In my experience you can get a dramatic improvement by: 1. Remove stiction from both axis through adjustment 2. Remove backlash on both axis through adjustments 3. Remove grease from clutch surface and button. 4. Adjust pressure on the worm gear shaft 5. Adjust belts to correct tension Those items which are simple and can be done externally will give you very good tracking. Replacing the bearings IMO is pretty expensive…requires some technical expertise and is kind of in the area of diminishing returns. I’m in the .25 to . 50 tracking range without changing bearings I guess it’s up to the owner how far they want to take it 😀
I agree. The new grease and bearings made everything run very smooth (which especially helped for balancing). But to be honest, I think the most improvement came Frome the careful adjustments and the cable management. But in my case it was necessary to strip everything because I had a damage in my RA worm gear 👍 otherwise I wouldn't have "opened" it 🙂
I loosen the thightness of my DEC and RA axis and adjusted backlash with an amp-meter (easiest way to do it, imo) - I actually ended up loosening the BL, it was too tight from the factory. I went from .9 to .5 and get rid of most of my big spikes. I can only recommend adjusting your BL with an in-amp meter, you can build one for cheap that is sensitive enough and astrobloke did a good video on it.
@@stevefpv7249 не совсем согласен, что вообще не требуют замены. Их надо менять обязательно, если вдруг будет разбираться монтировка. На заводе устанавливаются подшипники довольно посредственной точности и люфт в них присутствует значительный.
aaah, SKF bearings and superlube and taking the mount apart bring up memories.. I had to fully take an AZ-Eq6 apart when I had it in 2016, because of the tracking performance.. the mount was new back then, so no guides were yet available (I used the EQ6 guide as a base and made pictures for cloudynights for people needing to take the AZ-Eq6 apart), and some of the (bad) bearings were press-fitted so they couldn't really be removed.. they must have been hammered in heavily, based on some of the scuff-marks they had and there were metal shavings everywhere.. I swapped the worm-gear bearings with SKF ones as well and used superlube for greasing.. it really improved my tracking, but in the end I still wasn't too happy (with the quality control of Skywatcher), so I eventually sold the mount and got an Avalon in mid 2016 (which I still have up to this point). schoene Gruesse!
I took a modified approach with mine. Tore it down, cleaned everything, replaced one bearing ( I dropped it ), greased (SuperLube) everything that needed it and re-assembled. The tension nuts were adjusted to allow free wheeling but maintain tension. The worm gear adjustments - I rotated each axis @15 degrees and checked backlash, found the tightest spot and adjusted for minimum at that point, both axis leaving a smidge of clearance. Cable management and balance make all the difference. Setup the other night with the Celestron 8SE and a 70ED guide scope, targeted M51 with a 600sec exposure unguided and was actually shocked... round stars..
The Detective Conan music 😂 Well done 👍🏼I had a similar issue before but wasn't as bad as yours, I only had to release the dec and ra a little as they were too tight and it was hard to balance.
Hi, thx. I have a Bortle 4 (close to 5). But only the first two images were from after the tuning. The rest was actually old but I wanted to present them as well 😅
Hi Marten, I am doing the rebuilt right now and I found an issue with the bearings. The wormdrive bearings seem not to be the 608 2RS which are mentioned everywhere, but the 608 2Z (sometimes also mentioned as 608 2Z/C3 (as in a bearings kit for the EQ6R on bearingsonline)). Which ones did you choose? And: did you actually regreased the worm gear (big golden gear) or did you just cleaned it and left it as is? Most instructions tell just about cleaning not about regreasing it, but there was lots of grease on it when I disassembled it. Thanks in advance and clear skies to you! Greetings from eastern Germany
Moin, I used the 608 2Z as listed in the predefined Order Liste from Asteobloke's hypertune video 👍 And I also cleaned and re-greased the worm gear (but of course not on the surface where the clutch is pressed against). Good luck!
EXTREMELY well done Marten! This is a great video. I have not seen anyone nail the DEC backlash as well as you did with the EQ6-R before. Do you happen know which bearings gave you the greatest improvement in guiding performance? Was it the main DEC and RA shaft bearings, or was it the worm shaft bearings?
I can not say, since I changed them simultaneously. But to be honest, I think the bearings mostly helped for balancing and to make run smooth. The new grease and the fine tuning as well as the cable management might have had a bigger impact on my guiding performance 👍
Hi Marten...I gather you weren't able to identify any one cause for the tracking problem rather you opted to replace all bearings and just re-grease hoping that would fix things?....well done for the success never the less. I have a EQ6 Pro but yet to start using it, just waiting to get a 3 meter Scope Dome installed!....Edit, I've caught with other comments and your further dialogue above, I can see what's transpired...;)
Регулировка прижима шестерен обязательна. Выставляется по амперметру например. Я в своей eq6 pro поменял все подшипники, при переходе на ремни от Rowan
What do you count as binding while adjusting the backlash? Completely locking up and sounding horrible? Every little variation in sound while slewing? On my mount there is this sound, not sure how to describe it.. kind off sounds like the movement of reading head of a mechanical harddrive. This varies throughout a full rotation. For some stretches there is none of that sound, for other parts of the rotation, it comes and goes intermittently. Would that be considered binding you think? Feels like I would have to set the backlash extremely loose for this sound to go away.
I think the sounds that you describe are totally normal (also having them more or less at different positions). Real Binding actually sounds horrible. It is when the belt actually skips over the gear and the mount isn't moving at all. You can hear it at around 8:00 in the video
Этот звук может исходить от трения зеленых координатных колец от корпус. Зазор там довольно мал. Если зажимать координатные кольца не прижимая их максимально к верхней части, то они трутся о нижнюю часть.
There are different opinions out there. Some recommended "super lube" others "mos2". I bought both but I don't believe there is much of a difference tbh. If you don't live in very cold climate mos2 should be a good pick 👌
Well, tbh I bought mine as "used". It's possible that the errors came from wrong transportation of the previous owner... But ya... Everything is expensive af in this hobby :/
В астрономии вообще нет понятие дёшево. Любой малый качественный рывок, требует больших капиталовложений. Средний сетап это 6000$, очень недешевое хобби, требующее еще и благословения вселенной, для ясного неба
“Thanks for doing this” Skywatcher. “This is our policy; sell some good and some faulty products and hope astrophotographers will fix problems.” Skywatcher. “This faulty products, build on crapy parts will drive price down, and make profit for us” Skywatcher. “We hope your nice government will continue tolerance policy for crapy Chinese products without any standards and QC” Skywatcher. “Thanks again hardworking astrophotographer!” Skywatcher.
Это не плохой продукт, это все задает уровень стоимости. Настройка, юстировка и изначальная установка высокоточных подшипников поднимет стоимость минимум на четверть. Но, да, я согласен качество очень низкое в области допусков, люфтов и резьб. То, что можно делать это идеально, за эти же деньги, показывает требование к качеству при изготовлении волновых редукторов
In my experience you can get a dramatic improvement by:
1. Remove stiction from both axis through adjustment
2. Remove backlash on both axis through adjustments
3. Remove grease from clutch surface and button.
4. Adjust pressure on the worm gear shaft
5. Adjust belts to correct tension
Those items which are simple and can be done externally will give you very good tracking. Replacing the bearings IMO is pretty expensive…requires some technical expertise and is kind of in the area of diminishing returns. I’m in the .25 to . 50 tracking range without changing bearings
I guess it’s up to the owner how far they want to take it 😀
I agree. The new grease and bearings made everything run very smooth (which especially helped for balancing). But to be honest, I think the most improvement came Frome the careful adjustments and the cable management. But in my case it was necessary to strip everything because I had a damage in my RA worm gear 👍 otherwise I wouldn't have "opened" it 🙂
Totally agree! No need to replace the original bearings at all. They are actually good quality. Your points are what is required, that's it:)
I loosen the thightness of my DEC and RA axis and adjusted backlash with an amp-meter (easiest way to do it, imo) - I actually ended up loosening the BL, it was too tight from the factory. I went from .9 to .5 and get rid of most of my big spikes.
I can only recommend adjusting your BL with an in-amp meter, you can build one for cheap that is sensitive enough and astrobloke did a good video on it.
btw, your calibration graph looks wrong. The dots are supposed to be on the same line and ideally on top of each other. :/
@@stevefpv7249 не совсем согласен, что вообще не требуют замены. Их надо менять обязательно, если вдруг будет разбираться монтировка. На заводе устанавливаются подшипники довольно посредственной точности и люфт в них присутствует значительный.
aaah, SKF bearings and superlube and taking the mount apart bring up memories.. I had to fully take an AZ-Eq6 apart when I had it in 2016, because of the tracking performance.. the mount was new back then, so no guides were yet available (I used the EQ6 guide as a base and made pictures for cloudynights for people needing to take the AZ-Eq6 apart), and some of the (bad) bearings were press-fitted so they couldn't really be removed.. they must have been hammered in heavily, based on some of the scuff-marks they had and there were metal shavings everywhere.. I swapped the worm-gear bearings with SKF ones as well and used superlube for greasing.. it really improved my tracking, but in the end I still wasn't too happy (with the quality control of Skywatcher), so I eventually sold the mount and got an Avalon in mid 2016 (which I still have up to this point).
schoene Gruesse!
Хорошая работа!
И хороший результат!
I took a modified approach with mine. Tore it down, cleaned everything, replaced one bearing ( I dropped it ), greased (SuperLube) everything that needed it and re-assembled. The tension nuts were adjusted to allow free wheeling but maintain tension. The worm gear adjustments - I rotated each axis @15 degrees and checked backlash, found the tightest spot and adjusted for minimum at that point, both axis leaving a smidge of clearance. Cable management and balance make all the difference. Setup the other night with the Celestron 8SE and a 70ED guide scope, targeted M51 with a 600sec exposure unguided and was actually shocked... round stars..
Thanks for sharing this buddy! Excellent job!
The Detective Conan music 😂 Well done 👍🏼I had a similar issue before but wasn't as bad as yours, I only had to release the dec and ra a little as they were too tight and it was hard to balance.
Those pictures were after the tune up?.....Impressive!!!!....Two thumbs up!!!!....What bortle skies do you have? Thanks for sharing.
Hi, thx. I have a Bortle 4 (close to 5). But only the first two images were from after the tuning. The rest was actually old but I wanted to present them as well 😅
Great Job. I really need to tune my Atlas mount.
Awesome, but.... did you get the music from a 70's adult film? 😂😂
Hi Marten,
I am doing the rebuilt right now and I found an issue with the bearings. The wormdrive bearings seem not to be the 608 2RS which are mentioned everywhere, but the 608 2Z (sometimes also mentioned as 608 2Z/C3 (as in a bearings kit for the EQ6R on bearingsonline)).
Which ones did you choose?
And: did you actually regreased the worm gear (big golden gear) or did you just cleaned it and left it as is? Most instructions tell just about cleaning not about regreasing it, but there was lots of grease on it when I disassembled it.
Thanks in advance and clear skies to you! Greetings from eastern Germany
Moin, I used the 608 2Z as listed in the predefined Order Liste from Asteobloke's hypertune video 👍
And I also cleaned and re-greased the worm gear (but of course not on the surface where the clutch is pressed against). Good luck!
@@DMJstyles dankeschöööön! 😀
EXTREMELY well done Marten! This is a great video. I have not seen anyone nail the DEC backlash as well as you did with the EQ6-R before. Do you happen know which bearings gave you the greatest improvement in guiding performance? Was it the main DEC and RA shaft bearings, or was it the worm shaft bearings?
I can not say, since I changed them simultaneously. But to be honest, I think the bearings mostly helped for balancing and to make run smooth. The new grease and the fine tuning as well as the cable management might have had a bigger impact on my guiding performance 👍
Nice video Marten
Why didn't you just play the video at normal speed and talk your way through it and explain what it is that you were doing?
Hi Marten...I gather you weren't able to identify any one cause for the tracking problem rather you opted to replace all bearings and just re-grease hoping that would fix things?....well done for the success never the less. I have a EQ6 Pro but yet to start using it, just waiting to get a 3 meter Scope Dome installed!....Edit, I've caught with other comments and your further dialogue above, I can see what's transpired...;)
Регулировка прижима шестерен обязательна. Выставляется по амперметру например.
Я в своей eq6 pro поменял все подшипники, при переходе на ремни от Rowan
What do you count as binding while adjusting the backlash? Completely locking up and sounding horrible? Every little variation in sound while slewing? On my mount there is this sound, not sure how to describe it.. kind off sounds like the movement of reading head of a mechanical harddrive. This varies throughout a full rotation. For some stretches there is none of that sound, for other parts of the rotation, it comes and goes intermittently. Would that be considered binding you think? Feels like I would have to set the backlash extremely loose for this sound to go away.
I think the sounds that you describe are totally normal (also having them more or less at different positions). Real Binding actually sounds horrible. It is when the belt actually skips over the gear and the mount isn't moving at all. You can hear it at around 8:00 in the video
Этот звук может исходить от трения зеленых координатных колец от корпус. Зазор там довольно мал. Если зажимать координатные кольца не прижимая их максимально к верхней части, то они трутся о нижнюю часть.
I don't really want to do that level of teardown. If the mount needs to be disassembled, I would rather ship it to SkyWatcher.
Это не гарантийный случай! это не ремонт, а модернизация.
Hello! Which grease did you use? I see a liqui moly, maybe mos2? Any other fluids to recommend? Thank you!
There are different opinions out there. Some recommended "super lube" others "mos2". I bought both but I don't believe there is much of a difference tbh. If you don't live in very cold climate mos2 should be a good pick 👌
What pier extension do you using?
Diy?
I bought it used together with the mount. But I am pretty sure it's diy.
Where did you buy the worm gear and bearings?🤩
Bearings: www.bearings-online.co.uk/browse/q-eq6
Worm Gear: teleskop-austria.at/WormAZEQ6_Schneckenwelle-fur-EQ6-R-und-AZ-EQ6
👍
EQ6R Pro tuning.
1. Buy ZWO AM5
2. Sell EQ6R Pro
Done !
Do you have a guide that you followed ?
Yes, it's linked in the description 👍
Balance and level. And pointed north lol
🤣🤣 nice video but music oops
You pay a small fortune for these mounts and then at your own expense rebuild it…crazy
Well, tbh I bought mine as "used". It's possible that the errors came from wrong transportation of the previous owner... But ya... Everything is expensive af in this hobby :/
В астрономии вообще нет понятие дёшево. Любой малый качественный рывок, требует больших капиталовложений. Средний сетап это 6000$, очень недешевое хобби, требующее еще и благословения вселенной, для ясного неба
“Thanks for doing this” Skywatcher. “This is our policy; sell some good and some faulty products and hope astrophotographers will fix problems.” Skywatcher. “This faulty products, build on crapy parts will drive price down, and make profit for us” Skywatcher. “We hope your nice government will continue tolerance policy for crapy Chinese products without any standards and QC” Skywatcher. “Thanks again hardworking astrophotographer!” Skywatcher.
Это не плохой продукт, это все задает уровень стоимости. Настройка, юстировка и изначальная установка высокоточных подшипников поднимет стоимость минимум на четверть.
Но, да, я согласен качество очень низкое в области допусков, люфтов и резьб.
То, что можно делать это идеально, за эти же деньги, показывает требование к качеству при изготовлении волновых редукторов
lol screws this just buy a losmandy