Hi All,

I have owned my scope since new about 3 years ago and until recently, it has
provided trouble free service. As you will see, I am not a very good LX200
mechanic, so I hoping that members of this knowledge pool will respond and
put me on the path to resolving my problem. I am offering some telescope
information, a brief history and a complete description of problem symptoms.
I thank all in advance for reading this post and I thank all for any
assistance you can offer.

TELESCOPE - LX200 10". Owned since new approx. 3 years. 3.34 software.

HISTORY - Absolutely no problems until this past Fall. At that time I
suddenly found that I had a pointing problem. Contacted Meade and they
diagnosed the problem to be electronic in nature. Meade sent me printed
instructions in the removal of all electronic components and requested that
I mail same to them with customary flat rate fee. I carried out all
instructions with no problem. About 30 days later, I received the repaired
components from Meade and installed them into my LX200. The pointing
problem was solved...but I found another unexpected problem. This is the
problem which I wish to solve:

PROBLEM - Slewing in RA, the motor had a more labored sound then ever
before. I found this to be the case as the scope slewed from west to east
more so than from east to west. At times, there would be a slight groaning
sound and the slewing rate would seem to slow down. On 3 separate
occasions, the scope would stop slewing before it reached its destination
(as though it was binding)...the ammeter would be almost pegged. On these
occasions, I found that if I gently nudged the fork, the motor would start
up again and continue slewing until it reached its target.

I later telephoned Meade for some instruction but the tech I spoke to was
not very helpful...maybe he was having a bad day. He instructed me to
remove the RA motor/drive, loosen the tension on the hinge by 1/4 turn
counter clockwise, reinstall drive/motor and try again. He told me that if
this did not solve my problem, I should mail the entire scope back to Meade
with another flat rate fee for repair. This problem, he thought, was
mechanical in nature.

I removed RA motor/drive and backed off 1/4 turn counter clockwise on allen
screw located on end of hinge and reinstalled. This produced 2 other
problems which I don't understand and this is where I stopped. There now
appears to be play (never noticed this before) in the RA axis when RA lock
is in locked position and the RA control knob does not work...it free wheels
as though it is not engaged.

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