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on second thoughts.....
Haven't waited for anyone else's response (many would say that I've never let that stop me from barfing on before..!) but another of my earlier thoughts was to install a small motor drive with rubber roller that engages with the edge face of the dob's azimuth board under spring tension: perhaps using a friction layer from a strip of a sanding belt adhered to this edge to enhance power transfer.
A bit like the friction driver units on some self-propelled lawnmowers etc. The innate gearing of such a set-up would ensure quite precise discrete motion which could be enhanced further by a speed control unit and hand controller.....
As mentioned before, the altitude control would be far less of a problem, I am sure a ring-gear or somesuch could be created for this function.
Apologies for rabbitting on over the subject but these sort of "seat of pants" type projects seem to stir the ol' blood far more than the more sophisticated ones. I guess it's like getting out of a jam in the desert, when you've broken down and all you have is some pliers, fencing wire etc - which means you're a bit of a clown for driving around like that in the first place!
Cheers, Darryl.
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