Відео

Then you still have some ways to go for the impossible limit of 10!

Sure, but remember that this makes one revolution per day. There is no wear at all. Also there really is no room for that.

Thank you for pointing that out. I am certain it could be done better. However, even though it might not be optimal, it is low cost and the result is far better then before. I was very satisfied with how the mount performed after the upgrade. Please advice, what would you do differently?

@@PetterAstrom I have a converted EQ2 that I can't throw away, I equipped it completely with ball bearings and I also have the machines for it. All I need now is a ducktail guide so that I can use it from time to time. It also has a self-built tracker that is essential for planetary photography. I have a hard time throwing away accessories. Spend a little time and you can turn scrap into something really useful

Or 150

@@PhotoGrapheeshi! With good balancing, yes absolutely. It is not ideal though, bigger mount=less wind sensitive. I used mine with a Skywatcher 150 pad with heavy camera, guide scope etc. when the conditions were good, I guided at 0.5 total RMS.

Good luck! I helped a person with an EQ35 and it worked great but I had to put a small washer over one of the axles to keep the bearing centered. I 3D printed one but anything that holds it in place woks. That washer will not take any load at all. Result was excellent. Two filter washers makes me think it was intentional to match the wormgear height wise.

@@PetterAstromInstalled today, WOW! I could rent out the RA as a Fair ride it spins so freely, everythingmeshed there perfectly, The DEC I couldnt replace that bottom fibre washer but finagled a working order that removed about 80% of the binding. Well worth every penny. Thanks for your wonderful upgrade direction. what a difference! you would think for the extra 50$ in parts Skywatcher would just do the right thing and install them themselves. But here we are.😆

I know! Huge difference. On the DEC you might actually want to tighten the the final nut (inside the polar scope area) a bit more just to create a bit of extra friction. That will keep it a bit stiffer in the wind.

Hi! I used a Skywatcher 150 PDS with filter wheel, camera, motor for the focuser, guide scope and guide camera. Sometimes also a two inch glass Barlow. It was wind sensitive but rightly balanced it worked great. I don’t remember exactly, but I think my telescope was close to 8 kg.

Thank you for your report! I did an EQ35 a while ago and there are some minor differences. But over all he could not either finish a PHD2 calibration before. After this mod he has had great success with really good guiding. 👍

All this makes a lot of sense to me, because a short while back a guy who owned and imaged with the EQ3 pro, said that with PHD2 guiding, there seemed to be a LOT of backlash etc and the guiding was really poor. I think it would be wise for all owners of mounts, even the HEQ5 pro ( which I own and use ) to do at the very least an inspection and re-greasing/tuning of all internal components, seeing as it's likely even the more expensive mounts will use very cheap low quality parts and grease?

I absolutely agree. I moved to the HEQ 5 Pro and did just that.

Jodå 🤪

Oh! Interesting! Please let us know!

@@PetterAstrom Hi Petter, All the bearings except for one just arrived from Amazon and the TC1625 (NTA1625) does indeed fit perfectly, the bearing slides right over the housing, the washers or backing plates, 3 out of the 10 slid right on, the others will need a tiny bit of sanding, just .005" or so. I could force it over the shaft but then it warps. The housing measures 25.45mm and the washers are 1" so just a tiny bit to remove. You may get lucky with a different supplier. Merry Christmas

Thank you and I wish you a happy new year!

Hi! Nope, I could not find a good size :-)

@@PetterAstrom En fråga till, bara: You specified white lithium grease - will not "ordinary" lithium grease - from, say, Biltema - suffice?

I did some research and with a little grinding/filing to the inside (.030") NTA1220 should work. I have some on order, I'll let you know.... Dec. 22...Well, these bearings arrived today and with a little grinding on the bore they fit over the shaft, but after making them fit, and looking at how the mount operates, this position doesn't need a bearing, it only moves when you unlock the clutch and it not part of the motion when tracking. The red fiber washer is fine in this position. The same goes for the AXK3552 bearing sitting on top of the worm wheel housing on the RA, that bearing is not used when tracking as the housing is locked by the clutch, the red fiber washer there is fine. You just need bearings at the ends of the shafts. Cheers

@@hapestrsåg din försågs nu först! Jag köpte i en annan butik men tillverkare var CRC och det har fungerat i alla väder.

@@kilohertz684They do help a lot when balancing though, and if you have a heavy scope on balancing is very important! Thanks for the feedback!

Tjenare. Runt 500kr har jag för mig.

Thanks for the info. Good luck!

Hi! If it can? Yes but would I recommend it? No! Even if it can support the weight of the scope, then you will want a camera, guidescooe, coma corrector filterwheel etc. then you will be faaar better of with a eq5 type mount.

Oh, this was a long time ago, I cannot remember what bearing was used where, but the bearings are very cheap, if you buy half of them the shipping might be more then the whole lot. The worm gear bearings are not so cheap though.

Thank you for your answer. I will try to solve it！

Hello! Yeah,this works for the 35 version too, but I believe I had to make a 3D printed ring to keep the bearing centered in one of the axles because the bearing inner diameter was a little too big. Simply keep the original if you encounter this. I do not have a parts number for that bearing. Part number is local and differed from manufacturers but as long as you buy something from a trusted brand I would not worry.

Hello! Yes you can. I helped a fellow astrophotographer with his EQ35. I did have to print a plastic washer in order for tone of the bearings to stay centered. I cannot remember what position though.

@@PetterAstrom That's a great idea.

They probably can. I don’t know how they will perform though.

Good luck if you decide to do it yourself!

Good luck! I got great results!

Hi! Link will be added shortly.

Found it! I bought mine at remlagret.se (www.remlagret.se/collections/axialnalkrans)

Indeed!

That is awesome! Did you capture the supernova? It was first discovered on the 19th.

@@PetterAstrom I DID! It's almost purple looking but I think that's just false color from post processing. puu.sh/JHMgA.jpg I'm so sorry the pic is so noisy and crappy. I was taking this image just for testing my equipment. This is the first whole galaxy image I've ever taken.

@@PetterAstrom I took a series of 32 40 second exposure images from 9:30pm to 10:30pm CST on the 19th.

What is the exact date and UTC time for your images?

luv that when that happens!

And maybe more then one. But it happened more than 20 million years ago, that is how long it will take light to reach us from the Pinwheel Galaxy (20.8 something light years away).

🤫

It does not. Worked great. I’ve used my mounts in -15 C. The problem in really cold conditions is rather that the aluminum shrinks making all adjustments too tight. Loosening the worm gear a tiny bit fixes that.

@@PetterAstrom Thanks, I'm probably going to tune my mount. Currently unguided getting 30 second subs with my 130PDS, I need to get guiding. Should I get guiding first or hypertune?

I'd also like to add I was originally using a manual EQ3, which now is motorized and belt driven with OnStep. Performs great

Amazing finding you both here and on Astrobiscuits discord server🎉

I do not know what you mean. My EQ3 guided extremely well after this upgrade. Sometimes as low as 0.5 arc seconds per pixel.

Hi. That is interesting. What mount do you have? Also, as soon as yoi put the motor on the motor will make that axle quite stiff. But you say that you CAN loosen it up so I guess this is not that. Did you remember to put some small washers underneath the worm gear assembly before putting it back after mounting the needle thrust bearing? That is crucial.

Check 11:15, notice the small washers. Ypu need to makes sure the worm gear and crown gear mesh properly at the same height and also the evenly left right (carefully tighten both bolts left and right of the grub screw the same ammount and little by little) do not tighten one all the way and then the next.

​​@@PetterAstrom Hi, thank you for responding.I have the same mount. Yes, i did put the small washers under the worm gear, but what i believe i was doing wrong was tightening one of the screws on the wormgear all the way and then tightening the other. Also i think its the worm gear assembly moving around so ill check that and tighten the assembly.

Ok so ive found something out, when i take the dec axis out and look for play in the wormgear and the big gear connected to the dec axis( i dont know how its called ) theres 0 play and the gear turns very smooth but when i but the dec back into the mount the play comes back

​@@PetterAstrom I think I found the problem. The part that you talk about at 10:15 that goes over the dec axis shaft, moves around a little bit while its on the shaft creating play. When i had the dec assembly off the mount and spinning the wormgear, because there is no force pushing onto the part you cant actually feel the play. But when i have it on the mount with the clutch engaged the part can wiggle around in the dec shaft. Hopefully you can understand what im trying to point out here

I know what you mean. There could be several causes besides the worm gear alignement. The nut holding the axle together (inside the polar scope hole) needs to be tight enough. This will not remove the wobble but minimize the effect of it. If it doesnt, you might want to check the worm gear axlr so there is no play in the worm gear axle left-right. If there is, adjust with the nuts behind the gearwheel. Also make sure the initial set of gear wheels directly on the motor are well adjusted. I had some play there. When adjusting something, always make sure you can rotate it freely afterwards.

Hi! Great questions! I have always had the same guiding cam, the ASI 224 MC. As for guiding scopes I used two different ones, first the SvBony 30 mm version with 125 mm focal length. But after a while, someonce said the same thing you just did so after that I got a 60 mm scope with 240 mm focal length. It did nothing to my guiding stats though, to my dissapointment. And guiding was reliably 0.8, but at those rare occations, on both guidescopes, I could get around 0.5 total RMS.

I have no ide I´m afraid. But it is quite easy to measure the fibre washers and order bearings that would work. Good luck!

For a lighter rig, absolutely!

@@PetterAstrom Most likely to carry a ED80 for visual grab and go setup.

Hi! Yes, same dimensions.

From what I understand, the EQ32 is just a rebranded EQ3. Correct me if I'm wrong

You might be right about that, but it really helps with balancing. 🙂

​@@PetterAstrom I think that if you put a washer that's made out of PTFE under and over the red washer, that would give you pretty good balancing too. I might try that with my mount when I'll probably do this mod to it in a bit. Anyway clear skies!

There's always one tube on a UA-cam video commentary. Perhaps some people can't afford an Eq8 yet love the hobby. Diy astronomy/astrophotography is also another hobby too, that people like to do in their spare time

If everything was free sure. But the thing is, this is an expensive hobby, and when you get started and are not convinced you want to keep doing it, then a cheap rig is quite attractive. Also, you do not know what you need in the beginning. And here is a great little mount that can get you started, and with an hour or two of work and some cheap bearings can perform really really well. They are not broken though. Just not performing at their max capacity.

I'd honestly take the EQ3-2 over my CGEM almost anytime due to it's portability and reliability

Thank you for letting us know it worked for you too! Short spikes might be a grain of dirt in the gears. Also my first guess would be the worm gear ballbearings.

@@PetterAstrom you might be right about the spikes, ball-bearings were the only thing that didn't change due to high cost (4 x W 628/6 2Z SKF = 85 euros), maybe be I have to try changing only the RA and see how it goes 😉

Hi! I ended up not using the rubber washers at all. The metal washer is same dimension as the needle thrust bearing. Also I had to put the nut on upside down because the axle with the threads was a bit shorter after putting the bearings in.

@@PetterAstrom thanks for the update! So you ended up using the initial washer (coming with mount) then the needle thrust bearing, then your thinner washer (I believe is the same dimensions as the thrust bearing so 1024, and then nut?

I used a skywatcher 150 pds with astrocamera, guide scope, guide cam and focus motor. 7,5 kg. I would say yes, it increases the weight up to a point.

@@PetterAstrom Thanks for your reply. It's increadible that you are able to guide that well with so much payload. I have the same setup and will measure my guiding the next time :-)

The eq3 is definitely an underrated mount

@@astroinfinland6680I agree! I sold mine but now I miss it. I am currently looking for a replacement.

🙏🏻 ☺️

Hello. Belt drive to the EQ3 mount is not available as far as I know. You should be able to get the bearings in Estonia. No need to ship them. Just use the same dimensions as in the description.

@@PetterAstrom Got it, did it - all is working much smoother! thank you so much. Regarding the belt drives - i found them. What do you think?

@@PhoenixTheChannel you found a belt drive kit for the EQ3? Can you post a link?

@@PetterAstrom do you see the link below? For some reason the link keeps disappearing.

If not - here is the name: Asterion EQ3 Drive Kit Pro

Nope, but I hang out at the astrobiscuit discord if you want to discuss your problem.

@@PetterAstrom yes !! i'm a member in this server @MARS#9487

I actually don’t know, I am switching because of the much better performance of the bearings instead of red washers.

Thanks for that info!

Hi Martin, I also have the eqm 35 pro and want to replace the bearings on the worm drive and the red washers with needle thrust. I can't find any sizes and would rather have them purchased in advance of stripping it down. Do you happen to know this info? Bearing sizes for both worm drives and dimensions of all of the red washers? Many thanks! Rob.

@@robrenwick2366 Hi Rob, I am listing these bearings for you below and also how many I used. But before I do so, I must say that I faced huge troubles, mainly with RA axis. I am not 100% sure that bearings caused thise issues, but I am pretty sure they did. Or, not actually bearings, but rather missing washers in the video. The tutorial shows using needle thrust bearings without proper washers. Each such bearing needs to be used with its washer (while bearings code is AXK, washers are AS). These are also mentioned at the end of the video, but are not always used. The very last bearing used (1024) is ok without washers but the rest I strongly recommend using thise washers from both sides of the bearing. But it causes bigger gaps in the mount. Imagine, in RA axis you use 2 bearings, each 2mm + 4 washers - another 4mm. These replace this red washers. My problem occured in RA only although I think the same, but less problematic, happened in DEC axis too, however at that moment I didn't know and somehow I managed to remove the problem without washers (I am currently hiking in Bortle 2 so as soon as I return in couple of days I think I will redo DEC too. And what happened? After a couple of turns, RA axis get stiff and with each turn it was worse and worse and finally it wasn't even possible to move at all, not even to strip it apart. It took enormous power to get cylinder out. And cylinder didn't fit back on both parts. It was scratched, also inner part of the opposite side where it goes in, was scratched too. I first thought it is the small button in the clutch, but it turned ou, that bearings without washers caused wobbling of the cylinder. So I had to sand both parts - cylinder and the part to which cylinder is inserted and finally using steel wool I made it nice and smooth again. I had to repeat this process 2-3 times until I realized that this is the problem. Although it looks everything flat inside the mount, it most probably isn't and anyway even if it is, using just bearing is not ideal. Now everything works fine, smooth and easy. If you need more info, find me on FB messenger - Maros Babiak, and we can chat more over there. Edit, I forgot to list bearings :) So here they are, I used these: - 4x SKF W628/6-2Z - 1x AKX1024 (SKF) - 1x AKX2035-A/0-10 (vyrobca INA) - 2x or 3x AKX2542-A/0-10 (INA) - I cannot remember if I used 2 or 3 - 1x AKX3552-A/0-10 (INA) and - 2x AS2035 - 2x AS2542 - 2x AS3552

@@embeathome1 dude thanks for your time and detailed reply, I'm in the same page with eqm 35 and now I'm little bit concerned on tuning the mount 🤔 I will talk to you on messenger

@Martin Babiak i 've sent you a message over fb messenger :)

I bought them from an online store in Sweden, but maybe you have to convert the sizes to imperial instead of metric to order if you live in UK or USA etc?

I am also wondering....one of us has to give it a try ;) I tried to search for strip down of EQM35 but didn't find anything...

I have stripped and tuned my EQM-35 and the DEC looks exactly the same except you can separate the DEC from the RA section. The RA is a bit different. Larger and finer gear and worm, the motor mounts slightly different and with 2 bolts. I had a harder time getting the motors and reduction gear aligned well and almost backlash free than anything in the main mount. Especially the DEC motor needs a 3rd hand to install well. It is pivoting and wiggling around on that single bolt while you try to tighten it in a perfect position. My mount also had the DEC worm drive gear installed to far out and the motor mount couldn’t get into the correct position until I moved that gear closer to the mount. Fiddly, precision work the requires patience but not actually hard to do. The improvement was very noticeable and worth the afternoon spent. I used a synthetic grease with PTFE but I live in a cold climate and wanted the lower temp rating.

@@jml7916 thanks for sharing

@@jml7916 really glad you made it, i'm struggling these days to adjust the DEC motor properly, can you please be a little more specific what did you take into account and should do,, could you be describe with a photo or something? thanks

@@stelaras1 can’t post pictures here. Are you on cloudy nights forum?

Sounds like you have a great starting point. Good luck if you proceed!

Hi, sorry for late answer. That center hex screw actually tightens the gear when you loosen it. I am turning anti clockwise (to loosen the hex screw) and that will make the gears push towards each other.

Please share if it turns out to be a good idea ☺️