gaseous

Mine did the same. The mount rotates on three Delrin pads running on a bare aluminium track on the underside of the mount casting and turns on a pin running in the arm casting base - there is no radial bearing. Above this is a needle roller bearing and a thin nut and thick washer for adjustment. The nut should be finger tight only and as such should be glued with Loctite 263 or similar red high strength retainer to prevent it from undoing. There was no glue on mine, the threads were well lubricated, and when I hung the mount and OTA on a wedge the nut unscrewed until it hit the cast alloy brake disk. I then had the choice of sending the mount back under warranty or repair it myself. I chose the latter option. WARNINGS - this mount contains a high energy battery which must be disconnected from the motor board before any work can be carried out; it's the 4-way connector with the red and black wires. Disconnect from the board and insulate with tape. Celestron and its agents will also disown you if they find out. Send it back if you aren't 100% sure what you are doing or wish to retain the warranty. Mine is now better than new, and I know the work is good, and it is impossible to tell that I have been in there. I also know that I will probably have to redo the work as the three pads wear down and will need replacing - their height controls the worm and wheel meshing height. This also gave me the chance to grease the bearing and sliding faces with Superlube synthetic PTFE grease as there was virtually none there before. I will post a load of snaps and and some blurb in due course.