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I sent my mount in within the past 6 months to get the L6 upgrade, ra/dec extension, and springloaded worm addong. I started noticing after this it is taking forever to get calibration and after East/West calibration it takes several minutes to clear the backlash ( I get an error that Ra/dec rates differ by unexpected amounts). I did a guide assist and measured my dec backlash which gave me this is the result.?

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I am not entirely sure how to fix this or go about adjusting the spring or the dec gears. Any advice is greatly appreciated. My initial guide calibration used to take 1-2 minutes maybe 5 at most. Now its 5-10 minutes. I get the error every time, I will discard the calibration 2-3 times before I can get a good calibration.?

And to further clarify. I have a good PA within 30 arcsec of error. Seeing is not the issue as this is consistent across every night.?

Hey Ryan, Ryan here.

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I've been where you are.

I wrote this post to explain my approach to the spring loaded worm adjustment:
SLW Worm Block Adjustment

See if that helps.

Start with the DEC axis as that as where the majority of the backlash matters. Once you get that down you can adjust the RA axis, but you may not need to.... the RA is constantly moving in one direction... backlash is more of an issue when the axis reverses direction, like the DEC does.

There are also some videos on the Losmandy You Tube Channel that are handy.

Here is a from Losmandy.

There is a learning curve but it is worth it and part of the typical user maintenance.

Some advice:
Recommend adjusting the worm without counterweights and without a scope, like in the video. It is worth taking everything off the mount. If there is an imbalance, and you release the spring tension too much on the worm gear, the scope can swing around chattering your worm gear on the top of the ring gear teeth and your soul will die just a little bit with every heartwrenching click.

If you adjust the bare mount there is very little moment arm to turn the DEC axis unintentionally. Likewise notice in the video that the DEC axis is removed to adjust the RA axis... the DEC axis is pretty top heavy and can swing around with the same heart-stabbing chatter.?

Once you follow the directions, you should see an improvement. Each time I notice the backlash creeping up I do the adjustment. It depends on temperature, amount of use, and how much I move the mount around. Took me a couple of tries before I understood what I was doing.

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Anyways, hope that helps. Let us know how it goes.

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Cheers and clear skies,

Ryan

Here is one more video that shows the actual worm BLOCK adjustment:
Sorry, this is the one I intended to link to initially.

I've observed the same behavior with my g11g. I took it (mount RA head and mini) in for the software and firmware upgrade and asked Scott to check the SLW. He re-adjusted it and same behavior. I found two things. A really good polar alignment and balance makes the southward slope move closer to the ideal slope but it's not like the slope of my 2005 g11, which tracks the ideal slope very closely. With my g11g carefully adjusted there is some backlash at the point where north and South meet at a point which I attribute to the spring moving to the motor input prior to the worm moving. However, I get very similar tracking, according to phd2, with both g11g and g11. The reason is, in my opinion, the ra axis rarely goes the other way. Phd2 pointing error in RA and Dec is very close with both mounts. Try using the PA adjust tool in sharpcap. See if that reduces the error. I would advise against adjusting the SLW as it takes a lot of practice to get right. Brian valente said it took a number of tries with Scott to get it right. My two cents.

Chuck

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM, crocco1250 wrote:

Hi Ryan,? Did you get this resolved?? I'm seeing the same behavior - though not quite so bad.? I sent my mount back to Scott due to RA oscillations.? He was able to resolve this, and the mount tracks well now, but my dec backlash is over 4000mS while it was typically under 750mS before sending.? I've historically adjusted the DEC SLW per Scotts video with good success but not having any luck now.? I suspect the screws holding the blocks to the plate might need adjustment (which Scott doesn't touch in his video).? I will look at these next.? I would love to hear what you did to resolve your issue.? ? Best, Jim?