Skywatcher HEQ5 Rowan Belt Modification
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- This is my Rowan belt modification of my Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Synscan. The modification is supposed to reduce slewing noise from the mount as well as backlash. The tracking smoothness is also improved since the spur gears used within the gearbox are replaced. The gears are replaced with a custom belt modification kit with timing belts, provided by Rowan Astronomy.
www.rowanastron...
The modification is relatively simple if you just follow the steps in the instruction and this tutorial.
Music used in this video, in order:
Neverland by Onycs / onycsmusic
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Music promoted by Audio Library • Neverland - Onycs (No ...
Home by Neutrin05 / neutrin05
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Horizon by Nomyn / nomyn
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Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/3vuR8oV
Music promoted by Audio Library • Horizon - Nomyn (No Co...
It's well worth doing the Rowan belt mod. I can also suggest learning how to adjust the backlash by tightening/loosening the set screws that position the worm gear against the main axis gears. It's actually quite good to do this with the belts off but with the big aluminium gears on. I find that way you can really feel with your fingers how tight the worm gear is against the main gears and get a sense for the backlash. You don't want it too tight so you can't easily turn the aluminium gears by hand. But also not so loose that you can feel that there's backlash. I have found if I push the worm gear with my fingers hard against main gear and then just tighten up the set screws to lock the worm gear in position, then the pressure is always about right.
Thank you for your detailed response!
Cool video. This mount was perfectly set up for a belt modification. Makes me wonder why the designers didn’t do this originally.
Yes, I have wondered about that as well!
give them time , its probably the next upgrade , far easier to use a belt and cheaper than making the gear
Well done Martin. Clear and simple video.
Its really worthy to do belt mod. I did it in my Atlas eq-g now its way better.
CS!
Thanks
Thank you! Yes, it was well invested time and money to do it 🙂
CS!
thanks for the video, I followed the instractions and it was easy to modify.
That's great! 🙂
Thank you for the detailed explanation. I'm also going to get a part and try it :)
Do that, it´s not very complicated. If I could do it, anyone can :)
A Caution to anyone who is going to do this belt mod. I ran into a major issue when removing the motor plugs from the mainboard. The solder joints failed and the entire plug assembly came off the mainboard. Had I not had access to an expert solderer I would have completely bricked my mount. It came down to poor manufacturing of the mainboard. USE CAUTION DISCONNECTING clips from the mainboard!
Wow, that´s too bad! I guess there might also be variations in how hard the plugs are to remove. Mine weren´t stuck at all. But good advise, there is of course risk of damaging your mount when doing this sort of procedure.
Nice and clear video for this modification, it sounds verry good now, good job, well done.
Thanks! I'm very happy with the result 🙂
Thank you Martin, well done video. I will tell my friend that has one of these.
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Thanks you for this video! Was helpful!
Thank you! 🙂
Why are you replacing the gears with the timing belt ?
Is it due to gear backlash ? I would think the backlash would only be an issue during direction changes , not while tracking a target .
What am I missing ?
Thanks !
Yes, backlash but also overall smoothness. Sometimes there are small jumps when gears are not making the tracking smooth enough. Backlash can alos occur when tracking close to zenith.
When you fit the new small (main?) gear, is it keyed in some way on the shaft? Or just held by the 2 grub screws?
I ask because I wonder how much torque on the grub screws if the shaft isn't keyed to the gear...
Hi! It´s been a while now but as I can recall there is no other type of attachment other than the grub screws. However, I have never heard of anyone having problems with this kit, so it should be fine. But I´m not a mechanical engineer 🙂
Why spend so much money on a product that has this noisy gear issue in the first place? It is something the manufacturer should get right.
Well, for me it was a question of budget and availability. Within my budget and what was on the market here in Sweden it was either this one or the Celestron AVX and from what I understand that one is even noisier 🙂