So my Dec was making a creaking noise, and in my efforst to troubleshoot it, I removed the motor, gear box assembly, and made adjustments to the spring loaded worm, (SLW).
The issue turned out to be that the Delrin (?) coupler between the gearbox and the worm was dry, so a tiny bit of grease remedied that, for future use for anyone with a similar symptom. (Not why I am posting specifically..)
The question I have is this, and please know that I have worked pretty extensively with the mount and the adjustment of the SLW so not a rookie, but rather an informed, question.
The method for adjusting the worm in the Losmandy video documentation is to loosen the screw until the gears become stiff, and then tighten it slightly until the gears free up, HOWEVER...
There is a bit of a range of "freeing up" with tiny turns. My methodology has been to loosen the screw until the gears are still experiencing still a bit of friction, but not binding, in order to minimize backlash. I then run the axis through the range of its travel and listen to the motor. If the motor sounds like it is working harder at any point throughout the rotation, I will *very slightly* tighten the adjusting screw a bit, (thereby loosening the worm against the gear.)
It has been a bit since I looked for any updated info on this process, so...
-Have there been any refinements in the best practices for this adjustment beyond the initial adjustment video from Losmandy?
-If not, does anyone have any input on my methodology above? Does it even matter, or will PHD2 just deal with the backlash, regardless, in backlash compensation?
