Autopsy of Old Telescope Mount
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