3 - Synta HEQ5 - Stripping & Cleaning the Right Ascension (RA) Axis This procedure will guide you in stripping down and cleaning the HEQ5 Right Ascension axis. Re-assembly of the RA axis is covered HERE. To carry out this procedure you will need a good assortment of tools including cross head and Phillips screwdrivers, a rubber or nylon mallet, a soft toothbrush, degreasing agent, metric Allen keys, long nosed pliers, lots of lint free cloths and lithium grease. I found commercial degreasing agents somewhat ineffective and resorted to using good old hot soapy water. Lithium grease is easily available from shops selling bicycles. Its also advised to have a large soft towel or similar to lay the mount on while working on it to protect its external finish. I would strongly advise you do not attempt this procedure without reading it through a few times in advance to understand the process. The procedure takes around 2 hours from top to bottom unless you are very confident of what you are doing and have exactly the right tools. Its definitely best to have someone around to help you with some elements of it - remember take your time and when in doubt STOP and think. Take a break when tired because you dont want to bodge anything. The DEC and RA worm gear adjustment process required after re-assembly can be quite lengthy as its very much trial and error so bear this in mind before starting and allow plenty of time to carry out the procedure - it will pay dividends in terms of smooth and precise running and longevity of the mount. Stage 1 - Stripping the RA Axis Remove the polar scope cover. Remove the polar scope. You may need to grip it with a wrench - if so wrap a cloth around the polar scope to protect it. Alternately use some masking tape to protect the scope. Once loosened simply unscrew the polar scope and place it somewhere safe.       Remove the silver Phillips screw in the RA lock lever. Remove the lock lever. You may need to prise this up by using the tip of a flat bladed screwdriver and gently twisting the tip - see the Declination strip down procedure for a picture of this. Remove the brass RA lock bolt. You may need to use a small spanner or pliers. Also remove the small brass button beneath the lock bolt. If this is hard to do leave it -it can be removed easily later in the procedure.       Unscrew the 6 Phillips screws around the plastic motor cover. Remove the motor cover and lay it aside with its screws. Slacken the two lock screws on the polarscope mounting plate.       Now remove the polarscope mounting plate by unscrewing it. You can use either some snipe nosed pliers to locate into the holes OR a pair of small/medium Phillips screw drivers or similar OR a pair of small Allen keys. Loosen and remove the RA setting circles lock nut. Now remove the RA setting circle. It should just slip off.       Loosen the three lock screws set around the large circular aluminium nut. Unscrew and remove the circular nut. You may need a wrench to do this - if so be careful of the polar-scope mounting plate threads. Alternately use a pair of flat bladed screwdrivers or similar to apply even pressure using the slots in the nut - do this with care. Once removed observe the tapered bearing. It may come out at this point - if not it can be removed easily after the following step. Remove the main RA Unit (right) from the base (left). The Alt-Az base contains a bearing which will most likely not remove easily. Leave it in-situ but clean the bearing and the Alt-Az internal area and grease the bearing face with lithium grease. Note: At this point the small brass button for the RA locking lever will be easy to push out if you were unable to extract it earlier.     Remove the tapered bearing from the polarscope end of the RA axis. Here's the RA axis removed - naturally it also has the DEC axis as part of it. Note the red washer on top of the worm gear. Make sure this is kept safe and is replaced during re-assembly. Unscrew the power panel. Its attached using two Phillips screws.       Shift the power panel slightly. Be careful not to pull too hard as it has wires which connect to the main board inside the RA main housing. Loosen the worm engagement set-screw located behind the power panel. Loosen the worm engagement set screw opposite the power panel and above the Declination scale.     Remove the 3 cap headed bolts (silve coloured) from the worm carrier. Remove the worm carrier.. Remove the brass worm gear making sure the small red washer is kept aside.       Remove the roller bearings from the brass worm gear. They should slip out easily.       Stage 2 - Stripping the Worm Carrier Remove the brass drive gear from the end of the worm. This has two set screws and may need to be pulled off using some blunt nosed pliers. Do not lever this off as it can be easily damaged. The worm is held into the carrier by two 'float' adjusters. These require a special tool BUT can be removed by using a pair of small screwdrivers. Insert the drivers into the small slot and rotate using even pressure. Remove only ONE of the float adjusters. Remove the worm itself. You will notice it has two small bearings, these can be removed. One of the bearings is shown in the picture in the bottom right hand corner. Note the worm adjustment set screws. You will need to adjust these at the end of re-assembly.       Stage 3 - Cleaning & Lubrication With a clean lint free cloth wipe all of the oil from the components. On my mount the roller bearings were sealed and appeared to be well lubricated so were left alone. The tapered bearing had almost no lubrication and so was cleaned and reblubricated with lithium grease. To lubricate bearings put a blob of grease onto the palm of your hand and press the bearing into it and then rotate the bearings around forcing the grease into the inside of the bearing. The brass worm gears and steel worm should all be cleaned in a degreasing agent. I personally find really hot water and a basic detergent works best. These were cleaned with a soft toothbrush and the rinsed and left to dry. All of the gears showed either little lubrication and/or engineering swarf present. The picture to the left shows the brass worm gear and its roller bearings and the steel worm. The motor gear, brass RA lock nut and small roller bearings from the worm assembly aren't shown.     That completes strip down of the Right Ascension axis. If you wish to go to the re-assembly guide click HERE or go back to the main page HERE