I'm hoping someone could give me some input on a "thump" I started occasionally hearing when the RA drive is slewing. It only happens occasionally at both at high slew speed and slower speed say 0.25°/sec. I haven't noticed it during normal tracking. It sounds to me like a gear skipping the FOV shakes dramatically and the goto is definately off. The scope is still under the 1 year warranty bought it in Jan 04.
I sure would appreciate some basic knowledge about known problems before I call Meade (not-so)Tech Support. Anyone ever had this or a similar problem? Also should I wait to call until it is happening consistantly? It happened 4-5 times in say 4 hours observing. I would hate to send it out and they can't reproduce the problem then I get it back and it happens. Or would I be shooting myself in the foot by waiting (more damage)? I suspect I know the answer to this last question (no) but would meade cover the shipping for a defect in the first year? Your advice is greatly appreciated!!
Thanks Craig, I checked out the spur gears I found a very slight play in the spur gear lifting it in a up/down motion. But I'd say 80-90% of the gears remained overlpped when lifted. I'm not sure if this much play would cause it to skip teeth. I didn't see any evidence of tooth grinding. I now understand why folks get bucks gears though. That plastic sure does look cheap!! I know what I am doing when my 1 year warranty runs out.
I'll wait until after my next session and will call Meade if it does it again. Also I'm going to call OPT and see if they have suggestions.
Did you check to see if the set screws in the gears were tight? The problem (if thats it) is when the scope gets into certain positions the added torque causes the gears to spin on their shafts. The set screws need to be very tight.
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