Astronomy Fail - Violence and Technology Do Not Mix

[Pierman (Phil)]

Warning: the following contains disturbing images: Viewer discretion advised.

I was visiting an astronomy shop on Saturday and came across this masterpiece.

Apparently a chap presented this NEQ6 mount with the hope of a warranty claim.

To say all present in the shop were gobsmacked is an understatement.

At what point did this bloke realise that the hammer, vice grips and by the looks of it, extension bar, were not working???

If you haven't picked up on it, note the mangled ends of the altitude adjustment screws where you can see the tell tales of the vice grip jaws, and the tell tales from the hammer blows on the handles that have bent them.

One screw was able to be extracted thankfully without further damage but the threads on the aluminium mount are flogged a bit.

But wait, there's more .............

For the highlight, check out the other altitude adjustment screw that is bent inside the mount. What the ..... ????

You cannot bend an M8 rod by hand and it takes an extreme amount of force by tool to produce the result inside the mount.

What do you think, a valid warranty claim for faulty product

These people breed and live amongst us people. Beware......

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Might pay to do a quick search for "eq6 bendy bolts"; it's a known issue with this mount, one I would hope a decent retailer would help their customers with.

And just in case anyone's wondering... no, it's not mine ;-)

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Interesting...if not amusing.

I feel that one of the causes for the 'eq6 bendy bolts' issue, apart from imperfect engineering, is that it is a mass production and relatively affordable mount and thus very often used by unexperienced astronomers.

To defend the owner of the mount, let the one who never over-tightened a bolt or damaged astrogear in one way or another be the first to...

[Shiraz (Ray)]

well, I certainly have felt like doing this to those **£$%£** bolts on occasion - just to make them share the pain. They certainly are a nadir in astro gear design.

[astroboof (Steve McN)]

The said chap didn't happen to be Jeremy Clarkson, by chance?

Well you know, blokes tend to refer to instruction manuals only in the event of catastrophic failure or sheer desperation and in shame, so it hadn't quite come to that yet for this guy.

Sh..t. I'd buy that and fix it up.

[raymo]

On a slightly more serious note, we are told to take some of the weight
when increasing the elevation; I bet many people don't.
raymo

[Atmos (Colin)]

I found it physically impossible not to take some of the weight, felt like those alt bolts were going to snap my fingers or leave permanent bruising

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Shows the design difference to the AZEQ6 altitude adjustment, though my SCT is not overly heavy, raising the alt is a two fingers affair on the newer design.

I agree with the post above, while relatively costly they are at the budget end of the market, you see people doing horrible things to $50,000 cars out of sheer lack of mechanical sympathy, no surprise to see them going hard on a couple of thousand dollar mount.

[LewisM]

I have been tempted to insert a thread adapter and use finer pitch threaded bolts for less coarse adjustment.... even with my GPD2 (though the adjustments on these is actually very smooth).


But to force wind in a screw against an opposing screw is seriously in the domain of Homo floresiensis (look it up if the implications of that eludes )

[Shiraz (Ray)]

Originally Posted by raymo

On a slightly more serious note, we are told to take some of the weight
when increasing the elevation; I bet many people don't.
raymo

problem is, the manual does not say this...it just says loosen one before adjusting the other.

[torana68 (Roger)]

Some steel products from "that" country (why are some people so sensitive about comments on some of China's products?) fall below standards, most probably made to price not standard, a normal Australian standard mild steel bolt wont do what those bolts did. By the look of it anyone with one of these should replace the dodgy bits before they bend.

[LewisM]

Plenty of aftermarket replacements - heck, on one of my HEQ5's, I replaced them with allen head bolts (rounded the tip). Not really rocket science, and you sure do not need those poorly made ratchet versions (that come from China anyway).

This guy seems to have not been able to multi-task We know it was Mario....just why has he been so silent lately eh?

Last time I owned an SW mount (an AZ-EQ6), I spent a considerable amount of time (and patience) replacing every single M3 screw with a stainless one. Each and every original had rusted. Even the chrome plated stuff had started corroding and needed polishing and at least lacquer protection (I did not go to the effort of re-chroming them - I sold the mount instead)

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

I've seen a few bent alt bolts on EQ6's and indeed this is like a rash on the internet for EQ6 users. Its an issue for sure. Some users get more frustrated than others I guess..? Also the Alt bolt system used is a little clunky and cumbersome you would think Skywatcher could do better here.

Anyway....replacement bolts are avail. Luke Bellini of starstuff used to make and sell some, although I don't know if he is still doing this.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Nothing wrong with a bit of 'over-kill' huh, Lol,, unless it kills it, Rofl.

Following the essence of taking some weight whilst adjusting up is a good idea/thing, tho i try to make it habit of turning up a couple before putting the payload on, - adjusting down is not a problem !!!

[kittenshark (Cheryl-Ann Tan)]

Still doesn't beat this poor scope in Texas that got shot.

http://astronomy.ua.edu/keel/telescopes/mcdonald.html

But even that seems like an easier repair job!

[Baza (Barry)]

The bolts and handles are terrible quality, can fee them flexing under normal loads. the After market replacements don't.
However a bit of care and vigilance would prevent that outcome.

[Regulus (Trevor)]

All fair comments on bolt quality aside; you'd think he would have sought help before it got to the wrench and crowbar stage.
Now I want to see the collimation job he's done on the scope
Jemmy and rivets?
Trev