Chris85
16-03-2013, 12:39 AM
Hi all,
As most of us know the eq3 is not the most ideal imaging platform, but being on a budget means it's a cheap option for some to start out with. The weakest link I found with mine was the flimsy alu legs, and the 5-10s settle down time it takes after just the slightest of nudges or wind on the scope.
So I thought I'd share a few tricks I tried to stop my eq3 from getting the shakes.
First I took the lower half of the legs apart and filled each one with a handful of old small fishing sinkers and then topped up with sand. I made sure to give the legs a good tap each pour to make sure it was nice and compact. Each leg alone now weighs about 2kgs, already making the mount much better than stock.
Adding to this I went to a local metal fabricator around the corner from my work and asked if I could rummage through their scrap bins and found a roughly 200mm round by 1 1/2in steel plate and attached it beneath the mounts tray. As you can see below I used had to use longer bolts and alsio had to drill a hole through the middle of the plate to fix an additional bolt to stop the spreaders from sagging with all the weight. I'm unsure of how heavy the plate is, but with that and the filled legs, the little eq3 is barely "grab-and-go" now. I can also say that I'v now reduced the wobble by 99% I reckon, with the only movement now being in the dodgy DEC head. :D
Thanks for looking!
Chris
As most of us know the eq3 is not the most ideal imaging platform, but being on a budget means it's a cheap option for some to start out with. The weakest link I found with mine was the flimsy alu legs, and the 5-10s settle down time it takes after just the slightest of nudges or wind on the scope.
So I thought I'd share a few tricks I tried to stop my eq3 from getting the shakes.
First I took the lower half of the legs apart and filled each one with a handful of old small fishing sinkers and then topped up with sand. I made sure to give the legs a good tap each pour to make sure it was nice and compact. Each leg alone now weighs about 2kgs, already making the mount much better than stock.
Adding to this I went to a local metal fabricator around the corner from my work and asked if I could rummage through their scrap bins and found a roughly 200mm round by 1 1/2in steel plate and attached it beneath the mounts tray. As you can see below I used had to use longer bolts and alsio had to drill a hole through the middle of the plate to fix an additional bolt to stop the spreaders from sagging with all the weight. I'm unsure of how heavy the plate is, but with that and the filled legs, the little eq3 is barely "grab-and-go" now. I can also say that I'v now reduced the wobble by 99% I reckon, with the only movement now being in the dodgy DEC head. :D
Thanks for looking!
Chris