Years before I knew the world of amateur astronomy existed I was given a mirror and some bits and pieces so I worked out how to rebuild (remake) the scope.
In an effort to build a mount I came up with the equatorial mount ironically.
I did not realise they were the norm...never thought about it until I needed a mount.
It did not have any adjustment for latitude but the axle housing was to be welded in place to suit latitude. No bearings.
It probably would have been OK for visual..
It just seemed easier to do it that way so when I finally got into astronomy and realised such mounts were around I was sortta happy.I had figured it out.
Thanks for the link I will look at it later when others are watching TV.
When I did build a mount I came up with a fork approach sitting in a four foot diameter disk ...not.successful for accuracy but it held the scope and was easy to move the scope around and visually track.
Thanks again.
Alex
The first EQ mount I ever made was a wooden one, based on the illustration in Norton's Star Atlas - the parts were made during woodwork class at school, and the other students (and the teacher!) were wondering what I was doing.
It worked pretty well with the basic Frank's 50mm cardboard tube refractor.
