Skywatcher EQ6 Pro - Which Grease??

[AntHart]

Hi

After owning my mount for around 8 years, and originally purchasing 2nd hand I’ve decided to give it a full strip down, clean, regrease and reassemble.

ive used ‘AstroBaby’s’ guide to do this and have all parts disassembled, cleaned up and ready to put back together.

it was actually a fairly simple job if you take one step at a time

 

The question I keep reading and seems to have a lot of conflicting info is which grease and what type to use.

 

when I took my mount apart it had remnants of the thick black goop typical of my brand of mount, although not a lot of it so it definitely needed doing!

 

Does anyone have a definitive answer of what I should be using? Both for the worm gears and bearings?

 

im in no rush to re assemble and just use something from a DIY shop! I’m happy to order what is regarded as the best stuff to use and do it properly 

 

If anyone has advice on this and has done it themselves I’d love to hear from you

 

Cheers

Ant 

[johninderby]

Not the cheapest but Areoshel 33 Airframe Grease is what Rowan Astronomy recommends for the AZ100 mount. Super low wear and high corrosion resistance. 

It’s usually used on aircraft components where only the best will do. Recommended by Boeing apparently. 😁

Edited January 30, 2020 by johninderby

[Skipper Billy]

I used 'Superlube' and was very pleased with its performance. 

The main thing is that the grease needs to not dry out over time and work well at low temperatures.

We probably all go a bit mad with grease spec - we are talking about a gearbox that does one revolution per session! 😉 

 

[r3i]

+1 for Superlube.

[fozzybear]

16 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

I used 'Superlube' and was very pleased with its performance. 

The main thing is that the grease needs to not dry out over time and work well at low temperatures.

We probably all go a bit mad with grease spec - we are talking about a gearbox that does one revolution per session! 😉 

 

+1 use in on the lesser eq5 mount

[Skipper Billy]

4 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

+1 use in on the lesser eq5 mount

It's not 'lesser' it's just more 'petite' ! 😉 

[blinky]

or this.... https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/geoptik-equatorial-mount-grease-kit.html  not used it myself but intending to purchase for my strip and regrease

[Alien 13]

Mounts are thought to be an easy environment for grease due to the slow speeds involved but it is in fact the complete opposite, grease moves over time and "pools" into spaces causing the bearings to run dry and with no fast rotation to pick it up and re distribute it the situation gets worse over time. 

I will be shot down but the skywatcher black sticky grease is the best that I have found.

Alan

[AntHart]

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

I used 'Superlube' and was very pleased with its performance. 

The main thing is that the grease needs to not dry out over time and work well at low temperatures.

We probably all go a bit mad with grease spec - we are talking about a gearbox that does one revolution per session! 😉 

 

I’ve read quite a few use ‘superlube’ ...would this be good for the taper roller bearings as well as the worm and big brass gears too?

Cheers

[AntHart]

1 hour ago, blinky said:

or this.... https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/geoptik-equatorial-mount-grease-kit.html  not used it myself but intending to purchase for my strip and regrease

I was looking at that kit too...I just assumed right or wrong that if a reputable retailer like that sells it then it must be good to use  Thanks mate

[AntHart]

37 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

Mounts are thought to be an easy environment for grease due to the slow speeds involved but it is in fact the complete opposite, grease moves over time and "pools" into spaces causing the bearings to run dry and with no fast rotation to pick it up and re distribute it the situation gets worse over time. 

I will be shot down but the skywatcher black sticky grease is the best that I have found.

Alan

I’d be more than happy to replace with original manufacturers grease...is it available to buy? Not sure what I’d google to find it...I tried Sky-Watcher grease etc but nothing really came up.

Cheers

[blinky]

I think EP grease would be closest to the original. It’s meant for extreme pressure, or when things like the meshed gears are left stationary for long periods of time, so it does not spread out.

[Waldemar]

If you would look through a microscope to any machined metal surface, you would see that the material is not as smooth as it feels. The surface is in fact rough in several degrees, which restricts a real smooth movement. PTFE  based greases and oils like SuperLube consist of different sizes of PTFE particles which fill up these 'rough' areas, depending on the need. In that way those type of lubricants really smoothen any movement. On top of that the temperature range is like -40-+300 ° C, so basically suitable for all circumstances. In fact you could say this type of lubricant has a negative resistance coefficient, meaning the more pressure, the better it works. Personally I lubricate everything with SuperLube for years and years already. From my bicycle to my mount and everything in between.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Waldemar

[bottletopburly]

I’d happily use what Dave at  Rowan recommends 

[Skipper Billy]

On 30/01/2020 at 20:30, AntHart said:

I was looking at that kit too...I just assumed right or wrong that if a reputable retailer like that sells it then it must be good to use  Thanks mate

They also sell 'powertanks' which are completely the wrong piece of kit for the application! 😉