Here's those pics of the polar scope you wanted Dave. It came with the mount and indeed weighs 900 grams. The slight imbalance doesn't seem to worry guiding on the mount for me. I've added a pic of maxim guiding through an OAG at about 1.2 meters. I'm still chasing power and frosting issues here.
I just realised, there are no dust caps for this polar scope
thanks Robin, wow no eyecaps!!? that's nasty! thanks for the happy snaps
Gezzz mate, you may as well hang barbed wire off the thing
Would have the same effect in my tiny dome in the dark
On another front, I relayed the dec lock lever issue to my supplier who flicked it to tasco who replied, adjust the knob.
I also asked if there was a document/procedure/rumour on how to adjust the worm drives. Total silence.
Nothing like solid support from the local reps.
But I did get the Beemer running again tonight.
Note the hand polished exhaust, it used to be brown all over
Damn thing is stainless steel. It'll outlast me
Even the chrome heat shield is older than my son
They don't make em like that any more.
Gezzz mate, you may as well hang barbed wire off the thing
Would have the same effect in my tiny dome in the dark
On another front, I relayed the dec lock lever issue to my supplier who flicked it to tasco who replied, adjust the knob.
I also asked if there was a document/procedure/rumour on how to adjust the worm drives. Total silence.
Nothing like solid support from the local reps.
But I did get the Beemer running again tonight.
Note the hand polished exhaust, it used to be brown all over
Damn thing is stainless steel. It'll outlast me
Even the chrome heat shield is older than my son
They don't make em like that any more.
Almost reminiscent of Kingswood Country, "cant take the BMW as I have just polished the exhaust"….i can EQeight to that
It's an observatory class instrument that is also perfectly suitable for field use by anyone capable of lifting a 30kg object without hurting themselves.
Those who suggested the optional polar scope was the missing weight needed to balance out the east-heavy motors etc were on the money.
I didn't get a polar scope with mine so I rigged up a 250mm length of flat bar that I bolted on to the mount using the attachment points for the polar scope and I then attached my HitecAstro Mount Hub Pro to the flat bar. I now can achieve good balance in all 3 positions. Since this rig sits on a pier inside a roomy obs and I am in a warm room next door, the protruding bar won't bother me in the least. Though I can appreciate that is an obs like Tandum's, where all available room is taken up by a "12"Orion and an EQ8, it would be a total PITA.
If anyone wants a photo of this balance arrangement, let me know.
Peter
Those who suggested the optional polar scope was the missing weight needed to balance out the east-heavy motors etc were on the money.
I didn't get a polar scope with mine so I rigged up a 250mm length of flat bar that I bolted on to the mount using the attachment points for the polar scope and I then attached my HitecAstro Mount Hub Pro to the flat bar. I now can achieve good balance in all 3 positions. Since this rig sits on a pier inside a roomy obs and I am in a warm room next door, the protruding bar won't bother me in the least. Though I can appreciate that is an obs like Tandum's, where all available room is taken up by a "12"Orion and an EQ8, it would be a total PITA.
If anyone wants a photo of this balance arrangement, let me know.
Peter
might as well post it Peter, someone may find it handy (cant believe this thread has has over 15000 hits)
Those who suggested the optional polar scope was the missing weight needed to balance out the east-heavy motors etc were on the money.
I didn't get a polar scope with mine so I rigged up a 250mm length of flat bar that I bolted on to the mount using the attachment points for the polar scope and I then attached my HitecAstro Mount Hub Pro to the flat bar. I now can achieve good balance in all 3 positions. Since this rig sits on a pier inside a roomy obs and I am in a warm room next door, the protruding bar won't bother me in the least. Though I can appreciate that is an obs like Tandum's, where all available room is taken up by a "12"Orion and an EQ8, it would be a total PITA.
If anyone wants a photo of this balance arrangement, let me know.
Peter
Those who suggested the optional polar scope was the missing weight needed to balance out the east-heavy motors etc were on the money.
I didn't get a polar scope with mine so I rigged up a 250mm length of flat bar that I bolted on to the mount using the attachment points for the polar scope and I then attached my HitecAstro Mount Hub Pro to the flat bar. I now can achieve good balance in all 3 positions. Since this rig sits on a pier inside a roomy obs and I am in a warm room next door, the protruding bar won't bother me in the least. Though I can appreciate that is an obs like Tandum's, where all available room is taken up by a "12"Orion and an EQ8, it would be a total PITA.
If anyone wants a photo of this balance arrangement, let me know.
Peter
I do have the polar scope, which came as a freebie because I didn't order one . I don't think Skywatcher had designs on it being required for counter-balancing because they say explicitly that once polar aligned you should remove the polar scope. I presume that is because it would be very easy to knock.
I would just like to give a big thanks for all the info that has been posted about the EQ8 mount by "iceinspace" members. This info has been very helpful to UK amateur astronomers as we will not get our EQ8 mounts till October. I have already found some steel plate in my junk box to counteract the out of balance problem.