[mch62 (Mark)]

OK i will jump in here with some first hand experiences with the EQ6 .
I have had mine since they first came to OZ and that's a couple of years now.

First off , back then Q.C. was a hit and miss thing.

Mine would not motor very well in RA tracking was poor and fast slew worked when it wanted to.
At this time there was not a great deal of info on the subject so i explored the fault my self.
It was relatively simple.
Q.C.

When the motor was fitted a spacer was fitted under neath instead of on top and hence the gear sprocket instead of being in mesh was just riding like a clutch against the face.
slipping most of the time.
Once this was rectified and the grease changed out to something more like real grease it performed very well .

Once polar aligned I am able to keep an object centred in the small field of a ToUcam for 15-30mins .

There is PE error of coarse but have never measured it.

Now as to what the mount is capable of handling.

I originally had a 6"f8 refractor on the scope with a guide scope camera ect ect .No problems here well within it's limits.

When I finished my 12.5" f6 newt I used the EQ6 to try it out.
This was only temporary as I intended to get a bigger mount.
I used it like this for about 6 months.

The 12.5"is a truss tube with a light weight conical mirror and the total weight was 16kg's with out any eyepieces or other accessories and has an OTA length of 2000mm.

The eq6 handled the weight no problems there .
It was the back lash and small gears and gear meshing that caused the problems with a long tube.

The torque generated by a long tube was to much for the EQ6 .
It was OK for general viewing but slewing was a hit and miss affair.

Just to long for the little gears used in the mount.

May be if they were like 7-9" it would be fine but 5.6" gears are a bit on the small size for larger long scopes.

A 12" SCT would be fine as would a ***light weight***12" f 4.5 Newt.
I think f5 1500mm would be the absolute max and that is for visual only and a light weight tube assemble.

Having used (not owned) a 12" f5 GSO it would be to heavy in the ends for the EQ6.
Possible making an ultra light truss tube and keeping the focuser cage light it might work.

My EQ6 is now my grab and go mount for my ED80 and one day will upgrade to Go-to as I think it is to good a value mount for the price to part with if you don't want to fit too large a scope .

I have included a couple of pics for a 10" f6 Newtonian that rides on an EQ6 and works very well , but it is again a light weight conical mirror and a truss tube.This would be more realistic as far as a Newtonian goes.Also my 12.5"f6 .
Notice the counter weights required in each.
Mine required the 2 original +15kgs bar bell weight.

I later used one 15 and 5kg BB weight to lessen the load extended out on the counter weight shaft.
The shaft is only small and bends if to much is placed out along the full length. Eg better to have one heavy weight further out then 4 along the length of the bar.
I was able to use less over all weight.

Mark