Skytee-2 spare parts sellers?

[25585]

Sadly the slow motion knobs for horizontal motion of the main mount seems to be broken. The mount itself swivels, slightly stiffly when turned by hand, but the knobs and their shaft do not, motion lock lever fully released of course. The knobs turn but have no effect on the mount, and turning the mount manually does not make their shaft turn either.

I removed the slow motion unit and neither the teeth on either mount or slow motion shaft seem to be worn, however the latter''s shaft is bent slightly.

So presumably I need a new slow motion gear box for horizontal. Is there any sales site which sells or can obtain parts for Skytee-2, and other SW hardware?

(The other/end platform has both slow motions working fine, as does the main platform's vertical slow motion)

[iantelescope]

Sklytee 2 Danger.  I recently bought an Skytee 2 on Ebay, having been told that the Skytee "had only been used once, and that with a small Apo".

On arrival, I noticed an obviously bent Dovetail screw,, and found deep scoring on the internal Alt Axis bearing  caused by the locking screw turning against the axis.

If either the Dovetail had failed or the main bearing had sheared  my  Telescope would have been  damaged, if not destroyed!

I might have been seriously hurt!

The Skytee 2 should not be sold , or resold on Ebay. without "ADM two screw replacement Dovetails" , or someone will get hurt!

I am trying to return  the Skytee! So far , unsuccessfully !!

 

[NGC 1502]

18 hours ago, 25585 said:

Sadly the slow motion knobs for horizontal motion of the main mount seems to be broken. The mount itself swivels, slightly stiffly when turned by hand, but the knobs and their shaft do not, motion lock lever fully released of course. The knobs turn but have no effect on the mount, and turning the mount manually does not make their shaft turn either.

I removed the slow motion unit and neither the teeth on either mount or slow motion shaft seem to be worn, however the latter''s shaft is bent slightly.

So presumably I need a new slow motion gear box for horizontal. Is there any sales site which sells or can obtain parts for Skytee-2, and other SW hardware?

(The other/end platform has both slow motions working fine, as does the main platform's vertical slow motion)

I’d try the importers, optical vision, or our sponsors, first light optics. Or could you try to straighten the shaft ?  If one end were taped to protect it in a vice, then a tube for a lever on the other end, then maybe you’d be sorted ?

Hope you can fix it, Ed.

[25585]

1 hour ago, iantelescope said:

Sklytee 2 Danger.  I recently bought an Skytee 2 on Ebay, having been told that the Skytee "had only been used once, and that with a small Apo".

On arrival, I noticed an obviously bent Dovetail screw,, and found deep scoring on the internal Alt Axis bearing  caused by the locking screw turning against the axis.

If either the Dovetail had failed or the main bearing had sheared  my  Telescope would have been  damaged, if not destroyed!

I might have been seriously hurt!

The Skytee 2 should not be sold , or resold on Ebay. without "ADM two screw replacement Dovetails" , or someone will get hurt!

I am trying to return  the Skytee! So far , unsuccessfully !!

 

Their construction seems quite agricultural. 

It has put me off SW mounts. If I went for an equatorial it would be Vixen or a specialist brand. 

Some CN posts show the mount has had to be serviced down to disassembly, to get the controls aligned properly & all working. 

[John]

The Skytee II is a bit agricultural I agree. The problem is that there is not much else that competes with it at it's price niche.

I have an HEQ5 EQ mount which seems better quality overall. Vixen's are better engineered though.

Getting parts for these things is difficult. Maybe try through FLO or direct with the importer Optical Vision Ltd ?

Sounds like the worm wheel is not engaged with the drive shaft on the azimuth axis - is that the issue ?

 

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

I know a member did a complete strip down of his SkyTee 2 - I am not sure whether is helpful.

Skytee2 strip.docx

[25585]

7 minutes ago, John said:

The Skytee II is a bit agricultural I agree. The problem is that there is not much else that competes with it at it's price niche.

I have an HEQ5 EQ mount which seems better quality overall. Vixen's are better engineered though.

Getting parts for these things is difficult. Maybe try through FLO or direct with the importer Optical Vision Ltd ?

Sounds like the worm wheel is not engaged with the drive shaft on the azimuth axis - is that the issue ?

 

 

I think that is the issue. The worm shaft is bent slightly, so contact may be insufficient. To turn such a large cog, which is stiff even by hand, is also part of the problem IMO. Grease used is very sticky too. 

[John]

People often do remove the "Synta glue" from Skywatcher mounts then re-grease with something better.

 

[AdeKing]

21 hours ago, 25585 said:

Sadly the slow motion knobs for horizontal motion of the main mount seems to be broken. The mount itself swivels, slightly stiffly when turned by hand, but the knobs and their shaft do not, motion lock lever fully released of course. The knobs turn but have no effect on the mount, and turning the mount manually does not make their shaft turn either.

Just a thought, is the clutch lever in the correct position? The knobs will not turn the mount if the clutch is disengaged (lever is loose).  When the clutch is engaged (lever is tight), the mount will turn with the slow motion controls, but will be difficult to turn by hand without them.

Turning my SkyTee by hand (without the slow-mo controls) never results in the slow-mo knobs turning even with the clutch engaged.

If the worm gear is physically bent itself then that could be the issue.  There are also two tiny grub screws on the top of the slow-mo assembly which can be adjusted to alter the angle of the worm gear slightly, it might be worth checking those to see whether the gear is engaging squarely with the underlying cog.

Be very careful when you re-tighten the small Allen bolts that secure the slow-motion assembly to the mount, as there have previously been reports (not that I can find them on here now) that the threads in the mount strip out easily.

This thread, which contains the document that @Mark at Beaufort provided above, might also contain some useful hints.

 

[TSRobot]

Some of the screws are steel into an aluminium thread. You only  get to overtighten once then it's all over for that thread. Be very careful ?

[iantelescope]

Having bought a faulty Skytee 2 on Ebay , I have had my money returned by the seller. The Seller "Does not, however, want the Skytee returned", 

With a badly damaged dovetail , and a deeply scored "bearing"  , I will not use the Skytee with a heavy Telescope, or perhaps with any Telescope!

The Aluminium "bearing" is  a  tube with a machined central bore, presumably  storage for a counterweight bar on another design ( eq5 ?).

I have failed to find a spare parts for either  Skytee  or Eq5 , and , I may undercut the deeply scored bearing on an lathe, providing a working axis lock, but further weakening the bearing !

The Skytee design looks sturdy.......but I am  sceptical, and  will build my own Alt-az  , with solid ground stainless steel axes! A modern Charles Frank Design!

[TSRobot]

Sad to hear your misfortune. Hope you get a set up you like soon. I bought my Skytee to accommodate my C8 then sold the Skytee after selling my C8 and then stumbled across a used Giro 3 mount which is so simple it's hard to see anything going wrong and it's 2kg lighter than the skytee. Glad to hear you got a refund though! Happy engineering. Some of the best mounts started out in a home work shop like the Ayo Swiss mounts and built so well that slow motions are NOT needed. Having said this, my Skytee served me very well.