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EQ6 Dec axis stiff


nitram100

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Hey guys,

I was out with my scope last night observing with the EQ6 manually with the DEC and RA clamps loosened, just star hopping really.

This morning I noticed that the DEC axis has all of a sudden become quite stiff. Before with the DEC axis clamp loosened I could give the scope a little nudge and it would swing loosely, but now I have to give it a real push. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like the DEC clamp is moderately tightened even thought it is completely loosened.

Any ideas what I could try? Has something tightened last night as a result of me manually operating the mount?

Thanks for any info!

Martin

edit. Just want to add that it feels stiff even with the counterweights and scope removed. There is also a sound coming from the DEC axis when being moved, almost like a mild friction sound.

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I was hoping that wasn't the case, I'm not very technically minded :)

It's really strange how it went from being able to nudge it and it would swing freely to how stiff it is now. I can put the tube at a 90 degree angle with the clamps loosened fully and it won't budge, really weird.

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Ahh poop, looks like I will have to strip it down then. Which grease did you use mate? I ordered this stuff http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1439.l2649

yup thats the one i used :D great stuff it is! theres a small access point when you open the mount up for you get a bit of grease on the motors i put a small dab on them aswell becasue you can only access the motors by taking the main board out of the mount a real pain! let me know if you need any help if you get stuck

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Thanks for the help, Daniel. Can I ask though, when you stripped the mount down did you see clearly where the problem lay? Like a lack of grease in a particular place or too much?

I would say all of those - grease where you want it but not enough, and grease caked in where you don't need it.

See AstroBaby's site and regrease with lithium grease...

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Although not that difficult to do, during the strip there's the definite possibility of doing more harm than good, especially if you're not mechanically minded.

As a first step I'd try loosening off the DEC collar a touch, images 10 & 11 from this page - you shouldn't perform the previous steps, just go straight to 10.

You should do this with the mount set up as normal, scope and counterweights on.

Anything from an eighth to a quarter turn should do the trick.

Check it by balancing the scope, it should move a lot more freely with that collar slackened a touch.

If it's still too tight after doing this then you may need to look at a full strip.

Cheers,

Ian

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Hi Ian thanks for the tip.

Sorry but do you mean start at image 4 with the dec lever? I thought image 10 was for the counterweight bar. Thanks.

A few days ago I actually took the dec lever off (revealing the little brass button) and the stiffness was still there.

If I put my ear right up to the black worm roller end caps in image 2, I can hear the friction when I move the scope. I have a feeling the grease on the worm carrier may be kaput and need re greasing.

I also tried loosening the two grub screws as shown in image 10 but no change unfortunately :(

Hoping my lithium grease arrives today from Amazon, I'm back at work tomorrow and would love to get this done today.

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Sorted. It was the worm carrier set screws, just had to play around with them for a while until there was no play. The motor sounded like it locked up, scared me senseless! Made a dakka dakka sound, so I just played with the screws until there was no motor binding. The DEC axis is much better now, but not the same as it was before so I might go for round 2 in a few weeks. The previous owner had obviously tried to re grease as well and there was this yellow stuff everywhere, not very nice. There appears to be no more crunching noise when slewing in DEC now, which is nice. Might give the RA a go soon. :)

Cheers for the help and Astro Baby for the amazing guide.

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