Meade motor drive

[Josh123SV]

Hi there,

I have a Meade Polaris 130 telescope on an EQ2 mount which came with a motor drive, however I noticed that the motor drive is unable to actually move the telescope along the Right ascension axis. Have any of you had this problem with a motor drive?

I have attached some images of it on the telescope and would just like some feedback as to whether I am doing something incorrect.

 

Many thanks 

Josh 

[Cornelius Varley]

The mounting bracket looks a little bent/twisted causing the flexible coupling to also be bent, the coupling should be as straight as possible to avoid unnecessary side loads on the mount. The thumbscrew should line up with a flat surface on the RA output axis if it has one. Is the RA clutch tightened ? Battery OK ? How long did you observe the motor drive ? The mount rotates at 15 degrees / hour so you need to watch for several minutes to notice any movement in the motor. In the last photo the motor drive is switched off, does the led light up when the motor drive is switched on ?

[Josh123SV]

12 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The mounting bracket looks a little bent/twisted causing the flexible coupling to also be bent, the coupling should be as straight as possible to avoid unnecessary side loads on the mount. The thumbscrew should line up with a flat surface on the RA output axis if it has one. Is the RA clutch tightened ? Battery OK ? How long did you observe the motor drive ? The mount rotates at 15 degrees / hour so you need to watch for several minutes to notice any movement in the motor. In the last photo the motor drive is switched off, does the led light up when the motor drive is switched on ?

Thanks for the comment,

The battery is fine and the red led lights up when turned on. I observed for around 10 minutes today and noticed no movement. I am not sure whether the thumbscrew is aligned with the flat surface. I will check that today. 

[Pixies]

If you attach something long and thin perpendicular to the motor spindle (when off the mount), you can check that it's moving. Something like a straw, lollipop stick or wooden skewer. I was using a clothes peg to hold it in place and time a full revolution when I was working on a faulty stepper motor. You'll soon see if it's moving or not.

[malc-c]

Release the allan bolt shown in picture 3 and re-align the motor so that the coupling is more inline with the shaft of the RA worm drive.  That will help reduce any tension on the motor.