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Worm Gear Adjustment, Motor Removal/Installation, Misc.
| 5 – Synta EQ6/Orion Atlas / Motor Engagement for RA and DEC Axis |
The worm setting procedure – especially for the RA axis is very hit and miss and you will probably need to go through it several time to find the ‘sweet spot’ where there is both no play in the mount and the RA motor can turn the mount smoothly with no motor stall or gear binding.
Play / tension in the mounts axis are controlled by three elements. The worm carrier set screws, the end float adjusters and, to a lesser extent, the motor engagement. If you are having problems with a binding motor its best to slacken the motor away altogether. Get a good setting on the worm carrier set screws and only then tighten the motor back down. This symptom will show if all appears well UNTIL the cap headed screws are tightened down. If this happens then the motor is installed too tightly causing the motor gear and the worm gear to bind.
| EQ6/Atlas Worm Engagement for DEC Axis |
and...........
Note: You should loosen and tighten these screws
by approximately 1 quarter of a turn each time.
ANY PLAY STOPS.
Note: You should loosen and tighten these screws
by approximately 1 quarter of a turn each time.
tight.
If binding occurs you will need to readjust the set screws. This can be a long process to get the perfect balance between no play in the axis and smooth motor running.
| EQ6/Atlas Worm Engagement for RA Axis |
and...........
Note: You should loosen and tighten these screws
by approximately 1 quarter of a turn each time
ANY PLAY STOPS.
Note: You should loosen and tighten these screws
by approximately 1 quarter of a turn each time
tight.
If binding occurs you will need to readjust the set screws. This can be a long process to get the perfect balance between no play in the axis and smooth motor running.
The set screws that you adjust bear againts two brass blocks inside the mount under the worm carriers. The diagram above shows the layout of the running gear inside the worm carrier.
It's essential when you play with the set screws that you always slacken the opposing set screw off to prevent damage to the mount.
| EQ6/Atlas Motor Gear Removal and Adjustment |
As part of the complete strip down guide I removed the motors and the motor control board from this mount. This isn’t really necessary for a conventional strip down but given the mounts history of poor periodic error performance I needed to make sure the motor gear was OK and that there were no problems.
In fact the motor gear, like the rest of the mount, was suffering almost no lubrication. This step can be necessary after a rebuild to reseat the motors. Cleaning up the over painting on the worm carriers can reduce the distance between the gears enough to cause the gear works to become too tight with the result that the motors will bind and stall.
CAUTION Take suitable static precautions as the motor boards on these mounts are reputed to be very fragile.
| Q6/Atlas Altitude Movement |
The mount used for the rebuild in this guide had no problems with its altitude bearings. Altitude bearing problems will show when the mount will rock in its altitude no matter how tight the altitude adjusters are locked down.
As the process of adjusting these can be destructive to the mounts trim and no problems were observed with this mount these were left alone. Consult the HEQ5 guide HERE for instructions as to how to adjust these. The HEQ5 and EQ6 are similar in this respect.