thanks Marcus. That was all ok.
So what have I done. Well today I stripped the mount right down to get to the homing sensor. I had read on the SB forum that grease or oil on the homing sensor could cause this problem. Besides I would turn on the mount and it would read the Dec axis but fail on the RA, so I had to do something.
I have a video of what a PME looks like stripped down (LOL I can imagine the cringing going on
) just to get to the homing sensor in the RA. Luckily it was not the Dec sensor as that is a lot harder to get into.
As it turned out there was some of grease/oil residue on the homing sensor and the internal gear wheel. I ran a paper towel over the internal wheel through the hole several times and ran the RA from horizon to horizon manually. That cleared out all the oil residue. I figure the oil is the 105 grease that has separated over the last 12 months and it has ran down the back of the gear and then run down the internal wheel (not the right term but whatever holds the gear in place as it is honey combed and aluminum). I also then took to giving the sensor a good cleaning. Only using paper towel and nothing else. Then it took me an hour to put the mount back together. That included adjusting the drive assembly, including tension of belts and centering of worm gear so that everything ran smoothly.
Once it was all back together I did a couple of tests before closing the hatches and it all homed correctly and started up fine. Then when I went to park the scope it once again stopped. Disgusted I simply turned the balance knob so it was looser and it has been fine ever since.
I did a 250 point Tpoint model (after several PA runs because I had to move the elevation to get into the mount) and it is pointing really well (but that could always be better). My target tonight is dead center of the sensor so that is near perfect for me. Nice to have this thing running again and without stopping every 5 minutes or so. I will do a few more nights with the TSA before going back to the RC.
I will post the video in the next day or so.
PS, pretty soon I will have worked on every part of this mount and done a crash course on how to service them. If I get it working really well I will put my shingle out. It might be cheaper than sending it back to the states for those that need their mounts serviced.
