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| Place the mount on a soft,
static free surface. Remove the 6 screws around the motor cover. |
Remove the motor cover. You will also need to remove the
curved cover. This is held by 2 or 3 screws under the motor cover and three
screws on the opposite side of the mount. |
Remove one of the motors. I found the RA was the best
one to remove. This is the RA motor. Remove only the screws that hold the motor
to the mount. The screw holes are shown here highlighted in red. |
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| Here is the RA motor being
removed from the mount. I placed mine into a small polythene bag and taped mine
to the mount temporarily to stop it flopping around while other work was in
progress. |
From the opposite side of the mount to the motors you
will see the motor control board. On this board you will see a small connector
with two pins. It has two wires. Black and Red. Take
suitable static precautions and then gently remove this connector
using the tip of a small screwdriver or some small pliers to remove the
connector from the socket on the board. |
Now remove the polarscope LED ring. This is a small
plastic ringed LED arrangement that is plugged into the RA shaft. It is located
below the RA motor. You can see in the picture the unit being removed using
some snipe nosed pliers. You may need a thin bladed screwdriver to gently prise
it away to start with. Remove the entire polarscope assembly with its lead and
connector from the mount. |
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| Here is a diagram of what you
should have removed from the mount. The polarscope illuminator attached to two
wires and the motor control board connector. |
This is a diagram showing what you need to do. The red
wire is cut and you need two lengths of wire to run to and from the
potentiometer. DO NOT solder the
potentiometer ends of the wires at this stage.
Simply cut the red wire at
its mid way point and add some extra red wire to each cut end. Around 8" of
wire will be about right to each end. Solder these to the existing wire and
cover the joins with either heat shrink insulation or rubber boots. |
Now reinstall the polar illuminator and the connector and remove the
mounts power panel. The panel is held by two phillips screws
underneath.
Run the extension leads you
installed through the cut out where the other power panel connectors to the PCB
run.
You now need to drill a hole suitable
for the potentiometer which should be around 10mm (check this with the
potentiometer).
You can see in the
following picture the hole falls just to the side of a plastic strut inside the
power panel moulding. You will need to size this yourself making sure the
potentiometer has enough clearance all around.
Once the hole is drilled thread the extension ends of wire onto the
lock washer and nut of the pot and push the wires through the
hole. |
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Here is the assembly almost
completed. Note the nut and washers for the pot are threaded onto the cable.
The wire ends are now soldered to the pot and are covered in heatshrink tubing.
The red wire in this picture leads directly to the PCB connector and is
connected to the centre pin of the pot. The white wire leads to the LED and is
connected to either of the pots outer pins.
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Note that the small reinforcing part of the power panel
moulding has been cut back a little to let the wire pass through easily when
the power panel is reinstalled.
Push the potnetiometer into
the hole and tighten down the lock washer and nut. You will find this quite
fiddly as there is little space for the pot. Take your time and be patient. Its
perfectly possible to do this. |
Thread all of the cables back into the mount and tuck
them into place. Ensure no cables are fouling any part of the mounts mechanical
movement.
Replace the motor you removed
earlier and make sure it is seated and aligned well to the mounts
gears.Reinstall all covers and
test.
You can see from the above picture how neat this job can be made
to look if done properly |
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