Hi guys I was wondering if someone can help me with stepper motor selection for a Sampson EQ mount. I acquired the mount on the weekend and I am in the process of refurbishing it. The mount doesn't have any drive at all not even manual drive, so I thought I would do something different for the drive system. I was thinking of either going with a friction drive or cogged belt drive as I want to eliminate PE as much as possible as the mount will be used for Astrophotography, and I don't want to go the traditional worm drive for that reason. The mount will be pier mounted which has 240v and 12v available. And I can get the parts machined locally for the friction or belt drive.
So my My questions are: has anyone here made a friction drive or Belt drive for an Eq mount like this? Which would be better? What ratios do I need for the drive? Do I need to use a particular Spec/make/model Stepper motor to get the best results? and finally can I use The sound Stepper system to drive this mount? How do Get the sound stepper system or Do I need to make the components myself? I no there are lots of Questions Guys But I thought this would be a good place to start. Oh and by the way an 8" Newt will be mounted on it. for now!
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Clive