Skywatcher heq5 grinding in one axis in only one direction... - Forums

Topic starter

Aug 31, 2022 · Edited: Aug 31, 2022

Ok, noticed a big problem with my 4 month old skywatcher heq5. And please forgive me for not knowing the proper terminology…

When the east / west (left and right arrows in gs server) position is roughly in the alignment seen in the video the up arrow (north) produces a horrible grinding and jerky movements. The down arrow (south) is first in the video and is perfect. Any idea what I'm dealing with, how hard is it to fix, and what is the fix. Thanks and I will be monitoring this post and will answer further questions to the best of my ability…

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FnXJh-rsCznRxie7ivBY50z6FZWULbJi/view?usp=drivesdk
Benjamin

Andy Wray

Aug 31, 2022

Was it new when you acquired it? If so, I would get it fixed under warranty rather than risking voiding the warranty.

If it's out of warranty, the first thing I would do is take the cover off the drive gears and see if I could see anything obviously wrong with the DEC axis drive. You can watch and listen to it directly whilst operating it. From the sound of it, I'm assuming it has not been belt-modded?

One other question: have you been playing with the backlash adjustment screws at all recently?

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Benjamin DeHaven

Topic starter

Aug 31, 2022

Andy Wray:
Was it new when you acquired it? If so, I would get it fixed under warranty rather than risking voiding the warranty.

If it's out of warranty, the first thing I would do is take the cover off the drive gears and see if I could see anything obviously wrong with the DEC axis drive. You can watch and listen to it directly whilst operating it. From the sound of it, I'm assuming it has not been belt-modded?

One other question: have you been playing with the backlash adjustment screws at all recently?

No, I have never messed with the backlash screws. I've had really good tracking. No, not belt modded. Never even opened the housing to look at it. I bought it as an open box demo at adorama so I assume it's under warranty but I could be wrong. I'll have to look into that. Thank you...

Benjamin DeHaven

Topic starter

Aug 31, 2022

Ok, I decided to take the motor cover panel off just to look and listen. I watched a YouTube video… Anyway, turns out the three very important screws, the ones you take out to remove the worm gear housing were over half the way loose! I tightened them down and the thing moves like butter again. At least as far as I can tell in my living room during the day. I'd love to know how the the important screws were so loose but I suppose I might never know… Thank you!

Benjamin

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Andy Wray

Aug 31, 2022

Just in case you decide to have a look:

Here are the 6 bolts that hold the gear cover plate on:

and this is what the gears look like normally:

I don't necessarily think this will be the case, but look out for any grub screws that may have worked loose from the left hand gear in this view. I had something like that happen with my belt-modded version.

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Andy Wray

Aug 31, 2022

Sorry, didn't see your last post. Having those bolts loose would be a major issue for the worm drive.

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