AstroAF - Rowan Belt Mod HEQ5 PRO | Replacing A Stretched Belt

[@whatmattersmost6725]

Hi Doug... First again! Good to see your latest project update.

[@AstroAF]

@@whatmattersmost6725 Hi! Thanks again! I can always count on your comment, appreciated!! Cheers! Doug

[@DeepSpaceAstro]

Good stuff to know Doug!

[@AstroAF]

@@DeepSpaceAstro Thanks for watching and commenting Rich!

[@Astro_Shed]

Nice one…👍🏻

[@AstroAF]

@@Astro_Shed Thanks Stewart! When stuff breaks, may as well make a video! 😂 Cheers! Doug

[@Astro_Shed]

@@AstroAF absolutely….spot on 👍🏻

[@Astro_Shed]

@@AstroAF where are you based, as you seem to have some loud crickets there….😂

[@AstroAF]

@@Astro_Shed Haha! It is Cicada season here in the Midwest! I’m based in Illinois. How about you?

[@Astro_Shed]

@@AstroAF I am in rural Leicestershire UK..👍🏻

[@Astronurd]

The only way this happens with the belt twisting is for the drive belt to be too tight and/or poorly levelled with each other. I have had the same belts for over 2 years and they are still working fine.

[@AstroAF]

@@Astronurd Hi! Thanks for watching and commenting! Agreed, I think the 2mm play specification is not enough. I am having no problems with ~3mm belt play and this was validated by Rowan. Looser is better than tighter as long as it tracks the gear correctly. Cheers! Doug

[@Sbach342Guy]

I went through a very similar issues recently. In my case the belt had only stretched a tiny amount. Enough that guiding was inconsistent and causing Star trails even when AsiAir said I had good guiding. Tightened them up last night and had good guiding and only 2-3 frames with eggy stars out of over 100 frames at 300s exposure.

[@AstroAF]

@@Sbach342Guy Hi Don! There really seems to be a fine line of too tight. I think I’ve got mine where they need to be with last adjustment. I keep a spare belt around now just in case! Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Cheers! Doug

[@Sbach342Guy]

@@AstroAF I think I actually got really, really lucky. A meridian flipped was missed and I had a pier strike. Caught it quickly and thought nothing was damaged. But I started noticing poor guiding and star trails. Tweaked some stuff on the telescope itself thinking the focuser was damaged or needed tuning, which it did. But continued having issues. Decided to take a look a belt tension and tada! All better now. Took me longer than it should have to decide to check the belts.

[@AstroAF]

@@Sbach342Guy oh yes, I can certainly see how that could stretch the belt if the mount was in a position it could not continue to slew against the motors. I’m glad you caught it quickly!!