Jammed the mount while slewing

[vic4loc (Victor)]

A couple of nights ago, while slewing I didnt notice my guider cable got caught on the external accessories tray, it jammed the mount while slewing and I heard these loud gear jarring noise. I stopped it after about 3 seconds.

I did try to slew it again and it worked smoothly with no noticeable funny noises or gear damage. I tried a quick 2 min guided tracking and imaging and it seems to worked fine.

Have I damaged the worm gears? is there anyway to open and check?


Victor.

[multiweb (Marc)]

What mount is it? I reckon something else would give before you damage the gears. You need some serious torque to strip the meshing.

[leon]

You were probably lucky you actually heard the jarring noise, which gave you time to stop it before some damage was done.

It should be fine, how many times do people crunch the gears in their car if they drive a manual and all still works with no damage.

Leon

[bojan]

You didn't damage anything: the motors simply stalled because they do not have nearly enough torque for anything like that.
The (horrible!) sound produced was just clicking teeth of transfer gears..

Of course, it doesn't mean you should do it again on purpose!

[Steffen]

I jammed my HEQ5 mount once or twice while adjusting the gear mesh and worm alignment. The frightening grinding sound actually comes from the stalled stepper motor itself. The gears don't have enough play to slip, and the motor doesn't have enough power to strip their teeth.

Cheers
Steffen.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

My Ioptron IEQ45 has spring loaded worms to hold them against the wheels , a good design feature in case something like this happens to avoid any damage to either.
Sounds like you were lucky stopping it in time .
Brian.

[vic4loc (Victor)]

Thanks all for the replies, its comforting to know that damage may be minimal. Sorry not to mention what mount it is, it's the HEQ5.

I have to say, the sound is horribly loud! must have woken all the birds in the trees around as I heard flapping noises of the birds, and the neighbours

Victor.

[Steffen]

The slewing noise of the HEQ5 can be reduced substantially with some TLC. I replaced the lubricant and adjusted the gear mesh (and especially the play in the transfer gear "bearing"). The mount is much quieter now, even though it still has its resonances at certain speeds.

Cheers
Steffen.

EDIT Oh, you were referring to the noise it makes when you stall it… That one is terrible, I agree. Hopefully not heard very often

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Bad sound ! , but as you can see in my sig , I have an HEQ5 under my Istar 127mm , in NZ I have another one under a Saxon 150mm f8 refractor and this one handles it as well , good strong mounts in all ways and I have heard that noise , mine was the dreaded 'Leg Clash' at 3am ..... .The noise.. ,,
The noise you heard would have been motor noise I hope , not mechanical .
but its a sweet design that's built into most electric motor's today .

Brian.

Originally Posted by vic4loc

Thanks all for the replies, its comforting to know that damage may be minimal. Sorry not to mention what mount it is, it's the HEQ5.

I have to say, the sound is horribly loud! must have woken all the birds in the trees around as I heard flapping noises of the birds, and the neighbours

Victor.

[astro_nutt]

I've experienced some horrible noises on my homemade mount also. I use a Tamaya brand 4201 to 1 reduction gearbox and motor for the Azimuth drive. A feature of this gearbox is the ratchet clutch built into the first gear from the worm drive off the motor. Should I jam the drive, the ratchet clutch will slip so no damage is done to any part of the drive, thank goodness!