re- greasing mount grease

[billhinge]

If anyone likes to experiment..., you can try the Badfish grease http://www.blakdogtackle.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=67&products_id=1321&osCsid=quhr7pq9ddgpnidnho9af672s3, its a light oil with powder in suspension, seems to cling quite well

I have this plus I bought a tub of the pure powder from the US ( http://reelschematic.com/isc/categories/BadFish-Tungsten-Lubricants/ ), I didn't need the powder as there is plenty in the grease suspension itself. I just slapped it on but apparently you can apply dry by buffing on an alcohol/ws2 mix with a drill buffing attachment, or shot blast the powder or use a rock tumbler to apply, haven't tried that but may try with my fullerscope worm gear

Been on for about 10 months and I've had no problems

[earth titan]

If anyone likes to experiment..., you can try the Badfish grease http://www.blakdogtackle.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=67&products_id=1321&osCsid=quhr7pq9ddgpnidnho9af672s3, its a light oil with powder in suspension, seems to cling quite well

I have this plus I bought a tub of the pure powder from the US ( http://reelschematic.com/isc/categories/BadFish-Tungsten-Lubricants/ ), I didn't need the powder as there is plenty in the grease suspension itself. I just slapped it on but apparently you can apply dry by buffing on an alcohol/ws2 mix with a drill buffing attachment, or shot blast the powder or use a rock tumbler to apply, haven't tried that but may try with my fullerscope worm gear

Been on for about 10 months and I've had no problems

Now that sounds like good stuff!

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[t1bbbst3r]

O.k then, just thought i'd finish this thread off now for future reference (I use the forum searches too).

After 3 months I stripped down my mount again because of a backlash issue (Turned out the worm gear twister bolt wore lose), I said firstly that a re-grease makes no difference to slewing, turns out I put too much grease on, the load bearing surfaces' at the top of where the shafts slide in on, that take the weight, only need the tiniest bit if grease (especially if the washers are plastic) & as for the dec. axis, like the r.a one it should only contact the shaft in two places (where it rests on the worm at the top & screws in on from underneath), so there are a couple surfaces inside there which will need filing down quite a lot (cutting out half the friction & eliminating that 'grindy' sound). I now have an r.a axis thats very tight with hardly any friction, but cant get the dec. like that for some reason (It has a lot of contact round the worm shaft I cant get rid of because the worm gear don't slide off to be filed from inside) I have the old grey eq5 that only has bearings in the r.a shaft. On reflection I feel these mounts are quite under engineered, not a good standard if that makes sense & a few hours to do a strip, de-grease, file, polish, clean, polish & slight re-grease should be well worth it if you think it will make an improvement!

Grease round the gearing is fine after 3 months & have taken a photo to prove the grease hasn't worn off to bear metal: (a 2£ tube of bicycle grease is fine!)

Please can you leave a like if this was of any use to you!

[earth titan]

Grinding and filing of bits in the mount sounds a little extreme. Where are you filing?

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[t1bbbst3r]

Grinding and filing of bits in the mount sounds a little extreme. Where are you filing?

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

Under the cap where the scope screws in on the dec., the rim & shaft where the dec. shaft arm sits inside the casing behind the vernier scale, not inside the dec. worm gear as it didn't slide off & everywhere the r.a shaft made contact with its housing on both edges other than bearings, balls or the worm. I then got out all the 'filings' so everything was nice & smooth!

Am quite happy with it again, just not the weather & we're supposed to be having another wet summer again! Thanks Denmark & it's haarp machine???

[billhinge]

Hi

How do you mean the old EQ5 with bearings in the RA?

The 2012 CG5 only has 2 sets of bearings in RA and none on the Dec - excluding both sets of worms

When you say you can't get the worm gear off, are you talking about the aluminium worm wheel in your picture? (my CG5 came off eventually)

[t1bbbst3r]

Hi

How do you mean the old EQ5 with bearings in the RA?

The 2012 CG5 only has 2 sets of bearings in RA and none on the Dec - excluding both sets of worms

When you say you can't get the worm gear off, are you talking about the aluminium worm wheel in your picture? (my CG5 came off eventually)

I did see a photo somewhere of a newer eq5, I think, a white 1 which had bearings also in the dec. shaft...... Yes, that's what I mean alright, tried whacking it with a hammer round the edges & all sorts. Gives a lot of friction round its under-side that does!

Cheers

[shirva]

Hitting anything alloy with a hammer bit dodgy. .maybe a rubber mallet...plenty of wd40 and let it soak in.

My input about mount drives and gears is grease should be wiped down from parts and reducer applied some grease used is to heavy a compound and is forced out the gear teeth once its out its out for good also grease holds any material blown into it and then acts like a grinding paste...the heavy grease is also used to deaden the whine from the gears...spur gears are cheap to make but are noisy I would suggest using wheel bearing grease its light and tacky is ideal for this type of gearing and easily wiped off when cleaning...Davy

[sbooder]

I know this is an old thread but I have to say, I am about to re-strip my EQ6 and get rid of the Lithium grease I put on the worm gears.  After I had done my belt mod and tested the mount for about a few hours I had need to take apart the RA as I did not think the belt wheel inside the worm carrier was seated in the best position.

Anyway when I took the worm carrier apart I found that the white Lithium grease had been pushed to the two ends of the worm shaft where there is little to no contact with the worm gear.  That in my opinion is not good enough.

I am now on the lookout for a happier compromise, something that will stay in place as long as the black stuff Syntra put on the mounts and something that will not be as glue like in colder weather.

So any suggestions would be most welcome?

[nicks90]

high load, thermally stable across a wide temp range, no too gloopy, sticky enough not to get shoved off the faces, very good lubricating properties - - - - - - you could try constant velocity joint grease.

[todd8137]

I doubt grease would cut down on batt power to much grease and certainly mess things up ,I strip mine down every 6 months to check every thing is ok and re grease get things ready for the cold

Pat

[earth titan]

Chaps (and chapesess).... Call me an old woman if you want ( .... You're an old woman - they cry) but the gears we run are nowhere near being 'stressed' in the engineering sense. I have had the privilege of designing and building printing press gear boxes (gears similar to the mounts we run) and these rarely wore out, despite years of abuse at very high revs. An element of pragmatism if I may - light weight lube will be fine.

[sbooder]

Chaps (and chapesess).... Call me an old woman if you want ( .... You're an old woman - they cry) but the gears we run are nowhere near being 'stressed' in the engineering sense. I have had the privilege of designing and building printing press gear boxes (gears similar to the mounts we run) and these rarely wore out, despite years of abuse at very high revs. An element of pragmatism if I may - light weight lube will be fine.

Lubrication is not the only concern when it comes to grease.  If a grease does not stay in place on the worm gear and worm shaft it increases backlash, this is why I am looking for something a little more sticky.

[E621Keith]

Chaps (and chapesess).... Call me an old woman if you want ( .... You're an old woman - they cry) but the gears we run are nowhere near being 'stressed' in the engineering sense. I have had the privilege of designing and building printing press gear boxes (gears similar to the mounts we run) and these rarely wore out, despite years of abuse at very high revs. An element of pragmatism if I may - light weight lube will be fine.

Tom, do you need arcsecond accuracy on printing press gear box? A lot of people quote car gear box as an example of a highly stressed gearbox, but a car can still run even after losing a few millimetres from its gear teeth. An imaging mount's will become pretty much useless if its worm was out by 1/100th of a degree. Is a light weight lube sufficient to ensure the gear teeth will not lose more than a few microns from wear over the life time of the mount?

[Zakalwe]

Tom, do you need arcsecond accuracy on printing press gear box? A lot of people quote car gear box as an example of a highly stressed gearbox, but a car can still run even after losing a few millimetres from its gear teeth. An imaging mount's will become pretty much useless if its worm was out by 1/100th of a degree. Is a light weight lube sufficient to ensure the gear teeth will not lose more than a few microns from wear over the life time of the mount?

And you know this, how?

If the worm wears, then you'd adjust the worm and gear to bring the worm closer to the gear? The backlash might increase slightly, but the mount would still work. After all, the worm will only act of one face of the gear's teeth.

Or are you really suggesting that Skywatcher et al build their mounts to tolerances of a few microns???

[Zakalwe]

Paramount specifically recommend an engine assembly grease for lubricating their worm and gear assemblies. This video shows the process:

Paramount recommend Lupriplate 105 assembly grease. You can find it here for £13.50 inc delivery

http://www.debben.co.uk/lubriplate.html

A motor or engine assembly grease is designed to protect newly assembled components during the first start-up. As the engine components are new they do not have the normal lubrication film that oil lubrication system leaves on metal surfaces. The grease protects the components until oil pressure builds up and the oil is pumped through the various oil passageways.

If it's good enough for Paramount I reckon it'd be good enough for everything else.

[earth titan]

Tom, do you need arcsecond accuracy on printing press gear box? A lot of people quote car gear box as an example of a highly stressed gearbox, but a car can still run even after losing a few millimetres from its gear teeth. An imaging mount's will become pretty much useless if its worm was out by 1/100th of a degree. Is a light weight lube sufficient to ensure the gear teeth will not lose more than a few microns from wear over the life time of the mount?

Printing presses need to 'register' plates within a few thou (in old money) and they can run at many 1000s of RPM.

Wear was minimal even at these speeds. Most of the worm gears running at low speeds (still high relative to an astro mount) were made of brass as it is self lubricating.

Backlash was never an issue as the press worked in the same way a mount does. Once the mount takes up the backlash, drive is achieved by consistent meshing.

Printers use registration marks in much the same way as we use a guide star - to take out inconsistencies in gearing.

[sbooder]

Paramount specifically recommend an engine assembly grease for lubricating their worm and gear assemblies. This video shows the process:

Paramount recommend Lupriplate 105 assembly grease. You can find it here for £13.50 inc delivery

A motor or engine assembly grease is designed to protect newly assembled components during the first start-up. As the engine components are new they do not have the normal lubrication film that oil lubrication system leaves on metal surfaces. The grease protects the components until oil pressure builds up and the oil is pumped through the various oil passageways.

If it's good enough for Paramount I reckon it'd be good enough for everything else.

Now that stuff looks good.  I might get myself a tube.  Thanks.

[sbooder]

Paramount specifically recommend an engine assembly grease for lubricating their worm and gear assemblies. This video shows the process:

Paramount recommend Lupriplate 105 assembly grease. You can find it here for £13.50 inc delivery

http://www.debben.co.uk/lubriplate.html

A motor or engine assembly grease is designed to protect newly assembled components during the first start-up. As the engine components are new they do not have the normal lubrication film that oil lubrication system leaves on metal surfaces. The grease protects the components until oil pressure builds up and the oil is pumped through the various oil passageways.

If it's good enough for Paramount I reckon it'd be good enough for everything else.

Yep, I saw your post in another thread but I could not find it.  I will have to decide which will be best.