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Pictured
above are two views of a pair of industrial strength hanger bearings that will be
used to spin the SAO's 10" f/5.6 Newtonian's Right Ascension Axis. As you can
see, they are rather massive, but they were acquired at a
very good price compared to what they really are worth (thank God for eBay
!). The inside diameter of the bearings are 2 1/4". Unfortunately,
since my main Right Ascension axis shaft is 2" in diameter, I
will have to make a couple of shims (1/8" with inside radius of
1") to center the shaft within the RA support housing.
Alignment must be as exact as possible here, because the right ascension
axis must not deviate during movement from true center in order to provide precise
tracking of celestial objects. So great care will be implemented in
shimming and aligning of all components in the support housing.
Also note the bottom photo that reveals the protrusion of the bearings'
base - the reason large openings were cut out in the Front and
Rear panels of RA Axis Support Housing. |
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