Chip,
Yes, it is indeed a model 492. I agree with you, it's an awesome mount and I think the design is one of the best out there. It looks so slim yet sturdy. I use it as my main mount though and I hope it will keep working to capture some fairly long deep sky exposures.
I have now cleaned the clutches and relubed the RA and DEC bearings. I also cleaned as much excessive grease as I could from the worm gears. I'm sure I didn't do everything correctly but it feels a lot smother now.
Now, more challenges await. The biggest ones being autoguiding and getting automated dithering to work. Since I neither have the Gemini nor an astro-friendly camera (I use Sony A7) I'll have to dither with the PHD2 dither app. I have no idea of what parameters to use either. I guess I'll find out eventually.
Anyway, thank you so much for the help. This is a huge step forward towards making my own little amateur observatory :)
