Hi Guys,
I spent many hours/days/weeks/months agonising over a "cheap" way to motorise my Sirius Dome. I came to the conclusion that "friction" driving the dome is frought with problems due to the way the Sirius wheels allow the dome to have considerable sideways movement. ie. It is not rigidly fixed in a "track"
This then meant a "gear" drive is needed. I could not find a local (Perth)source of toothed steel rails to install round the dome base, nor a cheap drive motor/gearbox. So, my final solution was to buy the Sirius Dome Rotation Kit. (Yep! Lots of $$$ !! but it sure works nicely!)
I then persued the issue of computer controlling the dome rotation drive via a home built interface PCB to the computer serial port. There is somewhat more to this than first meets the eye. Not only do you need to interface to the computer port but you also need logic to keep track of the dome position, travel direction etc., and most difficult (for me) write the software to communicate with the Ascom software.
In the end, I solved all the issues by convincing SWMBO ("she who must be obeyed") that I would have lots of extra time to help around the house if I just spent a few extra $$$ to purchase a Maxdome kit........and she bought it!!
Now it all works beautifully
Good luck guys...not an easy problem to solve.
Cheers, John