Anyone done belt mod on EQ6 in GC/Brisbane area?

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by luka

Alex, others may need to chime in to confirm but I believe that the light machine oil will not stay on for a very long time and must be renewed regularly. I believe lithium grease is the mostly recommended lubricant for the mounts. And not a too thick layer or it will cause friction.

I agree if you go for oil you need to do it often.
And I can't say my approach has any evidence that it is better than lithium greese..grease..but in my view greese is stickier and more so in the cold so I disagree with the recommendation...
MAYBE we could do a test.
We get two surfaces, polished brass plate, well four surfaces all up...put greese on one pair and lite oil on the other pair.
Then test to fetermine the force required to separate each of the two test units.
Repeat the tests at various tempratures to observe the difference.
Did I do that...no ...and I would not admit if I did.

The mount will be taken out of storage probably next week on my return to Sydney and I will pull it down for an inspection but I bet just sitting in a box dust will have got in..but it will be interesting to see if there is still a film of oil..

Alex

[johnyb (John)]

I have just received my belt kit from Rowans. PLease see other thread
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=159495
Where i have placed a link to a series of 15 youtube videos- that is what i will be using when doing mine.

Cheers

[kens (Ken)]

I used AstroBaby's guide to strip down the mount and the supplied instructions to fit the belts. I also took the opportunity to regrease, change the worm bearings and remove the excess paint. An important improvement to the tweezers provided with the kit was a rubber band that holds them closed and a thin stick like a thin chopstick. It needs to be thin enough to pass through the tweezers when they are held shut with the rubber band. Hold the belt tight with the stick. Pass the tweezers over the stick. Then drag the tweezers past the stick so they grab the belt. The rubber band lets the tweezers open enough for the stick to pass through then clamps them onto the belt.

[pmrid (Peter)]

I thought I'd put my own oar in this thread since I've been referenced in earlier posts.

As Billdan says, I took me 24 hours spread over a week or so to do the mod but then, not happy with the results, I did it all again. And still not happy with the results, I have just finished a further bout with the beast.

What sparked off this third epic was my frustration with doing any kind of decent drift alignment. It was bouncing all over the place and was simply not going to cooperate. I figured I'd done some damage to something and decided to go down the path of eliminating the problem a step at a time.

First step was to re-do my true south. I did the solar noon plumb-bob thing and confirmed I had that set bank on. That wasn't the issue.

So off I went exploring. First step, finished today, was bearings. I'd already replaced the worm bearings so this time I also replaced ALL the internal bearings - all 8 of them. I went to SKF bearings since they are pretty darned good. They are easy to source and not too expensive. Cost about $240 for the lot.

I took the opportunity to also buy a bearing puller tool to make the process a bit less brutal.

And so in they went and I was in the process of reinstalling the motors - a real PITA with the NEQ6 as was noted right at the start of this thread - in the absence of those great little cutouts in the body that I wish I had seen before I started.

Anyway, as I was reinstalling the second motor, I could not get the backlash out of that axis. No matter how much I fiddled. AND THEN IT HAPPENED! I saw the bleedin' problem that had obviously been there all along. There was serious (and visible when I took the little end-plate off) play in the end of the worm shaft.

I'd tightened them up way back when I first installed the new worm bearings and had had not rechecked them since - assuming that was one job I had done and that didn't need checking. WRONG.

Somehow, a significant degree of play had crept into that end-cap thing that tightens down on the shaft. It was the obvious culprit and I'd be willing to bet my last pair of wooly sox that this was what has been causing the problems all along. More fool me.

Still, I now know a heck of a lot more about the inner workings of the NEQ6 and can reassemble one in record time - probably do it blindfolded (well not quite). Whacko.

If that doesn't resolve all other issues, I will probably replace the belt mod and switch right back to the original.

Peter

[pmrid (Peter)]

I've got to share this - even though I end up being the brunt of my own joke - having been through all the convolutions in this and the related thread (The joys of doing a belt mod on an NEQ6), I have to finally claim to have solved the outstanding problems I have been writing about. But there is a final and unexpected problem - I don't know which of my "cures " actually worked.

I did a PHD2 Drift align tonight and managed to get a very acceptable result. And having done that, fired up Cartes du Ciel and did a few Go-To's with equally acceptable results. On-screen every time.

But now I will never know whether the new bearings did the trick, the regrease I did along the way or finding that wobbly worm gear end-play nut. I suspect the last one was the main - if not the sole - cure. But darn it. I'll never know.

But I now have a belt-mod'd NEQ6 that is as quiet as a mouse and does accurate go-to's and guides accurately. I don't want any more than that.

Peter

[Andy01 (Andy)]

Perseverance is it's own reward, well done! 👍

[billdan (Bill)]

Well done Peter, glad your happy after all that effort. As Einstein said once, success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration (something like that).

Bill

[jenchris (Jennifer)]

Tony brought his mount round yesterday and I stripped it down and did a clean and check with a regrease. Dec axis was gritty.
But putting it together found the hour angle ring was binding.
I'm wondering if a previous regrease has mislaid a spacer ring.
However I filed 5 thou off the ring and it just runs free now.
I don't have a flat bar so I can't check the spacer requirement.
Better for now anyway.