Hi!

Thanks for your help with new worms for GM8, in fact teleskop-express had some misinformation about Losmandy worms. New high precision worm was installed into my GM8 (steel worm is still in DEC place, propably I will replace it sooner or later) and it fits well - it also runs much smoother now in RA.
I bought Losmandy with DIY AstroEQ drive but I dumped it all except a motor and drive shaft housing- there were some bad choices with stepper motors, drivers and the mount was generally neglected when I bought it (but I bought it cheap I guess). At that time, it was guiding with 2.5" RMS and did rough spikes from time to time on both axis, even after re-lubing (240mm guider scope and ASI120).

Installed OnStep with new 400 step motors and 3:1 reduction on belt, installed High Precision worm and new EZO bearings for drive shaft and my worm blocks. On the first night after upgrade I had 0.8"RMS on PHD2 and it was really good except some RA spikes - I had both some failure on Onstep with weather control as well as my Oldham couplers are worn out and I thing they were slipping. Picture for thank you below!

I now installed new dog clutches and needed some grinding of tightening screws, that's why it's messy, sorry! - unfortunately there is very little space on Losmandy for clutches. Dog-clutches that are really tight and also run smoother that Oldhams with no strange pulsating under fingers when moved manually.?

I hope next upgrade is installing Belleville washers (but I really can't find anything suitable in EU right now). On the other hand, the drive shaft is already pushing a bit of force on worms and PHD2 didn't really complain about backlash, also measured RA and DEC movement was really close to the predicted one. Maybe a DIY-spring loading for worm blocks or DIY one-piece worm blocks from current housing (I saw it somewhere on the internet and can't find it now) would be nice.

A last short look on Pleiades and photo of my DIY drive for you.

Thanks,
Dominik

Hi Dominik (Cze??)

Let me know if you find Belleville washers that fit Losmandy worm blocks. What kind of EZO bearings did you use?

Sebastian

开云体育

Cze??,
RGB Elektronika supplies EZO 6.35 x 15.87 x 4.97 mm bearings in Poland - superior to what was in my Losmandy and still not too expensive. EZO Bearings was the most reasonable thing I found in EU supplies given the price for quality.
If I get it well, based on my serial number my Losmandy head is from 2004 (serial HGM 0450...) and had steel worms and two piece worm blocks - so some things might be better in newer mounts and might not need replacing.
Dominik

So I installed new stepper motors yesterday and cleaned things up a little. There were NEMA23 stepper motors, but due to their extremely high inductance they worked liek disaster. I printed NEMA17 adaptors and used new motors I always use with OnStep's.
All the things are very silent now and works smoothly, there are no bearings ringing and no stepper motor noises, also the dog clutch is superior to the Oldham I had. Waiting for clear skies to test things up.

Dominik, I could help you with belleville washes. Let me know, if you want some.

Sure, leave me an email on dominik.ggorski at gmail.com :)