HEQ5 disassembly woes

[Apharov]

Wuthton, paul_astro,

Thanks for the helpful comments! I'll go with having the defect professionally fixed this time, but on longer term I'll be surely looking at widening my toolset to include hole tapping capabilities.

[Scott]

I fully respect your choice to have this sorted however may I make one suggestion? if you dont feel confident tapping a thread, Do NOT attempt a strip down of your mount. It's leagues more difficult and may well end in tears

[FLO]

On 24 February 2016 at 22:15, Apharov said:

Your outline of the situation is largely correct. The pertinent facts that are without contention are, as I see them:

1. One of the puck mounting grub screw holes is incorrectly threaded.

2. This incorrect threading results in the grub screw being unable to contact the puck, as the threads do not extend all the way through the DEC barrel.

3. The effects of 1 and 2 are caused by a manufacturing defect.

4. The effect of 2 results in the mounting being less functional regarding the puck stability than a correctly manufactured mount.

We have some good news. I spoke with Steve Collingwood (SCTelescopes) today, he says all three grub-screw holes are fully threaded. It appears, Apharov, when you reassembled the mount you cross-threaded one of the the screws, that is why it didn't screw all the way in. All three screws can grip the puck. There is no need for a repair. 

We like happy endings  

Steve 

[Apharov]

28 minutes ago, FLO said:

We have some good news. I spoke with Steve Collingwood (SCTelescopes) today, he says all three grub-screw holes are fully threaded. It appears, Apharov, when you reassembled the mount you cross-threaded one of the the screws, that is why it didn't screw all the way in. All three screws can grip the puck. There is no need for a repair.

This is very curious, since that grub screw was significantly angled compared to the others to begin with, had not touched the puck ever since coming from the factory (no contact marks on puck surface) and I had not completely removed it at any point from the threads. Perhaps it had been brutalized a bit at the factory and I mistaked it for incorrect screw threading.

But in any case I trust the puck connection is now secure and look forward to getting the mount back in action.