Tak mount servicing - question

[rcheshire]

Hi. Does anyone have experience dismantling and/or servicing the Takahashi EM-200 series GEM.

I noticed that there are sticky spots in the drive RA and DEC that causes star trailing.

Swinging through by hand revealed a little bit of resistance, catching here and there.

After a 2 hour session last night, that went without a hitch, the DEC clutch was a bit ratchety also. Accumulated dust and grime I imagine.

I have past experience rebuilding car engines. But I don't want to pull it apart completely unless I need to. And I'm not in favour of the indiscriminate use of WD40.

Thanks

[Paul Haese]

Unless you do it yourself, there is no service agent here in Australia. It could be done yourself but you might need to find out the torque settings from Takahashi. Might I suggest contacting Takahashi Japan or America direct. These people will be the most helpful.

Other than that you will have to send it back to Japan for the service.

[UniPol]

Nothing difficult about servicing a Tak mount somewhat akin to cleaning , adjusting or replacing wheel bearings on a car. If you have reasonable mechanical skills have a go. Just make sure everything is thoroughly clean before you use a good quality light grease. I've attached some pics (albeit not the best quality) of one of my Tak mounts which needed a bit of TLC.

[rcheshire]

Thanks Paul and Steve. The photos are great. As soon as I have plenty of time to take my time, I'll get to pulling it apart.