Okay so I've got my mount to a pretty good point. I have the SLW and tucked motors. Guiding is between 0.30 and 0.65.
After working on my DEC axis and getting it all straightened out I started on my RA axis.
After tear down and analysis, here are the things I've noticed regarding recent lengthy threads.
There is a little bit of wear on the upper and lower section of my shaft.
On the section to the right there is only a small little area I can feel with my fingernail that's a little uneven.
I went ahead and replaced the two stock bearings with three of the caged bearings.
I was informed by the metal fabricator who removed the old bearings for me that the stock bearings have more needles
so it should be smoother, however the new bearings are caged so they should have less play. Three bearings
should be better than two I hope.
Replacing the ring bearing with the sturdier model. Measured and they are exactly the same
height. Old bearing has smaller but more needle bearings and the new bearings
have longer needle bearings but fewer. Seems to even out contact surface area.
And the new bearings look like they hold a lot more grease in place.
Have the wavy washer on both axis because my scope is a pain to balance.
Noticed when I had the DEC apart the sharp edges of the washer were digging into the disk
and creating little plastic particles. I assume these particles get into the grease
and can cause the random excursions I had in the DEC axis. What I did was
clean everything up as good as I can and sand down the sharp edges
of the wavy washer till they're rounded slightly and smooth. Seem to fix the
DEC axis, I'll see what effect it has on the RA.
When I did the Bellevue washer upgrade, to get rid of my 76 second error, I ordered a pair of
worm blocks for that just in case I screw something up moment. Comparing them to the
current worm blocks found on the SLW, I found the current worm blocks on my mount
were machine down on one side 0.01mm and the spring side block's index peg also machined
smaller. I assume they are machined to fit against the block holder better and allow more
movement for the spring-loaded block. Just a heads up if you order some.
Technically this shouldn't really affect guiding. When I took this apart,
having never been touched by me before, these two screws
weren't even finger tight. Just put the Allen wrench in and they turned
without any effort. Just a heads up. Heard too many of those horror stories
about IOptron mounts coming from the factory with loose nuts and bolts
causing whacked guiding.
That's one of the reasons why I bought a Losmandy mount.
So time to double check everything on my mount.
I've absorbed a lot of great information and ideas from this group.
Just wanted to share any information that might be helpful to people.
Overall happy with my mount now, just trying to get that last 1%.
David Malanick
?
David Malanick