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Hi everybody! If you have ever thought of tuning your EQ6-R – or any other similar Sky-Watcher mount – this might be interesting for you. Last weekend I did a bearing replacement on my EQ6-R, according to the excellent Youtube video by “Astrobloke” Glenn Clouder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qujs7Kt_6_c Thanks very much to @Glenn for his great video tutorial! If you have hesitated to disassemble your mount – be assured, for anybody with basic “home improvement” skills, this is no complicated or difficult task. I did hesitate, because my guiding was actually quite good with the mount out of the box (approx. 0.2-0.4 arcseconds RMS depending on seeing). So “never touch a running system” was a concern – and I have been using my EQ6-R for 3 years now. But after disassembling the mount, I was glad that I did just that, so I could get rid of a number of flaws and mechanical issues that were not apparent from the outside. So first, getting all the replacement bearings is no problem – wherever you live, you will find a local supplier of quality bearings. I went for the SKF bearings (a Swedish company), but the RA tapered roller bearing was unavailable from SKF, so I got that one from Austrian company NKE (quality felt even better than the SKF bearings, by the way). If you don’t rush with the procedure and clean everything thoroughly, you will need an afternoon’s time for every axis (DEC, RA). DEC-Axis: Disassembly was easy and everything went according to Glenn’s video. There was no excessive grease or abrasion on the worm gears. Drive belts were OK, no sign of troublesome wear after 3 years of use. However, I noted that the large aluminium gear (the one that is driven by the belt) was glued onto the worm shaft, also the small-grub screws locking the gear onto the shaft were glued into place. So it was a bit tricky to get these grub screws loose, risking to brake the allen socket of these screws. The cog teeth of the aluminium belt gear had some metal burrs on one side causing slight abrasion on the belt, so I removed all of those with a triangular file and sandpaper. When putting everything back together, I also glued the belt gear onto the shaft again, using a 2-component epoxy glue. However, I did not glue the grub screws in place. RA-Axis: Same thing here, the belt gear was glued onto the worm gear shaft, causing slight problems loosening these grub screws. No burrs on the belt gear of the RA. But instead, the RA worm gear showed excessive grease all over the place and some abrasion residues on the gear. These showed as metal filings on the bottom of my bowl after brushing off all gears with parts cleaner fluid and an old toothbrush. I believe these filings were leftovers from the production process, not from excessive friction between the worm and the cog. Both, RA and DEC showed signs of serious mechanical flaws: The large end-nut that holds everything in place on the central shaft was screwed-on way too tight, exerting great longitudinal pressure (along the shaft) on the ball bearings – a load no ball bearing is designed to withstand. So out of curiosity I disassembled two of the ball bearings (they did not feel bad actually!) and found a ball with a serious circular abrasion on it. So when screwing everything back together (including the “washer screw” holding the worm gear shaft in place) I recommend only to moderately tighten everything (“hand-tight”). As soon as there is no more longitudinal movement on the shafts, the end nut is properly tightened – no need to tighten any further! Generally, I found that everything was tightened up way too much: For example, the large holding handle on the main housing had its screws tightened to the brink of breaking. This also caused a slight deformation of the main housing, so that the RA tapered roller bearing would not fit into its seating. Only after unlocking the holding handle screws could the roller bearing be inserted! The RA shaft also had a slight burr on the bearing seating surface, apparently resulting from trying to force a bearing onto the shaft non-square. I removed this burr and smoothed everything with sandpaper – this was only a minor issue not interfering with the seat of the bearing. I have yet to wait for a clear night to test the mount’s guiding. However, as Glenn pointed out in his video, the mechanics of the mount are overall much smoother now. I hope this was interesting, clear skies! Chris |
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Thanks for sharing your experience with tuning the EQ6-R. Having one myself, I am interested to hear why you, in the first place decided to tune a "running system", if there were no issues (at least regarding the guiding)? -Gert |
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Thanks for this info. I have two EQ6Rs. I have loosened the main bearings as well like you said with a huge improvement in guiding accuracy, down to 0.2" some nights. I'm not sure what skywatcher was thinking when they assembled them, but once it got cold was when I saw my issues and corrected them. One of my EQ6s has debris or something in the Dec axis, I've never been able to get a smooth worm engagement no matter how much I adjust it. Depending on my PA accuracy, it will usually find that spot once per night, sometimes taking over 5 minutes to push through it, once done she's back to 0.2-0.4 accuracy. I haven't had the balls to disassemble it tbh. I'm mechanically inclined, but I'm like you said.... "it works so why fix it". I can deal with one hiccup per night. |
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Having one myself, I am interested to hear why you, in the first place decided to tune a "running system", if there were no issues (at least regarding the guiding)? Gert Gert, I heard from different sources that an EQ6-R starts getting issues and wear after approximately 3 years. Although I had no problems so far, I wanted to make shure by opening and inspecting the mount. I was also curious if the lubrification of all gears was still OK and if there were any signs of wear. So let's call it a 3-year inspection. You also don't wait for your car to break down on the road - you service it every year. And while I was at it, I decided to change all the bearings too - which was an inexpensive thing to do (total cost approx. $ 200). Brian, if you suspect to have debris in your DEC axis, I highly recommend having a look at that. If any debris wedges between worm and cogwheel, a serious damage may be the result. And don't trust on getting propper spare parts from Skywatcher.... Maybe it's only a burr on the brass cogwhell, which could be filed off easily. The DEC-axis is really easy to disassemble and put together again - have no fear. For removing any debris and cleaning/lubing the DEC, there is no need to completely disassemble the worm gear housing (which would be the trickiest part). If you feel comfortable after having done the DEC, you can always decide to have a go on the RA, too. Chris |
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Since a picture is worth a thousand words - here is a photo of one of the balls out of the Chinese "Rollux" 6008RZ bearings: |
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Thanks for this info. I have two EQ6Rs. I have loosened the main bearings as well like you said with a huge improvement in guiding accuracy, down to 0.2" some nights. I'm not sure what skywatcher was thinking when they assembled them, but once it got cold was when I saw my issues and corrected them. Yeah, I probably should tear it down tbh. What grease did you use? I think I was reading that people were using MolyB, I can get ahold of that easily. |
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What grease did you use? Brian, I used the Super Lube recommended by Glenn and users on the Cloudynights forenboard (Amazon-Link in Glenn's video-description). In Austria/Germany that same lube is marketed by the name "Synco Lube". Others recommend Liqui Moly LM47 or OKS 495: https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/long-life-grease-mos2-p000371.html https://www.oks-germany.com/en/products/oks-495-adhesive-lubricant/ Seems to be a matter of personal preference... Chris |
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| I have skywatcher eq6 pro since recently. A spark of static electricity jumped over one of the mount's ports. It happened unintentionally. Can I expect a problem with the mount motherboard?! |
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Galin, have you tried to use the mount after this incident? I do not think you should be worrying much about this... CS Chris |
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| I haven't used a mount yet. I'm waiting for a charger. Thanks for the reply! Hope this incident didn't cause a problem. I'm still new to the hobby. I am inspired by the results you are showing here! Every day I see how much more I have to learn... |
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Hey Christian, I'm looking to tune up my EQ6-R Pro mount that I purchased a few years ago. With that said, I came across your fouum and I go to ask, did you purchase the kit through Glens video, at Bearing Online or did you source out the bearings individually? I'm thinking of the kit that Glen gives link to, but not sure if they're operational. Thanks and CS!! |
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Hi, I sourced the bearings individually. CS Chris |
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Hey, Thanks for the reply! After submitted my question, I noticed after that the forum was created over a year ago and thought no one would reply lol Ok, good to know!! I ended up emailing the bearing company out in the UK through Glens video, places I was sourcing the bearings here in Canada, were up priced too much. Got a reply from company and ordered through them Thanks again and CS, Chris |
