Could I have damaged something inside my AZ-EQ6 Pro mount?

[oymd]

Dear all, I posted this earlier on CN, and according to the advice I got, it seems I will need some local expertise and knowledge?

Since I got this mount about 3 weeks ago, being my first GEM mount, I struggled a little with learning the directions of LOCK & UNLOCK for the clutches in RA and DEC.

So, last week I printed out some labels on a laser printer, and stuck them on the mount in various external locations, to guide me in rotating the clutch clockwise and anticlockwise to release the clutches when I am in AZ mode, and just manually moving the mount about during visual sessions.

In the manual, and following advice here on CN, I also marked the counter weight shaft with the same labels, so that I have a 2 markers in place on the shaft to guide me where to put the CWs to balance in RA when the mount is in AZ mode and parallel to the ground.

The reason I needed 2 labels on the shaft is that I have a C11 and a 80ED, and both have very different weights, so I wanted to have a point of reference on the shaft to know where to place the CWs.

Long story short, today I noticed Venus very bright in the sky, so I quickly took out the mount, set it up on the tripod, but the CW shaft WOULD NOT COME OUT OF THE MOUNT!!

I had to pull and rotate the shaft clockwise and anitclockwise, and even removed the plastic cap covering the polar scope hole in the mount to look inside the mount, and I could see that the labels where catching, and wrinkled, and not allowing the shaft to extend out of the mount.

After a few tries, the shaft finally came out, with some glue residue of the labels, but the labels where still inside the mount's shaft enclosure, as they seem to have been sheared off?

Did not realise that the tolerances where that tight.

Anyways, with the crumbled up paper labels are still inside the barrel enclosure housing the shaft, could I have caused any sort of damage? Or is this barrel for the CW shaft not holding anything sensitive?

I was advised to take the mount apart and clean the shaft and remove the paper. Can someone please guide me, or advice on local professional help?

Thanks

[kendg]

Chck out these.

and

 

Might be of some help.

 

[MarcusH]

Unless the labels were of a electrically conducting material, you should be fine. There isn't much more than the polar scope, motors and the mount electronics in the cavity. The biggest annoyance I can think of is the label(s) somehow ending up on your polar scope blocking the view. For piece of mind it's probably good to open it up and remove the labels though. You should have good access by just removing the cover plate where all the connectors and power switch is mounted. Just be careful when you remove the connectors (to polar scope led, motors, encoders, etc.) from the pcb and mark them / take a photo so you get them back together in the right places. If you're lucky you might not even have to remove the connectors from the pcb.

I had a funny thing happening to me last season. After one session I realized I had lost the smaller of the polar scope cover caps. I searched high and low but to no avail. I figured I had dropped it in the snow and it was now lost forever. Fast forward 10 months and at the second outing I was struggling to get Polaris in the view of the polar scope. It was as if something was partially blocking the view....

Naturally I thought it was the DEC axis shaft not rotated enough, but any amount a rotation wouldn't clear the view. So I took a torch and shined down the polar scope hole in the housing, and what did I see ?

YES, my long lost friend, the smaller polar scope cap. 😁 How on earth did it end up there ?????

I used to put the caps in different pockets of my coat, the bigger in the left, the smaller in the right pocket, so that I always took the right cap in the darkness. I've must somehow have put them in my pocket the wrong way around and when popping the smaller cap in the hole of the mount it fell inside the housing (without me noticing it).

[oymd]

6 hours ago, MarcusH said:

Unless the labels were of a electrically conducting material, you should be fine. There isn't much more than the polar scope, motors and the mount electronics in the cavity. The biggest annoyance I can think of is the label(s) somehow ending up on your polar scope blocking the view. For piece of mind it's probably good to open it up and remove the labels though. You should have good access by just removing the cover plate where all the connectors and power switch is mounted. Just be careful when you remove the connectors (to polar scope led, motors, encoders, etc.) from the pcb and mark them / take a photo so you get them back together in the right places. If you're lucky you might not even have to remove the connectors from the pcb.

I had a funny thing happening to me last season. After one session I realized I had lost the smaller of the polar scope cover caps. I searched high and low but to no avail. I figured I had dropped it in the snow and it was now lost forever. Fast forward 10 months and at the second outing I was struggling to get Polaris in the view of the polar scope. It was as if something was partially blocking the view....

Naturally I thought it was the DEC axis shaft not rotated enough, but any amount a rotation wouldn't clear the view. So I took a torch and shined down the polar scope hole in the housing, and what did I see ?

YES, my long lost friend, the smaller polar scope cap. 😁 How on earth did it end up there ?????

I used to put the caps in different pockets of my coat, the bigger in the left, the smaller in the right pocket, so that I always took the right cap in the darkness. I've must somehow have put them in my pocket the wrong way around and when popping the smaller cap in the hole of the mount it fell inside the housing (without me noticing it).

Yes, they are non conductive. They are the paper labels you buy at WHSMITH. They measure about 30x10mm. They were extremely thin and flush on the CW shaft. 
I’m obviously terrified of opening up the mount and damaging something. 
I’ll probably just clean the shaft with alcohol and remove the glue residue and hope for the best. 
maybe even use an endoscope and look through the opening of the polar scope down into the barrel that houses the CW shaft

[Skipper Billy]

I dont think I would be dismantling it just for a couple of small paper labels - especially if the thought of it worries you. I cant see it causing any issues.

[MarcusH]

4 hours ago, oymd said:

I’m obviously terrified of opening up the mount and damaging something. 

There's absolutely no need to open up the mount if you don't feel like doing it. As there are people with skill levels varying from "I really do not want to mess with it" all the way to "I just have to take it apart to see how it works" (me being the latter) I figured I at least could give you a few pointers on what to do.

Your mount won't be damaged by a few odd pieces of paper floating around in there, the absolutely worst thing that could happen is that they somehow would end up on the lens of your polar scope blocking the view. But even that won't break or damage anything.

And, who knows, maybe there is still enough glue on the labels so that you could get them to stick to the endoscope and get them out that way. No disassembly required. 

[oymd]

Great advice. Thanks

I have just looked into the hole of the polar scope, and I found ONE of the two labels and managed to remove with my wife's tweezers...

She will not be happy...

I'll have to look for the other one at another time..

By the way, I've noticed something that triggered my OCD.

The aluminium scale on the polar scope seems to have come off, and rotates freely...I never noticed this before? Should it look like this? I never polar aligned yet, as since I bought new 3 weeks ago, never had the chance to setup in the garden as the skies have been hopeless!

That aluminum ring looks all flimsy and like its bent in multiple places. I tried to rotate/screw it back on to the mount, but it just rotates freely?

Could me pulling and rotating on the CW shaft caused this? They are in completely 2 different axes??

 

[david_taurus83]

I think that aluminium dial is meant to be able to rotate. It was the same on the 2 equatorial mounts I owned. An old EQ5 and the same AZEQ6 as you have.

[Scoobs767]

I've got the same gap and flimsy plastic cover and aluminium disc on my Atlas AZ-EQG...  Why do they make the metal disc so thin?  It's so easy to warp it.

[oymd]

On 04/02/2020 at 20:42, Scoobs767 said:

I've got the same gap and flimsy plastic cover and aluminium disc on my Atlas AZ-EQG...  Why do they make the metal disc so thin?  It's so easy to warp it.

I did not notice it when I set it up. Not sure if it was flush with the mount. And yes, it looks very flimsy and cheap. 

[oymd]

Wanted to update this.
 
I used an Olympus Endoscope, and found the second label inside the black housing barrel of the CW shaft.
 
Had a nice look inside the mount as well, at the PCB!!
 
There is almost NOTHING inside the body of the mount, except for the PCB! 

 
Removed quite easily....pretty happy...
 
BTW, I saw on the PCB a socket labelled: HIGH RESOLUTION ENCODERS that was unpopulated? Would that be for the higher end EQ8-R mount and the encoders?
 

      

[wornish]

I have wondered if if the polar eyepiece was removed would it be possible to route cables down through the base but I think that would require some serious drilling.

 

[oymd]

4 hours ago, wornish said:

I have wondered if if the polar eyepiece was removed would it be possible to route cables down through the base but I think that would require some serious drilling.

 

Well, I had a thorough look inside the mount, and its completely hollow, with the PCB taking up very little space.

Routing all the cables you want would be possible IMHO.

[jambouk]

Stick a hoover pipe in the polar scope hole on low suction and see if the other label will come out, but I wouldn’t stress too much about; bits of paper in there may improve the periodic error 😅

[oymd]

23 minutes ago, jambouk said:

Stick a hoover pipe in the polar scope hole on low suction and see if the other label will come out, but I wouldn’t stress too much about; bits of paper in there may improve the periodic error 😅

You missed my first few posts above...

This was the SECOND label....

Both have been removed...