[GC - South Aus]

G'day everyone,

Hope you are all well.

Firstly my apologies for the late update and reply to some of the comments, like most people I have been really busy with work, study and family. Unfortunately work and study have been keeping me from not only this project but observing too (however weather has been generally poor on average).

Brian, glad to hear that you are enjoying the project (hopefully there has been some better things on tv lately). By the way humble pie tastes horrible, but I am glad to see Port getting some good wins up lately. I was even at the Port and Roo's game recently, I must say it was one of the best games I have been to.

Brent, regarding the re-coating of the mirror. Yes this probably could be done but I am not aware of many places around where I live in South of Adelaide or what the cost maybe. Additionally, when comparing to some of the prices out there for not only 6" mirrors but whole OTA's, is it really worth it?

Matt, thanks for the comments mate. I too remember the old 74" telescope at Mt Stromlo. I was lucky enough to live in the ACT for a while and had the opportunity to get up there a couple of times.

Bosi, thanks for your ideas and offer of help. Shame you don't live in Adelaide as it would be good to have advice and other ideas, but this is why I chose to use this forum. I knew I could rely on the internet to keep us (i.e. astronomers) all together no matter how far we all are from each other.

Anyway. this is just a quick update to let you all know how things are progressing/fairing, which is not too great at the moment. The bad news is the mirror is no good at the moment and will require a recoat. This will mean that this (OTA) will have to go on the back burner for now. I would like to restore the mirror but don't have the cash at the moment and as stated previously it is not really worth it at the moment considering the current prices of 6" mirrors and OTA's.

The mount is now my priority and I have managed to source a Losmandy DDS system with G11 motors and I am hoping this will provide enough power to move this thing. Like I said in earlier posts even though it looks quite hefty it does move very effortlessly when pushed. The gears/worms are going to be the biggest issue I feel, this is in cost and placement. I would like to get some Ed Byers worm gears but they are pretty pricey (understandbly) due to their quality.

Anybody got any ideas for some cheaper but reasonable quality solutions?

I have got some ideas for placements and will post some images soon for comments.

Once again my apologies for the late entry and I will try to do better over the coming months (however I do have exams at Uni this month!).

Kind Regards & Clear Skies

Gavin