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Worm Lubrication
The following webpage, done by
Jeff Lunglhofer of Night Sky Photography, was sent to us. It has been edited slightly
for content. For all of you with a HGM Titan telescope mount, or anyone else that uses a telescope, if want to view the full page with pictures and other great information, please visit his website at:
http://www.nightskyphotography.com/titan_tips/WormLubrication.htm
There are many good lubes that can be used on the gears of your telescope. Cleanliness prior to lubricating is very important. Dirt or foreign particles can lead to premature gear wear and problems in guiding. Don't let it get there in the first place. Several lubes have been mentioned on the user groups including Brand X grease. So that is what I used when I had my worm box off. You do not need to completely hide the gear teeth with the lube. Don't do it. That's way too much. Just a small amount all the way around. Apply it with a popsicle stick or toothpick or plastic pointer. Metal objects against the teeth may cause damage.
I was very disappointed with Brand X.
I'm unsure of the frequency required but my guess is that once a year should suffice. If you operate in a hot climate, the melting temperature of the lube would be very important. In a cold environment, the lube should retain its viscosity characteristics. So in selecting a lube, and the lubricating intervals, the viscosity vs. temperature range should be considered when deciding what lube you should use.
Well, I couldn't leave it for now. I did some searching on the Meade Mapug group and came up with some interesting grease. The advertised temperature range is fantastic and it comes in a neat plastic syringe. Not knowing how much 12ml is, I ordered and received 3 syringes. I planned on re-greasing my worms the next day and I was anxious to know if the stuff would perform in temperature as advertised. So I put a small dab on a piece of aluminum foil and into the toaster oven at 250F and let it stay there for about 30 minutes. The rest of the syringe was put into a baggie and in the freezer until the next morning. THIS STUFF IS GREAT. When I removed the dab from the oven, absolutely no sign of melting. In the morning, I retreived the rest from the freezer and applied a dab to a paper. It came out as it did before going into the freezer. So I cleaned my worms, (got rid of the Brand X kids stuff), and greased them with the Hi-Slip stuff. I like this grease a lot and I'm glad I purchased 3 of them. One syringe is more than enough to grease both worm and gear assemblies.
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