Had the privilege last year to obtain a mount from "Steve" from Menai. Believe he inherited it some 40 years previously from an engineer from Arncliffe?, who self constructed it possibly late 50's/early 60's? This GEM is based on 6" boilerpipe, 1-3/4" shafts. and Champion 20lb barbell weights. It was fitted on the RA with a worm drive handwheel/clutch and encoder "Astronautical Systems" who I believe were purchased (1962?) by US govt for NASA when they started. The encoder only has 12 wires coming from it! Also believe it may have had a 17" Newt on it of some larger f/ratio. Really needs 2 people to move it when broken down into 4 sections. Steve modified it some time ago to take a 12" Newt, and I have since modified it to take a 12" Dob conversion, then a 10" SCT, but now it seems the SCT will be swinging on an MI250 which will have several piers scattered about my domicile for best viewing nights. Really wanted gb44's Newt to live on it, but time/distance said otherwise. So now it will probably be on a quarry tiled area with a "Tardis" rollaway cover, and back to the 12" Newt. Currently being fitted with Nema24 24v motors and an #rDuino control system. Have always drooled as a youngster over Cave gear, so believe me Rick, you're blessed by the gods of Astro!
