EQ6 Belt mod show of hands please.

coldknights (Cathy) · #1 06-08-2013, 08:05 PM

Hi I can get the 47 tooth and 12 tooth drilled out by cnc and the 2 belts from a company in the UK .
For each kit would work to be about £52.00 plus freight to Australia but to get them at that price ready to fit to the EQ6 we would have to buy 10 complete kits as if they have to do 1kit it would be £230.00 .
They also said it would be 4-5 weeks before they would be ready.
Can I see how many people want to upgrade there EQ6 to the belt instead of the grrrrrrrrrr gears that wake the neighbours up and keep the dogs barking every time you slew to a new target.
For the 10kits delivered to Australia would come in under the $1000 so no GST import tax is added or VAT leaving the uk.

only thing needed to do is use a file to file where the worm drive shaft sits the new pulley as per the link below.
Would be for both RA And Dec !

http://www.morningstarobs.com/belt-drive-mod.html

RobF (Rob) · #2 06-08-2013, 08:19 PM

I'm interested Cathy if you get numbers. Have been day-dreaming about such mods but wouldn't be game on my own. If there were a few of us, then a greater chance of sharing the knowledge around. I would hope for smoother (hopefully lower) PE curve and much reduced DEC backlash.

Might be an idea to get an extra belt per kit as spares too if doing a group buy. Be interested to see/hear how you go with this

coldknights (Cathy) · #3 06-08-2013, 08:28 PM

Thanks Rob will get a spare 10 belts as well good thought does not hurt but with that extra should be ok I am trying not to go over that $1000 AUD other wise I have to pay import tax.
Yes would be good if a club that has got members that have have 2 or 3 EQ6 that they could do the mod on a Saturday afternoon to help get the mounts up and running a lot quicker as having a few extra people around to share the work load and there expertise around as well.
I am hoping that the results will be good as a lot of people have done this but not shared the whole experience on a YouTube channel for others to see dust down the video cameras.

Occulta (Chris) · #4 06-08-2013, 10:20 PM

Cathy

Check out Hobby and Engineering Supplies in QLD as they have a vast range, including SDP-SI belts and pulleys, at good prices and shipping charges. I have delt with them for a few things over the years and found them very good to deal with. They usually have most things in stock.

http://www.hobbyparts.com.au/

From the home page, scroll down to almost the end and look for Timming Belts and Pulleys [headings are in alphabetical listing] and I am sure you will find the correct parts for the modifcations.

Chris

coldknights (Cathy) · #5 06-08-2013, 10:50 PM

Hi Chris do they sell the 47 and 12 tooth pulley if you can let me know then all we have to do is get a engineer on side to machine the bore out to the correct size.

Occulta (Chris) · #6 06-08-2013, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coldknights

Hi Chris do they sell the 47 and 12 tooth pulley if you can let me know then all we have to do is get a engineer on side to machine the bore out to the correct size.

Cathy
You will have to check the site for the correct pitch and width for the modifications.

naskies (Dave) · #7 06-08-2013, 11:36 PM

Hi Cathy,

Thanks for the idea. Any ideas what level performance improvement one might expect from doing this on an EQ6?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Occulta

Check out Hobby and Engineering Supplies in QLD as they have a vast range, including SDP-SI belts and pulleys, at good prices and shipping charges. I have delt with them for a few things over the years and found them very good to deal with. They usually have most things in stock.

Chris,

Thanks for sharing this! It's been on my mind to cobble together some brackets / timing belt / gears / etc to build my own DSLR lens focuser, and it looks like this place has everything I need.

coldknights (Cathy) · #8 06-08-2013, 11:50 PM

Hi Chris below is the info for people to go to that web site you said and have a look for the parts listed below.i spent enough time setting all this up you said about this place you look and place the info back here for people to see if you like .

Cathy,

1 kit (2 pairs everything) would be £230.62 GBP plus carriage at

Shipping quotes are based on the address information you selected: AUSTRALIA
Available Shipping Methods Rates
Shipping (International Economy 7-15 Day service (EXPD) £35.00
Shipping (International Express (EXPD) 2-3 Working Days £45.00

This is a bit cheaper than the previous quote for 1 offs! The good news is that for a 10 set group buy we can get the turning on a CNC and the price drops a lot.

We quote

20 pcs. AL15T2.5-0/12-2 ZERO BACKLASH 15mm WIDE INCLUDING BOSS TO SUIT 4mm WIDE BELT BORED TO 5mm + 1 off G/S CIB @ £11.71 GBP each. Delivery : 5 weeks

20 pcs. AL13T2.5-0/47-1 ZERO BACKLASH 13mm WIDE INCLUDING BOSS 1 FLANGE ONLY BOSS SIDE TO SUIT 4mm WIDE BELT 12 mmBORE + 1 off M3 G/S CIB @ £12.00 GBP each. Delivery : 5 weeks

20 pcs. 4T2.5/177.5 Synchroflex @ £2.24 GBP each

Please check the specification quoted before placing an order.

Hi Dave it would have to make a big improvement on what the standard eq6 does

Peter.M · #9 07-08-2013, 06:24 AM

I have modded my heq5 pro, so i can give some feedback as to how they perform. The main thing you will notice when you use it will be the rattle of the gears meshing is gone. The performance of the mount will be around the same but backlash is essentially eliminated, this has a large positive impact on pointing. Guiding is essentially the same I could not comment much on guiding or PE.

One thing about the belts is that you need to use eqmod for them to work. This im sure everyone is aware of and shouldn't be an issue. I got my parts from this site before they offered it as a kit.

http://www.beltingonline.com/heq5-be...rive-kit-12097

Goodluck with your mods.

coldknights (Cathy) · #10 07-08-2013, 09:01 AM

Thanks Peter for the info I had that company info but I had not looked at the kits .
it works out around the same price for EQ6 I will have a look today and see if they do a kit if not I will ask them how much the they can do a Kit for and is it cheaper if we buy 10 kits at a time.
I sent them a email today hope to hear back from them tonight with a price on the EQ6 kit .
Also the kit that we want to get at the moment is the 47 and 12 Tooth pulleys so we can still use the SYnScan hand controller and not have to rely on EQMod .
We can in the future look at the other kits for the use with EQMod and not the hand-controller.
Once again Thankyou Peter for the info.

bojan · #11 07-08-2013, 10:59 AM

I did this mod couple of years ago.. .
However, I didn't want to pay M$ for manufacturing 47 teeth timing pulley (which is not standard), instead I went with modifying the electronics to accommodate ANY gear ratio..
My (and this was done by many others) solution is 60-teeth timing pulley (from SPI SI) combined with 12-teeth (on stepper).

For the electronics and software/firmware, there are many options, one of them is definitely PIC_GoTo.
I went for Pololu step-motor driver modules and SoundStepper software.

EDIT
If I remember correctly, there is a way to enter a different gear ratio in the EQ6 firmware (at least some versions)..
When I find this info, I will post it here.
I hate when people pay way to much to various "entrepreneurs" for something that needs only a little bit of different effort (in this case, firmware parameters entry)

bojan · #12 07-08-2013, 11:12 AM

OK, I found something (only initial info), see here:
http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/11...-modification/

With EQMOD (bypassing Synta hand-pad), you can use any gear ratio.. and you will want to use EQMOD, since it is a standard platform that enables managing many things telescope related.

coldknights (Cathy) · #13 07-08-2013, 12:47 PM

Hi Bojan thanks for your input in this forum .
There are different ratios to choose and I can see EQMod can accommodate this in a software environment so at the moment we can stay with the standard
47 and 12 Tooth pulleys that way people can still use there SynScan Hand controller,if they want to use EQMOD all the time and not the hand controller they can use the different pulleys in the link that you provided .
There are so many ways to get the mod done but I was looking for the simplest way to achieve a quieter mount that might track a little better and still provide use of the hand controller at this stage.

RobF (Rob) · #14 07-08-2013, 02:34 PM

It was interesting to read somewhere that a 1 to 4 ratio (non standard) may help reduce ugly harmonics, albeit at the loss of hand controller functionality. Will be a glut of handcontrollers on the market soon

frolinmod · #15 07-08-2013, 03:01 PM

Or sell your EQ-6 and purchase an AZ/EQ-6 which comes with belts as a standard and fully supported feature.

coldknights (Cathy) · #16 07-08-2013, 03:31 PM

Hi Rob and others yes there are other ratio's that work with EQMod and the standard Ratio of 47 and 12 tooth pulleys.

It will much cheaper for a upgrade then to buy a new mount like the AZ-EQ6

We spoke to a Australian Company that sells pulleys today and waiting for their
Price on the pulleys listed below I also might add these are made in Germany and are not the pulleys you can buy off the shelf, the ones below and also the company will be supplying Zero Backlash pulleys.

Once we get the info from them will post it here I think the Australian company are going to list the complete kit on there website so people can buy directly from them so no middle person required for the EQ6 at this stage but will keep you informed once we get the required info from them.

naskies (Dave) · #17 07-08-2013, 03:50 PM

Thanks Cathy!

Will the kit be easy to assemble/use? Just wondering whether I'd need to do any irreversible modifications (filing, cutting, drilling, etc) since I'm not mechanically inclined.

coldknights (Cathy) · #18 07-08-2013, 03:58 PM

Hi Dave there will be a instructional YouTube video made on the mod that needs to be done to the case .
link to a web site with the info required below.

Once we get the first kit in we will make a video up for this mod,

For how to pull the EQ6 apart look at YouTube .

If you belong to a club maybe they can assist you to do this mod.

http://www.morningstarobs.com/belt-drive-mod.html

coldknights (Cathy) · #19 10-08-2013, 01:50 PM

Just a Update ...... One company I contacted had a kit available for the Eq5 but that kit is for use with the software package EQMod .....Now that I contacted them with the different pulley dimensions they have put those dimensions into kit form and have put it up on there web page as a kit.
Below is the link to them and the kit ...( Standard pulley replacement )

http://www.beltingonline.com/heq6-be...rive-kit-12220

These pulleys are zero backlash and not the cheap pulleys that are a stock item on the shelf these are made to order.

I am still waiting for the Australian company to get back to us about this kit to be sold here in Australia .

Peter.M · #20 10-08-2013, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobF

It was interesting to read somewhere that a 1 to 4 ratio (non standard) may help reduce ugly harmonics, albeit at the loss of hand controller functionality. Will be a glut of handcontrollers on the market soon

I am running 4:1 ratio at the moment and im loving it. Guiding is great (helix in deep space section) and my gotos are way more accurate.