Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephane
Thanks Martin! I was hoping for an easier galaxy, but couldn't find one on Stellarium. My back garden has mostly an Eastern and Northern view. South and most of the West have obstructions.
I started imaging at 10:30 pm and finished around 3:30 am. So I guess I had the moon for a couple of hours.
For the first time my mount successfully performed an automatic meridian flip which was great to watch.
I will take new flats each imaging session. I learnt this the hard way today.
As for the elongated stars, I am also confused. There were serious issues with my polar alignment and I am not sure what was happening. NINA was telling me that I was perfectly polar aligned one moment, but 15 minutes later, it was telling my I was a degree off in both RA and Dec. Not sure how I can be polar aligned one moment, then off the next. I made sure everything was tight, couldn't find any issues. I re-polar aligned, and same thing happened. So I did it a third time, and hoped for the best. Tilt is also a possibility as I did take the camera off to remove the L-Extreme filter and perhaps repositioned it with not enough care. I also tightened the focuser lock screws which I don't usually do. Any thoughts??
Also, I am a little worried about my Dec gears. The mount is making a slight grinding noise as it rotates. RA gears do not make this noise, just the high pitch "normal" noise. Any thoughts there? I haven't ever opened the mount up, and don't really feel confident doing so...
Thanks again for all the encouragement.
Clear skies,
Stéphane
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No problem glad to help where possible, we all need encouragement
The Dec axis “may” have some slight binding on the worm gear
Both my EQ6-R mounts sound similar in Ra and Dec ( high pitch like a mosquito) as I have adjusted both Ra ad Dec worms. If it’s a harsh grinding sound, a shudder sound or even a clunking sound ( Binding of worm gear ) I would stop using the mount as it could do damage.
Adjusting the worms are fairly straight forward
Here’s my procedure below plus Cuiv the lazy Geek has a YouTube video on how to do it
EQ6-R Dec backlash adjustment
This procedure is only required if you have “binding of gears” or any minor back and forth movement or rotation movement in your Dec axis with the Dec clutch locked and the same with the Ra axis.It may be only a slight amount of movement ( less than 1mm ) but there should be almost no movement in your Dec and Ra axis with the clutch locked position and also no binding of the Dec and Ra worm gears when slewing the mount around.
Tools required
5mm Allen key long shaft short end ( I had to cut off 10mm on the short end of the Allen key wrench so it would fit behind the Ra clutch lever )
2mm Allen key long shaft short end
NB: Make sure your Telescope is installed with all equipment and mount is in the “Home Position” with the Dec and Ra clutches secured and locked
Dec Axis
1/ On the Dec axis or Dec shaft housing loosen the 4 main fixing Allen screws pointing down the Dec shaft ( 2 x rear and 2 x either side ) just half a turn not too much
2/ The Dec adjustment screws are small Allen grub screws located either side of the Dec axis or Dec shaft housing ( one at the front and one at the rear )
3/ “Very important “ do not tighten or loosen both adjustment screws together the same way otherwise you may damage your Dec worm gear inside the housing. You must tighten one side and loosen the other side during all adjustments, these adjustments must be small , just a quarter turn or less. Start off with tightening the top or front grub screw and loosening the back or bottom grub screw
4/ Make sure you a make small adjustment in the adjustment grub screws ( one side screw in and the opposite side unscrew out )
5/ Then retighten the 4 main fixing screws
6/ Now check for backlash in Dec by trying to rotate or move the telescope back and forth. If there is no movement at all , then your ready to test the mounts powered movement or slewing
7/ Power up your mount and slew or rotate the Dec axis through nearly 360 degrees using your mounts hand controller or direct from your Laptops telescope control ( eg EQMOD). If you hear a binding or scraping or shudder sound it means your adjustment has been slightly to much one way or the other , stop the mount and return it to the Home Position.
8/ Repeat item 1, item 4( adjust back a little bit ) and item 5 again and rotate or slew the Dec axis of the mount again through 360 degrees until you hear no binding , and the mount is smoothly rotating around with just the high pitch noise of the mount.
10/ Return the mount to the “Home Position” again and check for Dec backlash again. Once your satisfied, just double check your 4 main fixing screws again
11/ A tip is to only make small adjustments one way or the other with the adjustment screws.
12/ The main objective is no backlash and no binding in the Dec axis.
Ra Axis
Repeat the above procedures for the Ra axis
Cheers
Martin