Mount
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Skywatcher, EQ-6 Pro SynscanMount Type: German Equatorial. |
| I decided not to waste time trying to build a platform for the dobsonian and instead opted to remount my scope on an EQ-6 Mount. I ordered it on the 4th of June, and it arrived on the 6th! The only negative point being that it doesn’t ship with a power supply so I had to order one from Maplin before I could fire it up and check that it worked.I ordered 10″ tube rings and a dovetail plate at the same time, and received a call the next day to say the dovetail was included in the box and they would remove this from my order – thanks Ian.The mount arrived in 2 large boxes, one containing the tripod and 2x5KG weights, the other containing the mount, dovetail plate, hand-controller and cables. Both boxes are heavy with the mount requiring a little effort to lift, so be warned.
My first impressions on opening the mount box was “WOW THAT’s BIG”. I’d been looking around the Net for examples of the EQ-6 Pro but never really got a feel for how big this really is.I had it all unpacked and assembled within half an hour and I’ve never seen one of these before, so it must be easy. After attaching the mount to the tripod the whole assembly becomes quite tricky to move and once the scope is on top you’d need a forklift to move it around. For this reason I would recommend getting your polar alignment done before you add your tube. Without the power supply I could do no more than gaze in awe at this marvel of precision engineering before dissassembling it and putting it all carefully back into the boxes from which it came. As my wife so eloquently put it “where do you think you’re going to put that!”. The power supply arrived on the 8th so I fired everthing up to make sure the LEDs glowed and motors whirred before once again putting it all back in the boxes. There is a theory that when you buy a new piece of kit the clouds move over your house for at least two weeks, and this week is no exception. We’ve had clear sunny days and cloudy nights since I placed the order on Monday and it looks like the weather is not set to change for at least another week. Sunday 10th June: I again put it all together and after reading the manual set about aligning the polar scope using a neighbour’s chimney as a target. It took a good 10 or 15 minutes before I managed to get the cross hairs stationary while I rotated the RA axis. I found the scope wouldn’t balance with the 2x5KG weights provided and bought another 5KG (dumbell weight) from the local supermarket for £4. It has a larger hole than the correct weights but I sandwiched it between the other 2 and everthing seemed fine. My scope is 12.5KGs so I should have guessed that I’d need more weight, but, you live and learn. Now I need to wait for a clear night to try it out! |
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