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Rowan Astronomy HEQ5 Pro belt kit, review.

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I meant to buy this kit a while ago and never got to do it until now.
By now you will all have seen youTube videos and blogs about it so I won't cover this.

My views on it:
It is well made and very well packaged. However, if you have like me an older HEQ5 Pro mount then it is not a plug and play.
You know you have an older mount, hexagonal head on the transfer gear shaft, later ones have a round head.



There is also a major difference between old and new. The motor plate only has one grub screw and not two.
The issue there is when you place the new idler, well it won't fit as such. You need to drill out the bottom part of the motor plate which is threaded for the new shaft to slide in.
On the Rowan website, it's mentioned to use some epoxy. But I don't like this idea.


Now comes the other issue... a picture is worth a thousand words so you'll figure it out ;)

And the solution to the above is....


You will also have to reduce the back of the main pulley to align all three.


Conclusion:
With a bit of work, it fits nicely and works great. No more grinding noise !!! <---- seriously super quiet.
Hopefully, I will have a clear night so that I can re-align the mount. Of yeah, you can do all of the above without disturbing your alignment, but mine was off and needs re-doing.

A must to buy: the pinion extractor tool.
Not sure why the 3mm version is not included in the kit really, that's all you need the 3mm.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, Eric
5 years 3 months ago #32631
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Great write up, thanks! I bought a newer HEQ5-Pro and experienced considerably less effort modding the mount. I have been using the mount only when modded and usually have around 1 arcsec RMS when guiding with a 50 mm F=160 mm finder scope and an ASI120MC-S camera. Great for telescopes with a short focal length. I once used a 60 mm F=280 mm finder scope for guiding and got RMS as low as 0.7” and even a bit better, just as I now get with this finder on my EQ6-R, which also has belt drives.


Wouter
5 years 3 months ago #32632

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thanks Wouter

From looking at the installation manual (print out pdf included), yes I would say it's a 5 min job (as in considerable less time than an older mount) on a late HEQ5 mount.
What I need to do today, once I cleared the snow... is to reset my mount home/park position as this is now messed up. Not a big job.
5 years 3 months ago #32633

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dang! Sorry it didnt go more easily. 3 months and counting and still havent tried mine in the field - bad weather! >:-(
5 years 3 months ago #32646

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I had my heq5 pro upgraded a few years ago and its performance is much better than it used to be, as for the idler axis i had a friend make me a new one so i could revert back to its original state if i have to (no i won't). A few pointers for adjusting your mount, make sure you remove as much as possible the backlash of your axes especially at the dec. Also remove the cone error of your setup (i used conesharp) as it helps with its performance. FYI with my RC 8 i can get under 1'' of error at phd so the mount worths the upgrade
HEQ5 Pro Rowan Belt Mod, GSO RC8'', SW ED80, Atik 383L+, Atik EFW2, Atik OAG, SX Lodestar, ZWO ASI 120MC
5 years 3 months ago #32652

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