[Paul Haese]

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Seeing as you had trouble with your gearing it would seem most likely to be something to do with that adjustment. Its taken the heavier weight of the 12 inch to show it perhaps.

I haven't heard that alarm and the CDK17 is quite heavy.

I take it you are balanced and no guide scope on top?

I'd say you are on the right track. A post to PME support forum may be the go.

Greg.

The former issue was my thinking too. I figure the spring plungers were not set up properly when the mount had the new worm installed either.
Yes I am balanced and no guide scope either. Good point about the PME support forum.

Originally Posted by frolinmod

Make sure the balance knobs are functioning smoothly and correctly as well. Easy to do while you're in there checking the spring plungers.

That's shocking that you have to run your spring plungers only 1/2 turn backed off. That's very tight! So tight that I'd think it would cause binding. I hope you did a good job greasing the gears with Lubriplate. I have a comparatively light load (an EdgeHD 14 and stuff) and can run mine at 2-1/2 turns backed off.

Don't forget to check for binding through the mount cabling.

Oh, I think you already know all this stuff, but gosh, what else could possibly go wrong?

Earnie the balance knobs are really smooth. I can back them off more but only went to 1/2 a turn back off from tight.

Yep lots of lubriplate, but it might be time for some more too.

Only place I did not check for binding in the mount was on the Dec shaft.

No problem about things going wrong. I have learnt from long experience that little problems help teach things that need to be learnt.

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

The spring takes up the tension, and the manual recommends backing off 1/10th of a turn to prevent binding (yes, RTFM )

.... it also says 1 and a half turns will totally disengage the worm...hence not sure where that 2 and a half turn suggestion came from

I'd also be checking lubrication, and double checking balance.

Also simply turning the mount off for a hour...letting things cool...and re-homing can work wonders.

Thanks for chiming in Peter. Yeah I have RTFM a few times, but thought it was a knob tick or two.

I will check the balance again, but I am sure this is good. Mind you I went over that pretty late last night and could have missed just a fraction or two.

Maybe some more lube, though it did look alright when I had the inspection plate off last night. That said, double checking has everything to be gained.

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I'll get back to you when I find the culprit or I get stumped.