Strip down of NEQ6 Mount

[mog3768]

I recently asked about fitting a Rowen belt kit. But before going down this path ,I decided to do a complete strip down and rebuild of my NEQ6 mount mainly to check out the mounts condition and to see how easy/difficult it was to undertake this task.

All went well until removal of the RA shaft, this would just not cooperate and would not pull free. Fortunately I have a snake camera so inserted this down the shaft and could see shreds of the Teflon washers protruding around the bearings, which was stopping the bearing from pulling free of the shaft, made up a wire hook and managed to pull most of the debris free but still had to use a wooden block and hammer to completely free the bearings. There was a small fault in the shaft which  I assume had contributed to the washer damage I took this out with a needle file.  See picture of washers,  I could not locate a supplier of replacement washer in the UK. So sourced some 0.03 and 0.05 Teflon sheet on the Internet and made up my own.                                                                                                                          One of the motor gears felt loose So I removed the motors and found the gear was not seated right and out of alignment. See picture, it was a simple correction to realign the gears and re grease with TF2 lithium grease. There was a small amount of grease on the main bearings but the motor and worm gears were very dry.  All parts were cleaned thoroughly and re greased with TF2. Reassembly was pretty straightforward.

Considering this mount has spent the best part of six years in an outside obsy I was impressed with it overall condition.

The mount is now fully loaded and slews very smoothly unfortunately no clear nights to check it out with PHD.

So in conclusion if you are considering servicing your mount give it a go but be prepared to spent some time adjusting and setting the grub screws to the worm gear mesh.

 

 

 

[laser_jock99]

All good fun. Having stripped down and rebuilt two EQ6 mounts, the finished, tuned mount will be much better.

[kirkster501]

Posted in wrong thread...

[mog3768]

White dwarf why is this posted wrong this is the mount section.

Don't understand your comment. 

[CraigT82]

4 minutes ago, mog3768 said:

White dwarf why is this posted wrong this is the mount section.

Don't understand your comment. 

He's posted in this thread by accident, but can't delete it so has edited it to say he's posted in the wrong thread... not you!  you're very much in the right place

[souls33k3r]

Nice one mate!

 

[mog3768]

OK all's well then.

[Tony Rodda]

I hypertuned my CGEM last year using an Ed Thomas kit and it's been superb ever since.  Mechanically the same derivative as the EQ6 and, from the sounds of it, similar washer/shim issues.  Not for the fainthearted.  

Cleaning the 'grease' from the gears/bearings was a revelation in itself.  

I also installed the ceramic worm gear bearings and that made a huge difference to the smoothness.  The lock nuts were effectively glued in place and tightened with a hammer!

I know these are mass produced but if they took a little more care during assembly and used a bit less gunk it would go a long way to customer satisfaction.

Regards

Tony

 

[mog3768]

Interesting Toby ,I will look up the Ed Thomas kit thanks.

[spaceboy]

Yep the Teflon washers aren't too great on these mounts. I had to replace all if mine when doing a grease and tune. There is a guy in the US who supplies the washers of varying thickness for tuning saving no end of hassle making your own. Astrobaby pointed me in his direction. They are not cheap but work great and there are a few supplied so offer peace of mind your not going to be caught short again.

[mog3768]

Yes space boy I did know there was a US supplier but understood they could take up to a month to get here. 

Did yours take that long would be interested to know  in case of future servicing.

[r3i]

12 hours ago, mog3768 said:

Yes space boy I did know there was a US supplier but understood they could take up to a month to get here. 

Did yours take that long would be interested to know  in case of future servicing.

I also got a pack from Doug Dieter (the supplier named on Astro Baby's site) - it was a couple of years ago but IRIC they only took a couple of weeks to arrive, but I guess delivery time may depend on if he has any to hand for immediate shipping.

[mog3768]

Thanks r3i good to know there are alterative suppliers