EQ5 Problems

[AstroTiger]

Hi guys,

I wonder if you can help.

I have been having problems with my EQ5 mount as seen dismantled pretty much since i got it. Long story, its a book in itself!

Anyway i THINK i am getting to the bottom of it, however i have another issue which seems to delude me.

This is the Dec mount seen dismantled comprises of a geer cylinder, seen pictured and the shaft.

The problem is there is no obvious way to lock the geer cylinder to prevent the telescope from moving.

Lock the geer cylinder (GC) and the shaft (and hence telescope) is still able to move.

This was NOT a problem in the past.

Can anyone advise me here.

I have posted pics below which i hope will help

Many thanks

This one should illustrate it more, you can see the GC is inserted, but it is free to rotate independently of the shaft.

The upshot of this problem is, now my telescope will freely move on either axis, but now there is no way to lock it in dec, which makes the mount about as much use and a choccy fireguard, hence now i am sure you see my problem (i hope lol)

I am considering either

a) glue

drill a hole through GC to shaft to fix it that way (drastic)

c) any ideas?

Many thanks

[Milamber]

That looks about right to me - once all is assembled the worm will hold it in place. Check out http://www.astronomyboy.com/

Arthur

[Astro_Baby]

Two things come to mind.

Either the lock lever doesnt have sufficient grip which could be caused by a number of thing

OR

The worm engament is so out of whck that theres no grip for it. Is this mount powered normally ? If not put it all together and check the slo motion contro in DEC. Does the slo-mo work ? If not thats where the problem lies.

[AstroTiger]

Yes this is true, the worm will hold it in place, but the axis will continue to move.

Can you see where i am coming from?

It wont lock the telescope :-(

All the lever will do is prevent the GC from moving. The axel is still freely moves, hence the telescope.

I am sure i am being thick here and and over looked something obvious

[Milamber]

Have you checked out the CG-5 pages at the website I posted? The shaft is locked by the nut that you screw on when you assemble the bits.

Arthur

[AstroTiger]

you know i knew this would happen.

I must be the thickest person on the forum for sure.

You were all right, what had happened was the plastic bung which is glued to the top of the bolt had come off.

I have glued it with super glue for now.

But since its happened a few times before, does anyone know of a glue they can recommend for this?

Thanks for all your help

[Astro_Baby]

Ahh well - alls well that ends well. I had that happen with the HEQ5 on one of its strip downs. It has a brass 'button' on the end of the lock bolt and it had slipped off during reassambly.

[AstroTiger]

Hhmmm, yes, these are plastic.

And dont stick for too long.

Simple enough mount once its stripped, can be a pain though lol

Still i'm getting my meade LX10 repaired so that will allow me a spare i think.