JasonH

I've opted for the furniture sliders route. I fitted eight 38mm diameter sliders around the circumference of the base plate, to avoid catching on the hex bolt heads that protrude from the rocker box. I'm very pleased with the result, the snatchiness has gone and the feel and friction is great. The sliders came in a pack of 16, I've also replaced the castors on my desk chair and it's much better too. A good use of under £12.

Interesting, thanks all. Mine is a Sky-Watcher 200P. The slewing was a bit snatchy with the standard teflon setup, hence why I was looking to upgrade. I tried 5 individual bearings first but they were really poor quality and sounded like they were made from gravel, even after greasing. I removed them this morning and cleaned everything, again. Back to the original setup and it doesn't seem so bad, compared to the bearings I've removed - I'm sure I'll get fed up with it again though. The bearing company I spoke to suggested using slewing bearings, which look similar to the type 1 ring bearings, above, however, unlike the type 1 they were prohibitively expensive. I've found a 506mm diameter slewing ring in Germany, for £60 inc. postage, which is still a lot and would cost even more to return if I didn't find it suitable. The base diameter is 520mm. With the lazy Susan or slewing ring bearing potentially moving too freely and requiring additional friction, I'm concerned that I'll end up losing the smoothness of movement by inadvertently re-adding the snatchy feel. Not sure which way to go from here.

Nice one. Do you have a link to where you purchased it please? I spoke to a supplier last week and they weren't sure that it would be smooth enough, so I'd be reassured by buying what's worked for you. Thanks.

Hi, How did you get on with this? I'm looking at the same ideas. Thanks, Jason