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Showing posts with the label convert

Autopsy of Old Telescope Mount

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I n order to convert my old GoTo telescope mount into a fully manual mount, I had to disassemble all the parts that made this mount a GoTo tracking mount.  This allowed me to more closely inspect these parts.  Mostly, this close inspection was simply out of curiosity but I also wanted to know what part(s) failed so I can help others who have this mount and encounter similar problems.   Disassembling the motor housings was the first problem (pictured at right).  It seemed that the screws holding the clamshell motor housings together were stripped.  I could not get a screwdriver to fit well enough so I could make any headway in removing these eight screws. Note:   I've since decided that the screw heads were not actually stripped.  I believe they were either screwed in too tightly or some sort of glue like Loctite was used to keep these screws firmly in place.  Instead, I decided to just remove the housings as a whole.  Once I had the housings off the mount with the motors and electr

Another Great Find

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I am always on the lookout for specific model trains in online auctions. (I have a long list of trains on my wish list!) Every month or two I find a few model trains that are on my list of trains that will work for my little fictional model railroad world I have designed and plan to build.  About two weeks ago, I found an auction for a few O scale  diesel locomotives. For those whom are not familiar with model train scales, trains in O scale are  Lionel-sized trains but these particular locomotives run on 2 rails rather than 3 rails. I've been on the lookout for a couple more of these locomotives so I can have a few on hand to use for parts. These trains are no longer in production so parts either need to be custom-made or salvaged from other locomotives. Now, here were four more of these F9 diesel locomotives.  The auction was to end in a week. I saved these locomotives to my eBay Watch List but, at the time, my interest wasn't fully there. I figured I would follow the au