cg5 mount, huston we have problemmmmmmm

[triton1]

Just bought a secondhand mount,got it home put on my skywatcher scope,balanced it and thought i would try out the controls.Checked out ra slo mo worked fine,loosened locking tab telescope moved sweetly.Did the same with dec moved by hand sounded like cheese grater!!!Ever had that sinking feeling?

Being an ex toolmaker stripping down the dec assembly was no problem(apart from set screws hidden in collet ring,thx astronomy boy)found that worm gear has stripped and has also siezed in dec housing.I've put loads of wd40 hoping i can loosen it.

Do i put in a vice use a bar and wiggle it free(castings can shatter)

If I can free it where can I buy a new worm gear and how much would I have to pay?

Any help on this matter would be much apprieciated as I,ve never owned a telesope and mount before(talk about jumping in at the deep end)I hope this doesn't put me off for life.

Many thx Jonn.

[knobby]

Could you try heat/cold the different metals may expand contract differently... Long shot, good luck

[Brian Nordstrom]

Thats a shame John , is your mount the later version with Ball race bearings , or the earlier model with nylon shims as a bearing surface ?

I think if its the earlier mount with nylon any amount of soaking in WD40 wont really help as the bearing surfaces are probably damaged and bound up some what .

I am a Boilermaker by trade , so I think it will be 'Brute force and Ignorance to get this apart , carefully , of course .

On a new worn gear assembly ? thats a hard one . Is it totaly damaged or just one spot ? The wheels are alliminium are they not ? and the worm is stainless steel ?

Which is stripped the worm or wheel ? I would say the aliminium wheel ?

Look forward to your reply .

Brian.

[gkec]

I don't know if it helps but i have used this in the past for gears.

http://www.hpcgears.com/

[rowan46]

If you can't scource one perhaps this guy can help. I haven't used him I just saw him mentioned on a thread in cloudy nights on sourcing a worm for a vixen polaris mount

http://astronomy-mall.com/astro.parts.outlet/

[Oily]

Someone is selling a RA motor in the classifieds if that helps?

[triton1]

thanks for the replies.Yes Brian it is the earlier model and I guess brute force is the answer though knowiing my luck I'll shatter the housing.I think about 30% of the teeth are stripped.I'll try later and let you know.I'll also look at the other links.

many thx jonn