I have been consulting with experts over the last two weeks, about how to fix our big telescope and make it usable.
It has a problem with the slow-motion drive on the declination axis. The screw thread and rack section drive, no longer mesh properly. So the dec drive does not work.
We decided last week, to replace the drive with a new worm wheel and worm set, to be supplied by Beaconhill telescopes in Louth, Lincs.
But careful dial-gauge measurement, revealed a run-out on the dec axle (‘wobble’), which would jeopardise the smooth working of the worm.
So we were back at square one.
The final solution remains distant in the future.
But we have found a stop-gap.
We will re-vitalise an alternative dec slow-motion control, which was fitted to the telescope decades ago.. It should help us get the telescope working, soon.