Hi all,
I noticed on my scope that the autofocus routine kept on failing. Being a remotely operated telescope I had to drive out to diagnose the fault. On inspection of the focuser motor it seemed the stepper motor was stalling (we all know that grinding sound) The output of the gearbox wasn't moving. I took the stepper motor home with me since I didn't have the right tools at the observatory. On inspection of the gearbox (removed from the stepper motor) I found that it was inconsistently jamming, like something was in the gearbox stopping the gearing from turning. This seemed strange since it is an enclosed system and it had been running perfectly for a few years now.
Has anyone encountered an issue with the planetary gearing and would you think that opening up the gearbox and giving it a good clean and regrease would be doable? I am not familiar with how these things are built, I would assume multiple planetary gears to increase the ratio.
thanks,
Andrew,
South Australia.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hi all,
I noticed on my scope that the autofocus routine kept on failing. Being a remotely operated telescope I had to drive out to diagnose the fault. On inspection of the focuser motor it seemed the stepper motor was stalling (we all know that grinding sound) The output of the gearbox wasn't moving. I took the stepper motor home with me since I didn't have the right tools at the observatory. On inspection of the gearbox (removed from the stepper motor) I found that it was inconsistently jamming, like something was in the gearbox stopping the gearing from turning. This seemed strange since it is an enclosed system and it had been running perfectly for a few years now.
Has anyone encountered an issue with the planetary gearing and would you think that opening up the gearbox and giving it a good clean and regrease would be doable? I am not familiar with how these things are built, I would assume multiple planetary gears to increase the ratio.
thanks,
Andrew,
South Australia.
Hi Andrew
Not something I could attest to seeing or hearing about.
Could ask supplier for a refund?