Dob Base Build 10"

[gary]

Originally Posted by davewaldo

So here is my final set of pics, these show the little mount I've put together for the Argo Navis. Its based on a tiny Slik tripod ball head that I've mounted to a homemade dovetail for a finder bracket. I've mounted the finder bracket to one of the tube rings as I'm still very reluctant to drill or screw anything into the beautiful wood. To attach the quick release plate to the argo holder I made a ply mounting plate stained to match the base.

Total cost: $29 (I had all parts except the ball head). The ball head is 100% aluminium, and I think its a bargain at $29.

Hi Dave,

Love the elegant solution you provided by using the tripod ball head.

I actually went to the trouble of modeling a simple ball head for use in the raytraced image before I
saw the type you used. Ironically the camera viewpoint I chose for the image I posted obscured it anyway.
But you can imagine it is there.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

Hi Dave,

The scope looks really great. A lovely piece of work.

A custom built base will give the scope movements way better than the standard base. Bigger altitude bearings and the correct bearing surface materials make an enormous difference to the scopes motions and the ability to easily hand track at high power.

BTW Tube colour = Fluoro Green

Cheers,
John B

[davewaldo]

Thanks Gary and John!

Yep, its all working a treat, I'm just waiting for my feathertouch adapter to arrive and then I'll start thinking about getting the tube painted/powdercoated.

It seems to be coming down to either the metalic maroon or the fluro green!

I think the Maroon looks the most classy, but the green is the most original and fun. I do wonder however if people are recomending the green because they'd love to see it, but perhaps they wouldn't want to own it in that colour

I'll start checking out powdercoating places to see whats available.

Dave.

[mr bruess]

Originally Posted by davewaldo

Hi Everyone,

I thought I'd post my progress for my current build. This is my first attempt at ATM, and I have to give a big THANK YOU to mental4astro for all his advice.

As you might have seen, I've been selling off a lot of my gear as I'm getting out of imaging and back into visual astronomy. This is mainly because I simply don't have much time for this hobby anymore. So I began looking for a good dob... but in the end I decided to make a dob base for my 10" Sky-Watcher newt as this would be much cheaper and I hope MUCH better than cheap commercial dob bases.

So I came up with a plan with much assistance from mental, see attached plan. The cut outs are meant to represent celestial bodies. I stole mental's use of the large disc with a smaller disc on either side, this symbolises how Galileo first pictured Saturn. My design on the side is meant to resemble a moon disappearing into the planets shadow... but looks a bit more like a snowman!

So to date I have cut out all the parts and have them sanded awaiting assembly. I'm using 15mm marine ply and I've sourced virgin teflon AND secured a massive sheet of ebony star (must be the last piece in QLD!!!). I was stoked to find the ebony star, I rang around and visited loads of kitchen places, in the end I went to a benchtop wholesaler and the foreman found their last piece tucked up the back of the warehouse, its 650mm x 2.2 meters long! And the best bit... I offered $45 as it was old stock and they happily obliged!

My plan is to stain a medium walnut colour and finish with satin exterior poly. Also I've purchased an Argo Navis that will be installed. Not sure yet how I'm going to mount the handset....

I've been enjoying the build, this is my first time cutting circles with a router, but after using my brother's little laminate router I simply have to have one!

Anyways, here are some pics.

Dave.

what tools did you use to cut circles in woods?i need to l make a dob mount as mine fell apart in the rain.

[davewaldo]

Hello, I used a router attached to a small piece of ply. I then screwed this bit of ply into the job material and then pivoted it around to cut a perfect circle. A bit like a compass. See the attached photo.

http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2003/0...121_1fe_lg.jpg

[gary]

Originally Posted by davewaldo

Hello, I used a router attached to a small piece of ply. I then screwed this bit of ply into the job material and then pivoted it around to cut a perfect circle. A bit like a compass. See the attached photo.

http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2003/0...121_1fe_lg.jpg

Video here of a gentleman cutting a mirror box cover in a similar way -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJgRg_W692U