I have had a TAL-2M gem for a few years and have been unhappy with the drive motor since it is a 12vac synchro motor with not much torque. Other than that it is a very robust mount that can easily handle 30 pound loads. I recently acquired the complete drive system from a Celestron CI700 that the owner had replaced with a goto option. I hoped that adapting it to my mount would be fairly easy as both mounts utilizes a 180 tooth worm wheel.
I finished the project yesterday and here are the results.
For those familiar with the TAl-2 it uses a tangent arm for the declination axis. I had to modify that to use ball bearings and a 1/4x20 lead screw so that the motor would be able to work properly.
I haven't had clear skies yet but so far it seems real smooth and the availability of pec, dec backlash adjustment, and an abundance of drive speeds and correction rates is a BIG plus!!
Walter
I finished the project yesterday and here are the results.
For those familiar with the TAl-2 it uses a tangent arm for the declination axis. I had to modify that to use ball bearings and a 1/4x20 lead screw so that the motor would be able to work properly.
I haven't had clear skies yet but so far it seems real smooth and the availability of pec, dec backlash adjustment, and an abundance of drive speeds and correction rates is a BIG plus!!
Walter
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