Go To 250 Dobsonian Tracking Problem.

[bosun21]

My 9 months old go to dobsonian has developed a clicking sound while tracking. To me this is caused by stiction of some sort. When imaging the planets my target is jerking slightly with each click. This is as you can imagine no good for imaging or EAA and is really annoying visually also. I thought of maybe a balance issue but it's not as if I have no counterweight or eyepiece fitted it's still present. I've also tried positioning the counterweight in every conceivable position to no avail. It looks like I'm going to have to strip it down and have a look at the workings. There's no manual clutch so perhaps it's the setting for the clutch tensioner that needs a fettle. Has anyone ever came across or experienced this issue? Thanks for reading.

[PeterC65]

Did you buy it new? If so then I would contact the supplier before taking anything apart. I've bought things from FLO in the past and asked them first for their advice and if they were happy for me to try a fix (which they were) without affecting the warranty.

 

[Les Ewan]

Its a problem that has been with us ever since Dobs were invented,its called 'sticktation' and gets worse with larger instruments.I have this with my 400P. It can be a bit annoying when trying long exposure imaging but dosent really bother me when  observing visually.

My scope has been doing it since new but not all the time it comes and goes and some nights worse than others Its one of the drawbacks of a Dob.

It dosen't effect general tracking accuracy or the GOTO function.

[Mr Spock]

53 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

My 9 months old go to dobsonian has developed a clicking sound while tracking.

I had that on a Skywatcher 250 Flextube goto. The mount went back to FLO, but, it still did it on return. They replaced the mount second time, and that did the same but in a different axis. At that point I'd had enough and the whole lot went back. I more or less had the scope six months and wasn't able to use it. It just wouldn't track without the clicking or the accompanying twitching.

I'm quite happy now with my SL Dob on an EQ platform. As someone once said, the more complicated the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain 

[bosun21]

8 minutes ago, Les Ewan said:

Its a problem that has been with us ever since Dobs were invented,its called 'sticktation' and gets worse with larger instruments.I have this with my 400P. It can be a bit annoying when trying long exposure imaging but dosent really bother me when  observing visually.

My scope has been doing it since new but not all the time it comes and goes and some nights worse than others Its one of the drawbacks of a Dob.

It dosen't effect general tracking accuracy or the GOTO function.

That's exactly what is happening with mine. It sort of comes and goes throughout the night. It tends to get less the nearer it points towards the zenith. I'll drop FLO an email and ask if they are happy for me to have a look. I bought it brand new 9 months ago from FLO so is still under warranty. How does the warranty work with FLO?

[bosun21]

6 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I had that on a Skywatcher 250 Flextube goto. The mount went back to FLO, but, it still did it on return. They replaced the mount second time, and that did the same but in a different axis. At that point I'd had enough and the whole lot went back. I more or less had the scope six months and wasn't able to use it. It just wouldn't track without the clicking or the accompanying twitching.

I'm quite happy now with my SL Dob on an EQ platform. As someone once said, the more complicated the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain 

Yes it's just recently appeared and it's annoying the heck out of me. It's 9 months old and bought new from FLO. How does the warranty work with @FLO?

[bosun21]

45 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

Did you buy it new? If so then I would contact the supplier before taking anything apart. I've bought things from FLO in the past and asked them first for their advice and if they were happy for me to try a fix (which they were) without affecting the warranty.

 

Yes I bought it new from FLO 9 months ago. I'll drop them an email and see what they say.

[FLO]

16 hours ago, bosun21 said:

How does the warranty work with @FLO?

Sky-Watcher offers a one-year warranty to UK customers. At FLO, we extend that to two years. 

Please email us for support 🙂 

HTH, 

Steve