Rod sorry to hear about your problem , hope Bintel can sort it out quickly for you so you can get back out there, i came close to breaking the cord as well when i first used it , the cord got lodged under a arm and nearly squeezed in to the base while revolving . Cant add much because i think everything has been covered but just say make sure you have the tube centred in between the hard stops before undergoing alignment procedures and if you can train and calbrite your drives/sensors . You might find this little mod handy for your coarse focusing ......
http://www.users.bigpond.com/lansma/...ocuser_mod.htm