Cheap azimuth adjustment bolt upgrade for Skywatcher EQ3, HEQ5, NEQ6 etc, Orion, iOptron

January 28, 2017 // by ecuador

For some reason, mount manufacturers give you azimuth adjustment bolts that are not easy to grab (in the usual freezing temperatures) and don’t have much of travel to allow you for a significant adjustment. There are some replacements sold at rather obscene (for a pair of bolts) prices, so I had bought inexpensive HEQ5 replacement bolts from an Ali Express seller a while back for me and my friends, and now I see pretty much the same bolts, with a very nice grip and decent length (50mm) on ebay for just £2.69/pair or £7.28/10pc (although you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for them to arrive). They look like this:

Replacement bolts on SkyWatcher HEQ5

These M6 50mm bolts, as far as I know, work well at least SkyWatcher EQ3, EQ5, HEQ5, EQ6, NEQ6, on Orion Atlas, Sirius and on iOptron ZEQ25, CEM25, CEM25P. However, at least one person told me their EQ5 did not take them and, and on the other hand other mounts I haven’t tried might take the same bolts, so in any case just measure yours with a caliper and if it is almost 6mm these will do.

I can’t help you much with the infamous altitude bolts that HEQ5/NEQ6 mounts have. I can advise you however that they tend to bend if you try to use them with weights/OTA on, and/or if you try to screw one too much before unscrewing the other, otherwise, while uncomfortable (bad design), at least they won’t really bend by themselves.

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One thought on “Cheap azimuth adjustment bolt upgrade for Skywatcher EQ3, HEQ5, NEQ6 etc, Orion, iOptron

  1. Sam D. says:

    Thanks for this good tip. I’ve done the same, except 40mm bolt (vs. 25mm original). We will see how well it works.

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