200$ , plus Shipping and customs , probably around 300$ all included . Maybe there are better ways i can spend that money i think . Maybe Camera Cooling is better way to focus the energy and money then dialing up tracking that is already better then what i need for now .

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

@@dedskin1 If your camera is not cooled, that is certainly a better issue to tackle than the belt mod. I have seen people using a heat sink and fan strapped to the back of their DSLR camera (with screen flipped out of the way) with some thermal compound to ensure good thermal contact. Not sure which camera you are thinking of cooling or how suitable it is for doing this. Dropping the temperature from +10 to -15C will make a big difference to your signal to noise.

@dedskin1

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography yeah , my thoughts exactly . I run Modified Canon 600D. I have made cooling for it , it just attaches under the Display holder , with Peltier Cooling element but i just taped it , didnt make a proper holder to attach it securely nor cold finger mod . so what i want now is to remove the Plastic Cover , cut it out , and do cold finger mod Shouldn't be hard , however i dont think i will push it down to -10 C to avoid condensation . Most ppl dont realize this , you dont actually have to cool the sensor , you just need to keep it at room temperature . Because its made to work fine on room temperature . Problems start when long exposure heats it up . For example Sony DSLR that i used couldnt even run for 10 minutes , hits around 100C in 10 minutes . So you are doing a lot reducing temperature for 20-30C at least even if you just keep it at Room temperature , you gain 90% of benefits even without -10c cooling . Its practically same thing as PC CPU , so what it needs is active cooling , not sub zero cooling . Tho it can help

Dear Martin. What do you think about a sinusoidal wave on AR with period 13.6 sec and 5 arcsec peak to peak (>2 arcsec RMS) on my heq5 pro (not mod) ? I can't avoid it (though have tighten the worm gear)...

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Daniel. The RA axis has a period of 86164.1 seconds (the length of a sidereal day). The worm gear has 135 teeth and the worm drive rotates once per worm gear tooth so the worm gear period is 864164.1/135 = 638.25 seconds. Now the motor to worm drive ratio is 5.2222:1 so the motor period is 638.25/5.2222 = 122.2186 seconds. If the motor pulley has 9 teeth then the tooth meshing period is 122.2186/9 = 13.58 seconds. This confirms that the location of your issue is in the meshing of the RA motor pulley with the adjacent gear. That explains why adjusting the worm backlash does not resolve it. You need to adjust your pulley engagement between the motor pulley and the gear it meshes with. It may be too tight causing the teeth to slightly foul on each other as they engage. Hope this helps.

@danieldasairas2898

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Thanks, Martin. So you recommend that I loosen the coupling between both gears (pulling them away instead of closer) ??

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

@@danieldasairas2898 It’s difficult to say. You can try it. Too far apart and backlash will be excessive. Probably needs a VERY small change to fix it!

Hi Martin me again 🤓 when doing the RA how do we know which one to loosen? You explained that on the dec but no for RA. Is it literally just trial and error? Thanks

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

No problem Simon. It works the same way. The two grub screws are in opposition, both pushing against the worm carrier. So if you loosen either one the carrier will be able to move. To move the carrier one way you need to loosen one grub screw and tighten the other. To move the other way you do the opposite. Do you see what I mean?

@simonpepper5053

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Hi Martin I turned it first and made it worse so went back the other way and the rock in RA is now gone ran it after and don’t hear binding so think I nailed it easy when you know how. Been having major issues with elongated stars as soon as I expose bought an OAG as thought it was flexure but it wasn’t so it must be this will test tonight if not will do a full strip down as per your other video. Thanks so much these tutorials are amazing!

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

@@simonpepper5053 You are welcome! Glad to help you. Let me know if it’s sorted. Clear skies!

Does your HEQ5 make a high pitched noise while its on?

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, but it’s not very loud.

What about stiffness? Only hypertube solve that or can i use the 2 grubs screws (not at the side at the gears) to make turning the RA/DEC smoother?

@martinsastrophotography

9 ай бұрын

Take a look at my strip down and rebuild video. It a big job but very worthwhile.

@Oxizee

9 ай бұрын

@@martinsastrophotographyYe, thats the hyertune rebuild, but can i do something with the grub screws from the carriers?

@martinsastrophotography

9 ай бұрын

@@Oxizee The grub screws are used to adjust the backlash. They won’t affect the stiffness. I am not aware of any grub screws that affect how smoothly the mount rotates in RA and Dec.

Would it be a good idea to do the worm turn test after each grub screw adjustment?

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, that would be sensible. The key thing is to check that it just doesn’t bind anywhere around the rotation of the gear. That will involve quite a few turns of the worm. Adjust until it just binds, then back it off a very small amount and check it doesn’t bind at any point around the rotation of the axis.

@AB-ft2lb

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Thanks. I've backed it of so as to stop the binding noise but the worm turn test is still very stiff. Is that correct? Could it put the motor under pressure and mess up guiding?

@martinsastrophotography

2 жыл бұрын

@@AB-ft2lb The worm should turn freely. Have you checked the torque on the adjuster at the end of the worm? It should not be tight.

@AB-ft2lb

2 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography I can get it turning freely but there is a fraction of play (backlash) so I don't think it's the adjuster. It's a new mount.

Martin I have an EQ6 R pro mount and I think I am having a problem in RA backlash when I'm using Nina and the scope slues and it takes a picture The scope doesn't settle for like 30 seconds in One direction the other direction it stops bam perfectly but the other way it goes I have to wait like 30 seconds for it to stop. My EQ6 doesn't look like your mount do you know of any videos that show how to do an EQ6 I can't seem to find it Thank you

@martinsastrophotography

4 ай бұрын

When the mount is powered down and the clutches are closed, does the RA rock significantly? That’s the sure test of large backlash. I believe the principles of how to adjust on the EQ6-R are the same as the HEQ5, you just need to spot which screws to loosen to release the worm carrier and where the grub screws are for adjusting the carrier position. I am not aware of a video on this. Best of luck with it.

@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer

4 ай бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography What I go into the observatory or as I call it (The Boob ) I will check it out . I was just not sure how to get the the carrier screws... If I cant fig it out I will just set the settle time to 30 seconds but that adds to a long night.. Your screws where behind your power inputs, I dont have that

@martinsastrophotography

4 ай бұрын

@@Steve_The_Ignorant_Astronomer I have a friend with an EQ6-R so I could take a look at it and get back to you, but I won’t be able to do that for about a week I’m afraid.

At what point do I tighten the ra bolts

@martinsastrophotography

Жыл бұрын

Are you referring to the bolts that secure the RA worm carrier to the mount body? If so, these need to be tightened as soon as the backlash tuning has been done. Note that tightening these bolts can affect the tuning, so go slowly, tightening each bolt in turn by a little, and checking that your backlash tuning remains good. Once they are all tight, do a final check to make sure you have minimal backlash and slew in RA a long way in both directions to confirm it does not bind anywhere. For the Dec axis follow the exact same principle.

Hi martin, i just bought skywatcher eq5 telescope recently, and my big problem is i do not know how to work with my synscan hand controler,every time when i press the sky objects like mars,saturn,,, the telescope dosn,t sewing,even when i try to do the star alignment,i choose the specific star to alighn and the hand controler says sewinging but it doesn,t happen on my scope,to be honest my knowledge on scopes are very basic,i am not very good on polar alignment or star alignment,i will appreciated if you help me to solve the problem tnx

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Pahlavi. EQ5 refers to the mount, not the telescope. Whether it will slew to objects depends on the model you bought. Is it an "EQ5 Deluxe" or is it an "EQ5 Pro GOTO" mount? If the EQ5 Deluxe it will not slew to targets. To slew to targets you need a GOTO mount. If it's a GOTO mount you need to set it up, polar align it and star align it before you can slew to an object in the handset's database. All these steps would be similar to the HEQ5 setup steps in my video "Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan GOTO mount setup tutorial". Let me know which type of EQ5 you have.

@pahlavipahlavi5926

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography hi martin,hope you are fine and thank you for your reply,my mount is EQ5 PRO GOTO" but to be honest i am a bit confuse and i don,t know how to work with my polar scope ,when i look through out the polar scope i see the circle with two cross lines and four dots and octans on the left hand side and the number of years on the right hand side, even i used the app and it was unsuccessful,then on the star alignment part, when i choose the star and press the enter, the hand controler says start to slewinging with no sew on the mount. i feel hopeless, i will appreciated if you just help me and give me a new hope . i see in the you tube, how the others people's scope is just slewinging in different direction and tracking the objects but not mine.thank you.😪😪😪

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

It sounds like you have a connection problem to your motors. Forget about polar alignment until you can prove the motors are connected ok. You should have a cable from the power box to the RA IN connector and another from the DEC OUT connector to the Dec motor. If these are connected ok then switch on and skip through all the date, time, polar alignment entries on the hand controller (by pressing Enter enough times) until you get to ‘Begin Star Alignment’ then select NO (either 1 or 2). Then press Rate and then press 9. Now press and hold one of the 4 arrow buttons at a time and look/listen for the motors moving. Until you have success with this, do not bother putting your telescope on the mount, or with polar alignment or star alignment!! You need to confirm your motors work first. Let me know how you get on.

@pahlavipahlavi5926

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography hi martin,i have done exactly what you told me, the hand controler says,NO LINK TO MOUNT, STAND ALONE MODE,what does it mean?and how can i solve the problem? thanks

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

@@pahlavipahlavi5926 Something is either damaged or not connected properly. Check cable from hand controller to mount is properly connected and free of damage. Check cables and connections internally (motor controller board) if you are able to, and look for any damage or connectors not properly connected. If you cannot find the cause and resolve it you will need to send it to Skywatcher or a Skywatcher repair company to be repaired.

seems to me the manufacturer skywatcher needs to re design the gear and worm structure. you figure you pay over a thousand dollars for a mount you want it to work right not have to take it apart to put in a belt and hope it doesnt backlash anymore. i will not buy this mount

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Geoff Nash I understand what you’re saying, but without the belt mod it is the worm gear that usually dominates the backlash, which the belt mod does not affect. The belt mod also makes it run more quietly.

I thought backlash only existed on the unmodified gear heq5. Useless as is.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Without the Rowan belt modification there is also backlash potential in the gears between the motor and the worm, but with the modification there is still backlash between the worm drive and the worm gear. That's what the two grub screws adjust. I'm not sure what you mean by "useless as is". Whether you have the belt mod or not it is still worth minimising the backlash on the worm drive/gear.

Thank you. Very good tutorial. One question, the end float adjustment has to be adjusted before or after the backlash correction?. In my case I just tighted quite strongly the end float adjuster and "seemed" to correct the dec backlash, but maybe should I loose it and proceed with the backlash adjustment...? Thanks.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Juan Romera Hi Juan. Glad you liked it. The float adjusters (there is one at each end of the worm) limit the possible movement of the worm along its own long axis. Too much movement can cause problems but tighten them too much and it can prevent the worm from rotating freely. I would loosen the float adjuster so it is not strongly tightened and then proceed with the backlash adjustment as per the tutorial.

@jdolmana

3 жыл бұрын

@@martinsastrophotography Thank you. I've done it that way and adjusted both axis. But one thing I've noticed in my case is that if I loose the motor, and try to turn the gear the gear had a generous slack so it could be moved in one direction and the contrary without rotating the Dec axis. That tslack ranslates in backlash I suppose. When trying to eliminate it, I saw that once it's gone, I have to apply quite a force to be able to turn the axis manually. Is that normal? Initially the motor got stalled, so I adjusted more carefully and now seems to be fine but still very hard to move it manually when loosing the motor. Hope it is ok.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Juan Romera The meshing of the gears between the motor and the worm on the non-Rowan belt modded version of the HEQ5 can also cause backlash, yes. Adjusting the motor position is just like adjusting the worm carrier....too much gear engagement will cause binding and too little will cause backlash. It is harder to fine tune as there are no grub screws to turn! Personally, I recommend the Rowan Belt mod. It makes your mount run much quieter and eliminates most of the backlash issue between the motor and the worm.

@jdolmana

3 жыл бұрын

Hi, sorry maybe I didn't express myself correctly, my backlash comes only from the worm gear/worm adjustment. What I meant is that when the motor is loose I was turning the worm gear to see if the dec axis was moving. But the gear had a lot of slack already. I could move it very easily. So I adjusted the backlash keeping the motor loose and I noticed that the force necessary to turn the axis(once I corrected the backlash) turning the worm gear was quite high and not as smooth as I thought it should be. This is independent on the adjusting of the gears moving the motor.

@martinsastrophotography

3 жыл бұрын

Juan Romera I understand. Sounds like the worm gears are binding. Make a very small adjustment on the worm carrier and try again. Remember to slightly loosen the 3 large carrier bolts first, make the adjustment, retry your test turning the worm by hand, and when happy carefully tighten the 3 carrier bolts as shown in the video.