Seems I need to readjust every year. Seems par for the course with MOST EQ mounts regardless of make. Grease goes hard or saponifies, tensions slack or tighten (depending on their nature). I find the RA locking nut tigthens MORE over time despite the 3 locking grub screws. It is one reason I flowed some Loctite onto the RA shaft threads to held stop this natural tendency to tighten with use.
Dec backlash is the main culprit. It's merely the 2 push screws coming loose from the worm carrier, or the tensioner pull screw loosening. Loctite again keeps this in check after adjustment. I used "medium" loctite last rebuild, but if I find the results acceptable, will use permanent Loctite on them all, just applied via capillary action onto the thread in situ.
I have been thinking of a way to utilise springs to alleviate this phenomenon, and think I have a solution. I am also considering belt driving it using a kit from Rowan Engineering (who also make a wide range of firearm parts and accessories incidentally - seem they too have understood the right hobbies
). They don't make a specific kit, so I will just use the parts from their HEQ5 kit and engineer the mounting plates myself.
Anyway, I might have another package inbound to Allan this week, so will need to make a run out to collect it. Will let you know.
