Recently had to do some maintenance to my EQ6-R Pro Mount due to guiding issues and thought I'd share for anyone who may be struggling with similar issues.
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I’m using an EQ6-R Pro with an EdgeHD 8, OAG, and ASI2600MM. Mount is about 2 years old and I've gotten it pretty dialed in. I’ve been averaging <0.5” RMS guiding all through the summer and fall. I’ve weighed my OTA and attached accessories (camera, filter wheel, etc) to about 23 lbs.
Recently I noticed the guiding would progressively worsen throughout the night. I’d start with <0.5” RMS guiding for the first 1-2 hrs with crisp images, then slowly exceed 1” guiding throughout the night and end up with lots of unusable data. I understand seeing changes through the night could play a small role, but the differences were too significant to only be that.
I figured with the cold snap, that might have something to do with it. My first suspicion was this was tightening some joints, or the grease was gumming up.
I was expecting the worst (having to break down to tune and re-grease). Fortunately the issue was much simpler.
Turns out the issue was really sticky axes (both DEC and RA). Sky-Watcher worm gear mounts seem to be overly tightened out of the factory and don't perform at their best without tuning a number of items, including this.
I had previously done this as part of my original tuning about a year ago, but I guess either time or the cold weather had tightened them back up. So this is a good reminder to check, even if you've already done it on the past!
If you're not sure how to do this, here's a video of it. Very simple: https://youtu.be/0yzFTjlpZaI?si=V_lQ3hcwdn4_3YDw
I also used this time to check the belts and backlash to make sure there weren't any other hidden issues.
After 2 full night's of imaging, I can confirm the issue is resolved.
I will probably still do a full hypertune at some point (like what Astrobloke does in his YouTube video). Maybe in another year or two. But I didn't find it necessary at this point.
