HEQ5 Pro Dismantling Issue

[Startinez]

The mount is almost brand new and has only been used a few times. I assembled it during an evening where it was extremely warm (still around 25c at 9PM) and when I couldn't disassemble I figured it had expanded and tightened due to the temperature, but it's now been a few weeks and several unsuccessful attempts to disconnect the thread that connects the drive head from the tripod. It definitely wasn't threaded on assembly so I'm not really sure what else it could be? 

 

I wanted to check I'm not missing anything or making an amateur mistake before getting in touch with the manufacturer. 

[fwm891]

You could try the opposite and wrap a cold damp cloth around the shaft to make it shrink - I've done that a few times. Place a damp cloth in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes then wrap around tightly to draw the warmth out of the shaft...

[almcl]

An alternative, if the cold cloth doesn't do it, would be to slacken off the azimuth bolts completely and try and rotate the mount head while holding the shaft - might be easier with two people - just enough to get some slack and hope it can then be unscrewed normally.

[Stub Mandrel]

Have you loosened off the AZ screws?

Alternatively, re-attach  the spreader and do it up fairly tight. This can make enough of a difference to lock or unlock the spindle.

1 minute ago, almcl said:

An alternative, if the cold cloth doesn't do it, would be to slacken off the azimuth bolts completely and try and rotate the mount head while holding the shaft - might be easier with two people - just enough to get some slack and hope it can then be unscrewed normally.

The peg the az screws bear on will prevent it rotating more than a small amount.

[almcl]

4 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

The peg the az screws bear on will prevent it rotating more than a small amount.

With luck, a small amount (10 degrees is the azimuth adjustment, if memory serves) should be more than enough to crack a thread lock.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, almcl said:

With luck, a small amount (10 degrees is the azimuth adjustment, if memory serves) should be more than enough to crack a thread lock.

True, worth trying the spreader trick as well - I've had mine too tight to undo with hand pressure until I've put the spreader back on.