Mounting: Moving the RA wormwheel 1.

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Monday: A bright and sunny but frosty day.

First I used the new pulley hoist to remove the folded OTA and stand it on the crate with the focuser safely inside.

Then I dragged both folding stepladders back up to the observatory floor. Where they were opened out and lashed together at the top. Ratchet straps were used as securing guy lines out to the steering wheel brackets. By erecting the ladders E-W across the observatory floor I could still close the shutters if needed. Previously with a N-S ladder arrangement I needed to remove the top crossbars to close the shutters.

I then used the new block and tackle to lift the heavy chain hoist and its burden of chains. To be safely hooked over a 1T lifting strop which was wrapped around the tops of the ladders for further security. Another lifting strop was wrapped around the mounting and further secured with cord against any chance of slippage. All well practiced previously. The mounting weighs a good couple of hundred pounds and destroyed a B&D professional workbench!

Once the mounting was lifted very slightly the base fork's 16mm, altitude bearing and clamping stud could be tapped out through the PA housing. Now the mounting could be lifted completely clear of the fork and on upwards. To be further secured to the tops of the stepladders with cord and more ratchet straps. Not that the chain hoist is likely to give way with its rating much higher than the mounting's weight.

I then removed the central 16mm [5/8"] azimuth pivot stud to allow the base fork to be removed and lifted down manually off the pier. The round base plate was pushed to the southern edge, marked and then I drilled a new, 16mm, azimuth pivot hole. I gained only 40mm [1.5"] mounting movement to the south. Not a lot but worth having for vital dome rim clearance when longer telescopes are pointing low down to the south. The long, straight tubed, 7" f/12 refractor needed a star diagonal just to be used at lower altitudes. I could not place my head behind the bare focuser when looking south over a wide arc.

Now I need to re-drill and tap new threads to fix the fork tines firmly to the rectangular base plate. The square section, PA housing sits tightly and is firmly clamped between the tines so they cannot possibly tip sideways. That is as far as I managed to get before I drove off to collect my "observatory" clock after its badly missed delivery. By 30km or 20 miles!

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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