Attaching the Shaft Enclosures

Pieces of 3" aluminum rod were machined to secure the shaft enclosures. The concave mating to the shaft enclosure was made slightly smaller than the enclosure to ensure a firm fit.  A semi-circular ring 1/2" thick was epoxied inside to stiffen the enclosure and the whole assembly bolted together with 10-24 machine screws.

One of these pieces was attached to the end of the polar axis to form the joint with the declination shaft enclosure.  Shimming was used to achieve orthogonality.

The attachment to the polar shaft enclosure became a trunnion to allow for polar axis adjustment.

A special tool was fabricated to allow bolting in the tight space inside the shaft enclosures.

The joint stiffening can be seen inside the enclosure