EQ Head Leveling

[leon]

Hi All
I would like to ask a question about the bubble levels built into the G11 Equatorial Head.

As the image below will show is the top of my pier, with the mounting tube constructed as per instructions, to fit the G11 head and the head fits into this perfectly.

I have made sure that the top plate and the round tube are dead square and flat, but when i put the G11 head into it the bubbles in the head are out of level.

The question is do i ignore the the levels in the head or adjust accordingly.

Thanks for any response to this question.

Cheers Leon

[matt]

Don't think you've attached the pics correctly, Leon:shrug:

Regardless, I can tell you the bubble levels in the EQ6 are next to useless.

I use a proper spirit/bubble level.

[leon]

sorry here is the pic's Matt, in my excitement i forgot to send it, and thanks for the info.

Leon

[JohnG]

Hi Leon

The more accurate you can get the head, the better it will guide, with less corrections. Contary to what a lot of people say it dosn't have to be spot on, when you do your final Drift Align, any error will be corrected, but, and there is always a but, your autoguider will have to do more corrections if it is out a significant amount.

Cheers and congrats on the new mount.

JohnG

[Striker]

Level the mount as best you can and ignore what the mount bubble level is saying.

[leon]

Thank Guys, the mount is actually dead flat and level, so it might be best to just leave it and see how it goes, i figured that the bubbles in the head would automatically be level as well, seems that, that is not the case.

Cheers leon

[Dennis]

Hi Leon

Your mount does not need to be level at all. The only requirement is that the polar axis is pointing accurately at the SCP. This can be done with either a level mount, or a mount tilted on the side of a hill - it doesn't matter.

Having a level mount is a good idea though, and I personally try to achieve this within reason. When the mount is level, if you want to make a drift alignment adjustment in azimuth only, then by turning the azimuth adjuster, you will get a movement in pure azimuth only.

However, if the mount is tilted, to make a simple azimuth adjustment you will have to use both the azimuth and altitude adjustment screws to compensate for the tilt.

Cheers

Dennis

[Geoff45]

Yep, Dennis is correct. The only advantage of a level head :lol: is that when you drift align, you don't have to shuttle back and forth between altitude and azimuth corrections as many times. When the head is not level, each adjustment in azimuth upsets (but does not completely undo) the previous adjustment in altitude and vice versa. So get the level reasonable, but don't fuss about minor errors.
Geoff

[leon]

Thank you to all you good people, I will see how it all pans out after some drift aligning.

Cheers Leon