GEM servicing.

[JohnH]

I have had my mount for about 3 years and it is running well however I was wondersing how frequently folks recommend a clenn and service for this type of gear? Do you do it yourself of send it to a shop? What should I pay for a service/clean/lube? Can you recommend a good workshop in Sydney?

[netwolf]

JohnH if you can find a DIY plan on the net its not all that hard to do. My mates and I did our G-11's together in one afternoon. But the Vixen is a much more enclosed beast, have you ever found any instruction on pulling it appart.

From a shop point of view i Think Bintel might be the best in Sydney. Though they dont sell Vixen (to the best of my knoweldge), there guys there sure know a heck of a lot about scopes. The only other chap is the dealer from HK who often visits Sydney. William is a member here his old website is
http://www.geocities.com/tatsco/. I know he ventures down to Australia quiet a bit and maybe you can get his help on this, even if its instructions. I have found him to be remarkably helpfull.

Regards
Fahim

[JohnH]

Hi Fahim, yes well I can do a little tinkering/adjusting myself but a complete stripdown, clean, re-lube and re-assemble is something I am no happy to do. I do not have the relevant gear to measure or set tolernaces (eg feeler gagues) or torque wrench or any idea what gaps or torques should be set where - there is no workshop manual available as far as I know and details on the web are patchy so I am not really happy to have a go at a full service myself - so the question really boils down to this - is the general advice - if it is working leave it alone or is a there an amount of PM required to keep a GEM happy? If you do PM is that periodic or based on number of hrs of use?. From my inspection for example the grease appears to have migrated to the worm shafts from the gear teeth, pretty sure it is not doing any good there...