Losmandy G11 refurbishment

	A customer dropped by with a vintage Losmandy G-11 mount that was in serious need of some TLC. The mount was nearly 30 years old, being a very early series G-11 manufactured in 1994. These were made by Scott Losmandy at Hollywood General machining for Celestron who were marketing the mount with their C11 SCT optics. The G-11 name as a perfect partner to the C-11 was no co-incidence. The mount had been abandoned in an observatory for a number of years. It was covered in dust. grime and was showing corrosion both extenally and internally. The lubricant had slowly turned into "Locktite" after years of neglect. Remarkably, the electronics were in good order and needed little more than new connectors and thorough clean-up.
	The mount required a total strip-down and clean. It had also suffered a lateral impact to the RA mounting plate, which despite being an "immovable" press fit, had rotated several degrees. It was reset by placing the part in a bench vice and applying serious torque in the opposite direction. Parts were soaked in solvent overnight then scrubbed with a hard nylon brush. Internal bearings were loosened using WD40, cleaned with solvent and re-lubricated with Teflon impregnated high-temperature bearing grease Final cleanup was with micorfibre towels soaked with isopropyl alcolhol.
	Once cleaned, RA and Dec shafts plus many of the corroded aluminium parts required re-polishing. Many parts needed working with 1600 grit emery paper then a final polish with Autosol metal polishing cream. As the disassembled parts were completed they were stored in a large PVC bin for, ready for final re-assembly.
	The mount was carefully re-assembled with lubricant reapplied to all gears and bearings. The clutch washers and thrust surfaces were thoroughly cleaned prior to re-inserting the RA and Dec shafts. Early G-11 mounts require the DEC and RA worm gears to be set by hand taking care to ensure the gears t o not bind or have significant backlash. With gears set, the Hurst stepper drive motors were reinstalled and tested for correct function. Several fastners were replaced and a new RA gear cover was fitted. The fully reurbished mount looked great and was ready to give its new owner many more years of faithful service.