[kinetic (Steve)]

Towards the end of an imaging set last night the
DEC axis jumped out of mesh.

The cause???

I think the cause may have been flexure of the counterweight
shaft which made the gear drive slightly out of mesh for
quite a while.
This might be due to the CW shaft being only 16mm rod.
Most of the weights are at shorter extensions most of the time.
Because I have added an ED80 recently to ride atop the OTA, the weight set
has been further down the CW shaft, as much as 4" further than
it's normal position. This may have been enough flex to drive the DEC
worm slightly out of mesh.
Solution...make the CW shaft from something more substantial maybe.

As a temp fix I spun the chewed out worm gear section to a 'retirement'
spot 180° away from the mesh point. Greased up and back in business.
As the DEC axis functions mainly in Push TO mode, the only section of
DEC that I ever seem to use is a narrow bit for slight corrections
either side of an imaging field. (In GOTO mode I would have to rely on the
entire worm gear circumference though).

Steve