Long term storage, recommended to take off OTA and counterweights?

[Jannis]

Just curious, when storing the scope and mount all summer from april to august, will the mount in any way take damage from just standing completly still with everything mounted on it?

[MPC171]

I have a similar question as Jannis's. Whenever I observe with the telescope, I take off the OTA from my NEQ6 and counterweights. What I wish to ask is if I take off the OTA and leave the counterweights on, will I be doing damage to the mount as weight will not be evenly balanced? A constant pressure will be on the mount from the counterweights alone.

Leaving the 3 counterweights on will spare me some set-up time and balancing but will I be creating some kind of stress to some particular part of the mount?

Clear Skies,

Stephen

[flolic]

You can leave counterweights on, mount will tolerate that just fine. Just release the RA clutch.

Filip

[MPC171]

If I release the RA clutch will the parking position be altered and the saved alignment stars lost?

Clear Skies,

Stephen

[Jannis]

Thanks for the reply.

Just curious though, why would we need to release teh clutch? After taking apart the mount, the only think this "clutch" really is, is a screw that pushes against the axel, preventing it from turning around. I can't see how leaving the clutch on would cause any damage as it doesn't put any extra load on neither gears or bearings?

I was mainly worried about the gears and bearings standing still at one spot with a relatively heavy load on, but it's good to hear the mount handles it.

[flolic]

If your mount is aligned and parked then you should keep the clutch engaged to not loose the position.

Parked position should anyway be with couterweights in lowest position, and in that case there is no pressure to the worm and worm gear.

I try to keep clutches disengaged when not using the scope, or when transporting the mount, because any accidental bump can cause damage to worm gears.

But I don't have permanent setup and don't need to keep alignment between sessions.

So yes, you can leave clutch engaged if mount is parked as it should be

[MPC171]

I will then leave the counterweights on in a parked position reducing setup time. Many thanks for your feedback.

Clear Skies,

Stephen

[Jannis]

I've done everything teh wrong way so far then, without even thinking about it.

I've always tightend the clutched extra well before transporting it, to be sure it doesn't suddenly slip on the clutch, causing me to drop it or something. I guess i've basically been carrying the mount for over 3-4 seasons by the gears then... >_<

Well, shows that they're solid gears at least, but i guess that means it wouldn't be unlikely that doing that for like 3-4 years have caused the problems i've had recently.

I've had problems aligning and with pointing accuracy. It's often been way off on the target, even if i do this:

3-star align, add 1 calibration star, add another calibration star or two close by, then select to go back to the first calibration star - and it's often now way off the star.

But hopefully the gears were fine and it was just me who had adjusted the gears/worm-gear incorrectly when i reasembled the DEC axis, and it will be working fine again now (never got to try it again after the last re-assemble).

[flolic]

Jannis, worm gear/worm wheel meshing point is just that, almost a point with contact area of few square milimeters. All forces that you apply to a locked RA and DEC axis create pressure on that meshing point. Those forces are also transfered as axial forces to a worm gear bearings.

You will most likely not create fatal damage to gears (unless you drop locked mount to concrete floor), but every bump can create microscopic damage to worm gears, and that can worsen quality of tracking.

[Jannis]

I see. Would there be anywhere where i could buy these gears seperatly and replace them - in case i should still have any problems after i get a more "permanent" setup for my scope, re-greased the gears, and a new guide-cam to verify if it's not just poor guiding signal causing the poor tracking?

Or ar they very expencive?

[Jannis]

Just a thought on that - as the gears are still moving normally, just maybe with a bit more resistance at a coupple of spots, would PEC take more or less care of it? Or would a complete replacement of the gears be needed?