Balancing the EQ6-R

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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Balancing the EQ6-R

#1

Post by Larry 1969 »


Sorry for the barrage of questions but I've been reading and watching videos so I will be ready when all of my gear arrives and I have another question regarding balance.
Some of the videos show intentionally making the rig a bit heavier on the weight side and on the rear of the scope to take out gear lash. I understand that but my mount is belt driven.
Should I bias the balance like the videos show or get it right on?

Thanks!

Larry
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

For imaging:
Orion 8" astrograph 800mm @ F3.9
Eq6-R Pro controlled by APT via EQmod with an OTA mounted mini PC
Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 coma corrector
Altair Hypercam 26C
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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: Balancing the EQ6-R

#2

Post by yobbo89 »


I believe the eq6-r is not spring loaded on the worm gear to the worm wheel, this is where meshing / gear lash occurs, You can choose what side of the mount head you would like to offset the weight based on what part of the sky you usually start tracking from, one side usually tracks a little better then other doing so, you can also use a neutral balance, doing so evens out tracking accuracy/error on both sides, depending on the desighn of the mount and tolerance of the machining evening the balances can introduce rocking oscillation and may give you poor guiding results.

I find that marking the counterweight bar with tape and shifting the weight once the mount does a meridian flip gives the best results.

I run my mount one side heavy and just leave it, superb tracking on one side and average on the other, an even balance gives me rocking oscillation for my setup so I don't use this method.

When I talk about what side of mount to keep loaded/heavy, there is only One side that should be offset with weight
which is the side the mount is tracking from. change the weights to make the scope side heavy or the counter weight bar side heavy based on the flip.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Re: Balancing the EQ6-R

#3

Post by Larry 1969 »


Thanks yobbo! I plan to start out unguided taking maybe 1 min exposures. I would like to add an OAG later but can't until I upgrade my DSLR.

Larry
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

For imaging:
Orion 8" astrograph 800mm @ F3.9
Eq6-R Pro controlled by APT via EQmod with an OTA mounted mini PC
Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 coma corrector
Altair Hypercam 26C
Image
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Gordon United States of America
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Re: Balancing the EQ6-R

#4

Post by Gordon »


Just looking at the specs it appears the EQ6-R is belt driven so in theory that should help. Even so it's always a good idea to go just a tad heavy on one side as yobbo suggested.
Gordon
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-g mount & Skywatcher EQ5 Pro.
ZWO mini guider.
Image cameras: ZWO ASI1600 MM Cool, ZWO ASI533mc-Pro, ZWO ASI174mm-C (for use with my Quark chromosphere), ZWO ASI120MC
Filters: LRGB, Ha 7nm, O-III 7nm, S-II 7nm
Eyepieces: a few.
Primary software: Cartes du Ciel, N.I.N.A, StarTools V1.4.

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Benjamin Australia
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Re: Balancing the EQ6-R

#5

Post by Benjamin »


Just saw this so sorry for the late addition. My EQ6-R has a bit of backlash which changes with weather a bit - hot and the gears expand a fraction, cold and they lossen up a bit. Easy to adjust using Astrobaby’s guide to the EQ6. I had mine over tightened a bit and this cause some very sticky spots with big sudden jumps in guiding. Loosening them off a bit caused an initial period of uncorrected guiding then very smooth sailing. The slightly weighted counter weight side wasn’t so great with the tight gears but fine with the right tension and acceptable backlash. Just my recent experience with it anyway :-)
Scopes:Skywatcher f5 12" Dob, f4 8” Quattro, Esprit 100
Mounts:Skywatcher EQ6-R (EQMod)
Cameras:ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro, Astronomik 2” filters
Apps:PHD2, Sequence Generator Pro, PixInsight
Eyepieces:Explore Scientific, Pentax XW, TeleVue Panoptic, Delos, Ethos
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