Here is the driver and hand control in one box connected up to the stepper and it works.... Sidereal rate with a pot to increase or decrease the speed and 20x slew rate, not that fast but if I want more its muscle power and watch the cursor move on an ipad or watch the numbers on the Argo Navis unit.
Now to work out how to attach the worm gear to the mount...
Now it is the RA 's turn for attention. Have moved the rear bearing up over the pivot point and have cut a solid base instead of two smaller bits. Stiffer and now there is a base to bolt a brake on the shaft, a polar scope and encoder for DSC's.
Now working out the worm block, might go under, in the traditional spot or might be on top...
I haven't been on IIS much lately. Pleased to see progress on your mount - it looks great.
One thing I don't understand. It looks like those universal joints drive the tangent arm from a manual twist knob. Your controller looks like a two axis controller. Why not motorize the tangent arm using the dec control from the AWR controller?
The universal joints operate the clamp around the Dec axis, there are two of these 180º's apart. I do have a a few stepper motors that could be put on the tangent and I might just do that. Hadn't thought that far ahead
New is the RA worm block is in place, and now working on mounting the RA motor. Wanna get this baby finished as much as possible before Christmas.
With luck I might get it on a tripod with my 6" f12 on top and test it out.
I just hope the supplied stepper on the RA is up to the task...the same stepper as the Losmandy G11 uses...works on the Gaunt, will find out in due course.
Hi Lee,
I know there are cheaper PB bearings out there. I chose these for the compact size as well as the 50mm shaft size. There wasn't a lot of choice at the 2" shaft size. 2" is massive in real life The bearings with bolts on the outsiude were all wider than the standard 160mm Aluminium flat bar I used, which is why I went for compact. I didn't expect the SS shafts or the qd bushes to cost as much as they did either Cest la vie
1.5" would have been cheaper but was too close to the 1 1/8" size of the Gaunt mount.
Ah ok, cool, thanks :-) 50mm shaft does seem very large, I'll probably aim more for about half that if I ever get around to starting mine.
Updates looking good, and you must be excited being close to finishing up if the Christmas target is still on schedule.
I have got the motor on and running. Yep it works...phew. Had my fingers crossed so Im happy so far. Seems to be at sidereal rate as far as I can tell on the bench. Slip clutch works too...really well. I need to find somewhere to put the wires and connector block and a panel mounted 6 pin female plug too, rather than the plug it has now.
Altitude adjustment is via the bolts holding the discs on the front of the mount, so friction only. Its a tight fit as is but to be safe I'll add a threaded rod that will go under the inner part (the bit with the pillow blocks on it) and should then hold the lot secure and do double duty as a fine Alt adjustment.
A couple mote photos.
1. My ugly..for now...motor mount.
2. The worm from the back. The worm block is screwed to a 6mm plate that is has a small amount of adjustment to get the worm to sit as close as I can get, to perfection.
Edit: The second photo makes the worm block look askew...its a camera angle thing it is square on.
A few years ago I built a tripod that has been sitting around doing nothing since. I have thought of putting this mount on it For a bit of fun here it is. Still a long way to go, but getting closer all the time. A wooden pier is my first choice or possibly the Victorian style lamp post idea. This is a good height for the 6" f12 frac compared to the Gaunt, which is a bit low for Zenith viewing.
As the weeks roll on bit by bit more gets done on this project.
The Byers gear is in perfect position...no binding anywhere just a smooth as silk, a piece of machinery that is worth worth every cent spent on it... and then some I decided to add some wood to the mount and what better than Vic Ash...though I prefer Merbu (spelling?) A bit to fill out the spot between the RA gear and PB bearing and the RA brake too, encased in Brass.
Other than brake on the RA shaft, should I need it, new is the RA encoder brackets for DSC's. Built much along the line of the Gaunt's brackets which adjust every which way, to ensure perfect meshing
The Dec axis gets the same bracket for the 10K encoders.
I have no plans to cover the RA gear and electrics yet, other than the long term one of a dome at some stage. Thanks for the appreciative comments from everyone...keep 'em coming
Not long til I can get a scope up on this for a test run...fingers crossed
Well...actually there is a fair bit still to be done before I can attempt that one
Brian...me 'ol refractor mate good to hear from you
Bit of a big build this is. Have spent a while drilling and tapping my way around the mount in all sorts of places. Have finished (nearly) the encoder brackets. The Dec bracket needed a bit more support and instead of an ugly 90º bracket I made up a steampunk bracket...naturally. When this baby is painted black the brass will stand out
I have put a ruler next to it for scale. Its around 30" or 760mm high and around the same in length....big in other words. Still to do the 6 pin connectors at the back, not long to go.
The 6" f12 frac is going to have to wait a while. First track...to coin a phrase, took place last night. For the first time ever I wasn't working on the ASV Messier Star Party, or any ASV event for that matter, but missed it due to the more important (to me) try out of this mount. Was I happy or what....the Byers gear and worm is brilliant. Super smooth is all I can say....impressed. It tracks good and slews at the touch of a button. My tangent arm is pretty good too. A bit of backlash exists in the cylinder block, not being the tightest of constructions, but I had to go with what I could build. It does move the scope both ways really well though.
Thanks to Steve Lee, I have bought a 10" Mathis gear slipclutch and worm that will replace the tangent arm at some stage...GOTO is a possibility later on in the future.
Photo shows my 10" OOUK Newt on my temporary 'Pier' which is really the box I put my battery on when using the Gaunt. With this set up focusing is dead easy...a little wobble coming from the wooden box....this will be rock solid on a proper Pier or Tripod....leaning toward a Pier at this stage.
An 8/9" Refractor or 12+" Classic Cass would be perfect for this mount....does it ever end?
Cheers Matty It's all your fault for selling the Gaunt in the first place...I'm happy to say.
I have now put my 6" f12 Istar ATM on the mount and it looks good, tracks good,slews good. The tangent backlash is more than I wanted so will make the decision to re make the 2 cylinders in the square housing or ditch the lot and go with the 10" Mathis gear and stepper motor later.
I'm trying to imagine how this will look on a 5' or so high pier.....
so I don't need no crane no more 
The bearings with bolts on the outsiude were all wider than the standard 160mm Aluminium flat bar I used, which is why I went for compact. I didn't expect the SS shafts or the qd bushes to cost as much as they did either 
Cest la vie 
I decided to add some wood to the mount and what better than Vic Ash...though I prefer Merbu (spelling?) A bit to fill out the spot between the RA gear and PB bearing and the RA brake too, encased in Brass. 
