Losmandy Tuck Motor Upgrade

[Manav]

Hi - Just wondering if anyone has attempted this? Curious to know what the difference is?


http://www.losmandy.com/tuckmotorupgrade.html


I have been getting back to AP and took out my G11 after a a few years and thought I'd service it beforehand.


Happy to hear other people's insight.


Regards
Manav

[multiweb]

Depends how old your mount is. You need the OPW. Now the heads and bodies can be interchangeable too. I couldn't get the upgrade because my RA block is entirely different and there's no room between the worm block and azimuth adjustment knob. There's an extra coupler and two more gears in the transmission train. So potentially more issues IMHO. It's only a convenience to have the motors not sticking out.

[Manav]

I knew you would respond Marc! :)

I had Matt from "Telescopes and Astronomy" install the OPW-11 (Precision Bearing Block) along with the Precision Worm and I installed the RAEXK extension myself.

But do you have to send it to US to get this done can the local distributors do the tuck in upgrade?

[multiweb]

Could you post a picture of your mount showing the RA block?

[AstroApprentice]

Hi Manav,
Have you read though this topic on the Losmandy Users forum from a couple of months ago?
https://groups.io/g/Losmandy_users/topic/upgrading_older_g11_to_tucked/71841011?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostd ate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,140,71841011

[Peter Ward]

Dealer hat on for a bit....

You will have to send your G-11 to the USA for tucked under motor mod.

Scott Losmandy has many many "evolutionary" changes to the G-11 over the years. The tucked under design does not improve the tracking, but does make it easier to transport the EQ head without damaging the motor/gearbox assembly.... which was easy to do with the earlier protruding motor design.

It is prudent to unbolt the servo motors for transport if you have the earlier G-11 version.

The new G-11's have much improved stiffness:mass ratios, (much dead metal is machined out of the new version), and the gearing is smoother, more precise with virtually zero backlash.

Gemini 2 has undergone a hardware revision as well, the new PCB's are more compact and do not suffer from random static discharge induced re-sets.

Lastly the new HD tripods neatly fold for transport and are much easier/quicker to set up in the field compared to the old pier head + slip on leg design (it was a bit like wrestling an octopus)

The OPW-11 is easy to retrofit. I have one on my G-11. It vastly improves RA tangential stiffness and dropped the PE of my system to +/- 3 arc sec...not bad for a six inch gear!

[Manav]

Thanks for the link! Looks like sending it US is the safer/only option at this stage.

[Manav]

As requested Marc here are the photos of the two worm blocks

[multiweb]

Looks like you have the OPW in RA but the DEC is the old two blocks worm drive. You won't be able to get a spring loaded worm in DEC with that configuration. You need the OPW. You could get the tucked under motor in DEC. I'm not sure about RA though because the worm is just above the elevation knob and there might not be enough room to fit the motor. Check with Losmandy first.