Judder problem?

[sbooder]

Had a bit of a weird one last night.  I set the scope up as it was a nice clear night and polar aligned.  I did a one star alignment because it was just a visual night no photography.  After I had completed the alignment I decided to have a look at M31 (not that it would be that good with the moon as it was) while waiting for Jupiter to come up over my horizon.
 

This is where the problems started.  I heard a loud clicking coming from the Dec axis and then it started to judder and bind.  It was not like a normal bind when the worm mesh is too close, this was a definite judder then bind.  I took the scope and weights off and re-adjusted the worm mesh anyway just in case and tried the scope without payload and adjusted the worm retainer nut accordingly and it was fine.
 

I then loaded it back up with the payload and tried again and the same happened, so I dismantled the setup and took the mount inside for some serious maintenance.
 

I stripped the Dec axis down to check everything and all seemed as it should.  The only two things that have changed since I did the belt mod are a new grease and a third counterweight to eliminate the bar extension, so before I dismantled the axis I tried with the two weights and the bar to see if it helped...same thing.
 

I first changed the grease back to the Teflon grease and reassembled the mount tested first without load, fine!  Then with load and judder judder again.
 

So I got my Uncle on Skype and we went through it together.  After talking about this and that while I checked everything before assembling the axis, he reminding me to check the movement as best I could at every stage, we finally got the axis back together and feeling good.
 

I tested again with no load and it went well and did sound a lot better and with load it did a full 360 with no problem and I even simulated a slew to object and all was well.
 

The only thing we could think of that was causing the initial problem was something misaligned along the Dec shaft, like the tapper bearing or similar.

Has anyone else ever had this and did you find the reason for it?

[m.tweedy]

Yes exactly the same and we put it down to either the belt not being aligned properly or too tight  when it was put back together as there is a definite high spot on mine.

still get the occasional tick but again i have been told it is probably down to the belt not being fully aligned.

i am still over the moon with the improvement in mine.

you already know my thread :-0

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/204163-neq6-pro-rowan-astronomy-belt-mod-and-more/