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Question Linear belts are falling apart
24 Sep 2021 19:28 - 25 Sep 2021 19:35 #682
by jarno_c
Linear belts are falling apart was created by jarno_c
Recently I started noticing that guiding and tracking in the RA direction were showing strange behaviour. Then one night the RA axis stopped responding completely. I thought this was an Asiair bug so I sent the mount to the home position to reset everything. The mount then started to make a grinding noise so I immediately aborted the slew and went inside to inspect the mount. When I opened it up a handful of debris came falling out. To my shock one of the belts had completely disintegrated:
Upon further inspection the other belts are showing cracks and damage too:
This is in both the RA and DEC axis but only the yellow belts are affected, not the larger transparent belt. The mount is approximately 5 years old, has never been overloaded or suffered impacts, and is always stored and transported in a Pelican case with foam inlay. I asked another Avalon user to check his mount, and he's seeing cracks in the belts as well: At the right you can see the other type of belt which has no damage at all. This indicates that there's a quality issue with the yellow type of belt.
I contacted Avalon support and at first I was told that the mount had to be shipped back to Italy which is expensive and risky, and only after return of the mount would I be given a repair cost. Since this is obviously a production error in the belts I would have expected this to be a warranty issue, even if the mount is (just) out of the warranty period - especially since this is a 5K mount and Avalon is proudly exclaiming how long the belts will last. I replied that I can't agree with this since the shipping costs will be a multiple of what the belts will cost. Avalon then replied that they can send the belts to me, for a "mere" 98 euro per axis, excluding VAT and shipping. These are fairly standard tooth belts with MXL profile which cost a few euro's each but even if they were 10 euro each, total cost would be just 60 euros.
I am extremely disappointed by the lack of support from Avalon and the grossly inflated prices for these belts, especially considering that this is obviously a quality / manufacturing issue. I recommend that everyone inspects the belts in their Avalon mount for this type of cracks and request replacement belts if necessary.
Jarno
Upon further inspection the other belts are showing cracks and damage too:
This is in both the RA and DEC axis but only the yellow belts are affected, not the larger transparent belt. The mount is approximately 5 years old, has never been overloaded or suffered impacts, and is always stored and transported in a Pelican case with foam inlay. I asked another Avalon user to check his mount, and he's seeing cracks in the belts as well: At the right you can see the other type of belt which has no damage at all. This indicates that there's a quality issue with the yellow type of belt.
I contacted Avalon support and at first I was told that the mount had to be shipped back to Italy which is expensive and risky, and only after return of the mount would I be given a repair cost. Since this is obviously a production error in the belts I would have expected this to be a warranty issue, even if the mount is (just) out of the warranty period - especially since this is a 5K mount and Avalon is proudly exclaiming how long the belts will last. I replied that I can't agree with this since the shipping costs will be a multiple of what the belts will cost. Avalon then replied that they can send the belts to me, for a "mere" 98 euro per axis, excluding VAT and shipping. These are fairly standard tooth belts with MXL profile which cost a few euro's each but even if they were 10 euro each, total cost would be just 60 euros.
I am extremely disappointed by the lack of support from Avalon and the grossly inflated prices for these belts, especially considering that this is obviously a quality / manufacturing issue. I recommend that everyone inspects the belts in their Avalon mount for this type of cracks and request replacement belts if necessary.
Jarno
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