As a complete business no nothing, I was wondering what others might think about the chances and long term viability of a locally made High end (say 10-15k?) mount to compete with AP, 10Micron, Paramount...Yes we can import these mounts from Europe and the US, but in the case where the mount needs repair, it's a very costly exercise for shipping.
That would be great to have a mount designed and manufactured in Oz but other areas of the hobby are struggling as it is. Mirror making, ATM supplies, Aluminizing services even commercial telescope supplies. There is just too much O/S competition. It is a losing battle IMHO. Even if crowd funding got it off the ground how many people would buy local and support a start up? I don't think there's a market big enough for it. Maybe if shipping costs become prohibitive then as a result domestic manufacturing would pick up but it's still a long way I reckon. But I'd love to see a lot of domestic businesses pick up. That'd be great. Bit of a dream though.
Don’t know if I totally agree Marc although you might be right....you could push exports too which would be good oh by the way it has been tried before....but you did say high end though��
Hi everyone, we have started rolling the ball of Australian Made stuff by creating a brand called Axtroworx and out first products where Pier Plates, Dovetails, and now Truss Tube Newtonians...
As a cheapskate I am left looking at the 5k+ mounts and cant see much more than R&D recovery / prestige to explain the costs.
In my head there would be room for a competitive profit margin provided you can get the order quantity high enough to offset the batch tooling costs.
Other things would be cost optimisation on the operations to get your raw pieces. The gold standard would be cast sections with minimal cleanup machining for the body segments. Brushless servos are common. Would mainly be secondary feedback to trim for backlash.
Rigidity and friction across various angles is just time spent in the CAD package. The high end mounts are essentially expecting a peir. So that makes that criteria much easier.
There will be R&D costs involved. Mainly for the casting and machining. But if that can be minimised i can see some solid margin left compared to larger equally as precise equiptment e.g. lathes and mills.
Usb hubs and power hubs are literally a drop in the bucket. I would not expect that to contribe more than 1-2% of total cost
Hand controller could add some cost. Mainly for software r&d if synscan or similar is a closed standard.
Hi everyone, we have started rolling the ball of Australian Made stuff by creating a brand called Axtroworx and out first products where Pier Plates, Dovetails, and now Truss Tube Newtonians...
While it would be good to have a quality Australian made mount, I think the feature set it has will be important. That's both hardware and software. Because, realistically there's probably enough different mounts out there now that we can use (ignoring the Oz made factor).
To help this mount be part of the competition, it needs elements that differentiate it from other mounts, because I fully expect it not to be able to compete on price alone.
While it would be good to have a quality Australian made mount, I think the feature set it has will be important. That's both hardware and software. Because, realistically there's probably enough different mounts out there now that we can use (ignoring the Oz made factor).
To help this mount be part of the competition, it needs elements that differentiate it from other mounts, because I fully expect it not to be able to compete on price alone.
I guess if you compare it to ioptron or Skywatcher its not necessarily going to compete in that space price wise - but if you look at the price of something like the AP Mach2 or the Euro mounts (10micron, ASA etc...) its becomes not only a question of price, but also local support. The locally made factor is very attractive to me, especially for warranty repairs and after sales support. Just my 2cents.
As a complete business no nothing, I was wondering what others might think about the chances and long term viability of a locally made High end (say 10-15k?) mount to compete with AP, 10Micron, Paramount...Yes we can import these mounts from Europe and the US, but in the case where the mount needs repair, it's a very costly exercise for shipping.
Perhaps we could crowd fund it?
Anssen Technologies did make a reasonable EQ mount about 20 years ago....I was not a fan. Looks like the market were not fans either, as my google search indicates they stopped trading a while back.
Any Aussie startup contemplating competing with AP, Bisque etc. have around 35 years of +
R&D to catch up on, plus big CNC's are not cheap. Think mid six figures for one CNC milling machine.
To quote from that Aussie Epic, The Castle: "tell 'em their dreamin'"
You don’t need to buy a CNC machine to get the benefits.
You just need the CAD design to send to a CNC machine shop.
I designed and manufactured precision spectrographs using quality sub-contractors for CNC machining, laser cutting etc.
You need a good design, good support from your supplier pipeline and good final quality control.
It can be made to work, just need the vision and dedication.
Anssen Technologies did make a reasonable EQ mount about 20 years ago....I was not a fan. Looks like the market were not fans either, as my google search indicates they stopped trading a while back.
Any Aussie startup contemplating competing with AP, Bisque etc. have around 35 years of +
R&D to catch up on, plus big CNC's are not cheap. Think mid six figures for one CNC milling machine.
To quote from that Aussie Epic, The Castle: "tell 'em their dreamin'"
Anssen Technologies did make a reasonable EQ mount about 20 years ago....I was not a fan. Looks like the market were not fans either, as my google search indicates they stopped trading a while back.
Any Aussie startup contemplating competing with AP, Bisque etc. have around 35 years of +
R&D to catch up on, plus big CNC's are not cheap. Think mid six figures for one CNC milling machine.
To quote from that Aussie Epic, The Castle: "tell 'em their dreamin'"
All the more keen to see this happen now to stick it up Peter
I can see why there is a big gap between the mid tier and high end mounts.
When you look at it, just about everything on a SB mount is either NC milled or machined in some way, and anodised rather than lots of die cast parts with the lumps and bumps hidden behind crinkle paint. The time to machine and the wastage of materials from milling a large but spidery part out of a large and solid block of alloy has to add hugely to the cost.
(and lives across the road from my son)
