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Thanks All for your comments
I did find a few posts on CN about the HEQ5 RA motion being ok on one side and stiffer on the other plus a great YouTube clip where a guy demonstrated an inherent problem with the rotation of the mount in RA
His HEQ5 has an identical problem as mine and others on IIS
He pulled the whole mount apart literally and showed the issues along the way
Yes most of the problem is in the quality and precision of the design and parts used
The main bearings and the small worm gear shaft bearings are the main problem. They have too much slop and play when fitted on the shafts, he demonstrated the amount of movement which was evident. The ring gear is not the main issue as they can be adjusted to some degree to remove some out of tolerance play
When he rebuilt the mount he used new quality bearings, reused the old worm gear shafts and ring gear plus use a high quality lithium grease
When finished the mount it rotated perfectly in RA and DEC using only two fingers , free wheeling in other words right around
The mount was powered up and it ran smoothly and a lot quieter
He said the total cost was about $900 plus his time ( 3 days )
Since the mounts are only worth $1300 is it is worth the bother
He never mention about tracking or guiding performance
So the stiff RA rotation boils down to cheap poor quality bearings and possibly poor installation as he found a lot of muck in the mount when he pulled it apart ( probably from the factory in China )
At the end of the day even though these HEQ5 mounts do a reasonably good job and are extremely popular , they are entry level mounts for AP compared to what’s on the market
Thanks again
Cheers
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