Hi. I was doing some viewing photography last night and when adjusting the Altitude while trying to align i noticed the rear Alt adjustment was quite stiff. When i went to pack up and bring the Alt down it had totally seized. This morning i took the mount off the tripod and discovered the rear Alt adjustment bolt had moved off the part the raises Alt. I think the bot is even bent
The bolt is seized because of the bend thread and cant removed it.
Can someone please tell me what is the best way to pull apart mount to access bolt etc?
Or has this mount now become a paper weight
Thanks for any help and advise.
Steve.
EDIT- I just moved the Alt back to 90deg to get clear view of the bolt. It is bent and the last 5 or so threads are mashed. I think i need to hacksaw the bolt head off and remove from the inside?
Damage is done, not much choice here. Do not get desperate though. First, buy a WD40 spray and spray it generously into the thread from inside and outside. The bolt is bent on outside, right? That is good news. Means a lot of thread may still be intact. After WD40 soaks in for 5 minutes or so - use the force to unscrew the bolt in proper direction. It should get loose. If you would not be able to screw it off and out of the thread check what holds it in. May be some clip. After that you will need to find a suitable replacement and try to screw it in. If the tread damaged more than I expect - tapping a new thread will be an option. Can be done at home - but better at some mechanical workshop.
Yes, and telescope must be off and away from the mount.
Damage is done, not much choice here. Do not get desperate though. First, buy a WD40 spray and spray it generously into the thread from inside and outside. The bolt is bent on outside, right? That is good news. Means a lot of thread may still be intact. After WD40 soaks in for 5 minutes or so - use the force to unscrew the bolt in proper direction. It should get loose. If you would not be able to screw it off and out of the thread check what holds it in. May be some clip. After that you will need to find a suitable replacement and try to screw it in. If the tread damaged more than I expect - tapping a new thread will be an option. Can be done at home - but better at some mechanical workshop.
Yes, and telescope must be off and away from the mount.
Thanks Michael. I gave it a spray and let it soak before i decided i hack into it. AND it worked I got the bolt out. I had to get a small chisel and use the force to just give it a little bend in the opposite direction to get the bolt going again. There are some metal shavings so i hope they are from the bolt and not the internal thread. I need a new bolt though, this one is Banana-d. Any ideas where to get replacement bolts from?
Thanks for your help
If you don't need it to look precisely as it was -Bunnings stores a lot of bolts of every description. Unless you travel a lot with the tripod ( I wish I could) you set it once and forget. So does not matter if the bolt has a hex head, for example.
Metal shavings are more likely to be from the tripod thread - it's material is softer. Be careful not to seize that thread again - use a bit of grease to lubricate it and do not over-tighten the bolt. Better have the setting lost than have a "fun" fixing the tripod.
Cheers!
Now you have the bolt out have a good close look at the thread in the body, If it is rough or damaged in any way do not try to put another bolt in there until you have cleaned the thread with a sharp tap.
The aluminium body is cast and once the thread seizes like yours the little pieces of aluminium will jam the bolt even tighter and further force will tear most of the thread out of the body.
Steve , I am glad the problem is fixed ,,,, BUT , I cant for the life of me understand why you need to adjust the Altitude after a session??? . Once that is set you never have to touch it again, it only has to be moved if you move north or south any large distance , thus changing your lattitude .
If you are adjusting it for precise polar allignment try adjusting the tripod legs and banging in 3 plastic tent pegs into the ground that the 3 tripod legs ( Drill little dimples into the top of the pegs to mate with the3 tips on the legs ) that way every time you place the tripod down on the dimpled plastic pegs ( they are at ground hight , of course) you will be facing south every time . and if you dont adjust the tripod leg length you will de accuratly alligned every time , and wont have to touch the offending alt adjustement again ..
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust steve
Hi. I was doing some viewing photography last night and when adjusting the Altitude while trying to align i noticed the rear Alt adjustment was quite stiff. When i went to pack up and bring the Alt down it had totally seized. This morning i took the mount off the tripod and discovered the rear Alt adjustment bolt had moved off the part the raises Alt. I think the bot is even bent
The bolt is seized because of the bend thread and cant removed it.
Can someone please tell me what is the best way to pull apart mount to access bolt etc?
Or has this mount now become a paper weight
Thanks for any help and advise.
Steve.
EDIT- I just moved the Alt back to 90deg to get clear view of the bolt. It is bent and the last 5 or so threads are mashed. I think i need to hacksaw the bolt head off and remove from the inside?
Now you have the bolt out have a good close look at the thread in the body, If it is rough or damaged in any way do not try to put another bolt in there until you have cleaned the thread with a sharp tap.
The aluminium body is cast and once the thread seizes like yours the little pieces of aluminium will jam the bolt even tighter and further force will tear most of the thread out of the body.
Barry
Thanks Barry. I think i used my get out of jail free card this time. I had a look at the thread and it looks ok. Im pretty sure i can get access to a tap of that size thread and will do what you said. I dont want to casue any more damage
Thanks for the reply
Steve , I am glad the problem is fixed ,,,, BUT , I cant for the life of me understand why you need to adjust the Altitude after a session??? . Once that is set you never have to touch it again, it only has to be moved if you move north or south any large distance , thus changing your lattitude .
If you are adjusting it for precise polar allignment try adjusting the tripod legs and banging in 3 plastic tent pegs into the ground that the 3 tripod legs ( Drill little dimples into the top of the pegs to mate with the3 tips on the legs ) that way every time you place the tripod down on the dimpled plastic pegs ( they are at ground hight , of course) you will be facing south every time . and if you dont adjust the tripod leg length you will de accuratly alligned every time , and wont have to touch the offending alt adjustement again ..
Brian.
I will say i have learnt quite a bit in the last 24hrs. I thought i had a handle on this alignment business until my discoveries today. All this time i had discovered the North part of the eq3 was pointing South. Even after hours of reading about Polar Alignment, for some strange reason i thought because it must have been built for the Northern Hemisphere and being used in the Southern, it had to point south as it looked natural when the scope was sitting on the mount. And while this was the case around the wrong way, i kept getting drift no matter how many adjustments i made during star drift method. So i kept raising the Alt (to about 60 deg) in the end, thats when the damage really took its toll.
Now i think i have it better set up. I have N facing North, i have the Alt at around 35 deg. I leveled the tripod. Put a compass on top of mount to face true south (or as close as possible) and now waiting for a chance to try another alignment. The tube (OTA is it) is resting facing North with the DEC at +90.
Nothing like a bit of trial and error
Thanks everyone for the info and tips, this learning curve just get steeper
Steve.
Yep , its a lot like that Steve , not so bad these days with IIS and Australian S&T , the internet and the such ,,,,,,,, but when I ,,, and lots here were starting out the southern hemisphere did not even exist ?? to the major publications , I kid you not !!! the learning curve was that steep we had to learn it over our heads .... hang on ???? thats what the sky looks like from down here in the southern hemisphere , DUHHH ! , . Astronomy magazine only started printing southern sky charts in there publication in about 1980 or so . Stick with it mate and you will get there , lots here will help ..
Brian.
Hi Steve
If your tripod is anything like my HEQ5 then be careful of the
"N" mark. This is for the northern hemisphere. It needs to be orientated to the South in the southern hemisphere or the EQ head will point in the wrong direction.
Yep , its a lot like that Steve , not so bad these days with IIS and Australian S&T , the internet and the such ,,,,,,,, but when I ,,, and lots here were starting out the southern hemisphere did not even exist ?? to the major publications , I kid you not !!! the learning curve was that steep we had to learn it over our heads .... hang on ???? thats what the sky looks like from down here in the southern hemisphere , DUHHH ! , . Astronomy magazine only started printing southern sky charts in there publication in about 1980 or so . Stick with it mate and you will get there , lots here will help ..
Brian.
I can imagine what it would have been like. I take it for granted sometimes when i need to find an answer to something fast. IIS especially has been the panadol to some of my headaches associated with this Astro business
Good on you for persisting with it in you early stages, it would have been difficult
Hi Steve
If your tripod is anything like my HEQ5 then be careful of the
"N" mark. This is for the northern hemisphere. It needs to be orientated to the South in the southern hemisphere or the EQ head will point in the wrong direction.
Barry
Ah so i did have it pointing the right way first up i did get carried away with the adjustments . I was doubting myself yesterday and was all in a muddle. I will try again tonight.
You need to align the mount towards true south, not magnetic south - from most maps you can work out what you need to move by to get near to true south. Also the EQ3 probably has provision for installing a polar alignment scope - this is a handy device but requires that you have a view of the south celestial pole in order to use it.
I have a chinese copy of an EQ3 and this one came with a polar alignment scope. Maybe your mount comes with one too!
The other thing is that most of the altitude readings are not necessarily accurate and do require some adjustment.
-John
P.S. Have a read of this http://www.myastroshop.com.au/guides...lign-basic.pdf document - for Adelaide you need to point the mount about 8 degrees to the east to get to near true south. Here in Sydney we move it further.
Last edited by John0z; 27-03-2012 at 03:50 PM.
Reason: Add link to polar alignment doco
Yes good advise there John , a polar scope is a great tool ,,, BUT !! be aware its a Southern one not a Northern one with the plough and cassiopea in the etching , it has to have sigma Octans and surrounding stars in the etching , for us down south here .
A lot of new amateures get caught out but this .And if you dont know its as good as usuless ,
Oh yes some of the newer ones have a duel North/South etching , but I dont know how easy these would be to read .
Maybe someone has used one ?
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by John0z
Hi,
You need to align the mount towards true south, not magnetic south - from most maps you can work out what you need to move by to get near to true south. Also the EQ3 probably has provision for installing a polar alignment scope - this is a handy device but requires that you have a view of the south celestial pole in order to use it.
I have a chinese copy of an EQ3 and this one came with a polar alignment scope. Maybe your mount comes with one too!
The other thing is that most of the altitude readings are not necessarily accurate and do require some adjustment.
-John
P.S. Have a read of this http://www.myastroshop.com.au/guides...lign-basic.pdf document - for Adelaide you need to point the mount about 8 degrees to the east to get to near true south. Here in Sydney we move it further.
A digital level (if you have one) or a spirit level, protractor and a plumb bob will let you know how far out your latitude scale is. Mine is several degrees off.
Solar Noon and a plumb bob will get you true south. Of course you need sunshine ... a rare commodity these days.
Them make a simple inclinometer, a disk, wood or anything with a protractor scale with a weighted indicator to place on you mount head for the polar axis and adjust it for your latitude. Mine is 36.7 degrees and I use the inclinometer app on my Android Tablet.
A good idea is to mark out a spot for your tripod where you normally set it up with three paint marks or similar so you place the tripod in the same place everytime. Mine is on the driveway out front with a good view south. I've also set up a level base plate that I put down first so I am pretty close to on SCP target before I do any checks and minor tweaks.
So far it has worked well, enough that when I get guiding to work there will be little need to fiddle with it.
Having a good 'setup system' makes for quicker and easier setups with less frustrations for sure.
A digital level (if you have one) or a spirit level, protractor and a plumb bob will let you know how far out your latitude scale is. Mine is several degrees off.
regards
Thanks Colin. I reckon that could be one of the answers to one of my problems. I will set the ALT to 0 deg then test with a spirit level, as long as my mount is level, it should read level at 0deg? Something to try this afternoon.
Thanks for the reply
Solar Noon and a plumb bob will get you true south. Of course you need sunshine ... a rare commodity these days.
Them make a simple inclinometer, a disk, wood or anything with a protractor scale with a weighted indicator to place on you mount head for the polar axis and adjust it for your latitude. Mine is 36.7 degrees and I use the inclinometer app on my Android Tablet.
A good idea is to mark out a spot for your tripod where you normally set it up with three paint marks or similar so you place the tripod in the same place everytime. Mine is on the driveway out front with a good view south. I've also set up a level base plate that I put down first so I am pretty close to on SCP target before I do any checks and minor tweaks.
So far it has worked well, enough that when I get guiding to work there will be little need to fiddle with it.
Having a good 'setup system' makes for quicker and easier setups with less frustrations for sure.
Thanks Brent. Handy info. In my backyard, i have laid my pavers on the diagonal and by chance it just so happens the paver line runs true south or that close to it. So that is my guide initially, i face the N marked on the mount to true south( following the paver line) level the mount then fail from there haha.
I have an inclinometer on the Ipad so i can use that. It will be good to finally get at least the ALT set...one less problem to deal with then eliminate the rest from there. There have been time where i have been reasonably close and get very slow drift, but in my confusion i end up making the wrong adjustments and it all goes to hell in a handbasket
Thanks for the info and the response. EDIT- upon using the inclinometer more than just having the bubble move(now its reading the degrees under more tilt) i think this is going to work well. By just a quick view, the mount appears to be out by 4 degrees. I like learnering new thingies!
Last edited by stardust steve; 28-03-2012 at 04:47 PM.
You need to align the mount towards true south, not magnetic south - from most maps you can work out what you need to move by to get near to true south. Also the EQ3 probably has provision for installing a polar alignment scope - this is a handy device but requires that you have a view of the south celestial pole in order to use it.
I have a chinese copy of an EQ3 and this one came with a polar alignment scope. Maybe your mount comes with one too!
The other thing is that most of the altitude readings are not necessarily accurate and do require some adjustment.
-John
P.S. Have a read of this http://www.myastroshop.com.au/guides...lign-basic.pdf document - for Adelaide you need to point the mount about 8 degrees to the east to get to near true south. Here in Sydney we move it further.
Thanks John. The provision where the polar scope should be in blank. I think it would be a handy thing to have aswell as an illuminated recticle/finder. But at this point in time budget allowing i have to go with what i got. Thanks for the link info, i save all these in my bookmarks for reading on cloudy nights. I will be getting on to this ALT business asap
Cheers John
I got the bolt out. I had to get a small chisel and use the force
Steve , I am glad the problem is fixed ,,,, BUT 
and if you dont adjust the tripod leg length you will de accuratly alligned every time , and wont have to touch the offending alt adjustement again .
.
, thats when the damage really took its toll.
, I kid you not !!! the learning curve was that steep we had to learn it over our heads .... hang on ????
.
be aware its a Southern one not a Northern one with the plough and cassiopea in the etching , it has to have sigma Octans and surrounding stars in the etching , for us down south here .
