Improving the Portability of my Lightbridge 16"

[Glenn Dawes]

Hello all,

I recently mentioned on my thread on observing the LMC, I modified my LB 16" and could now fit it on the back seat of my Car.

Unfortunately there is a big difference between a telescope being portable vs. being transportable. The 16 LB, as it comes, definitely fits in the later category and that's only if you have a station wagon or 4WD. The problem is the altaz mount (its height and width). My modification was to take the rocker box off the base. Once this was achieved transporting was relatively easy. The rocker then fitted on one side of the back seat (with the top of the OTA sitting inside) and the bottom of the OTA sits on the other back seat (you can secure both with the seat belts). The base can then slide in, standing on its edge behind the front seats.

This work and relatively simple concept was done by Peter Northfield (so I'm not taking credit). Once I get to my observing site it can also be assembled in seconds! I would say, if you or a friend are clever enough to do the labor, the cost for raw materials would be about $50.

The rocker was taken off the base and squared up and made more rigid by placing a timber bar across the open end, sitting flush with the base (part of this can be seen in the 'LB rear' image below. It is held in place by recycling the screws that originally held the rocker to the base.

The rocker is secured to the base by 4 catches (2 on each side). The type used is easily adjustable and available from hardware stores (you will see a lot of these on the back of utes). The L shaped hooks (secured to the base) weren't easy to find and Peter ended up creating them by bending metal bar in a vice. 2 timber blocks were also secured to the base to ensure the rocker goes back to the same position each time. The blocks look quite professional because Peter has recently been involved in building kitchens.

The 3rd photo was an idea I came up with to protect the secondary mirror (something I think is not given enough attention by ATMs IMO). The polyprop container had slits cut into it to allow the spider vanes to pass through and then the cover is locked in place by its screw lid. This particular container I don't think is commercially available, but the idea works. Perhaps someone on the forum can suggest something suitable from K Mart, Target or where ever?

Regards

Glenn

[astroron (Ron)]

Good work glenn.
That's what ATM is all about making things work, and easyer to use

[erick (Eric)]

That's great work. I like both mods. The secondary cover is excellent!

Next step - hinge the rocker box so it can fold flat - I've dreamed of doing that with my 12" base.

[Calibos (Keith)]

Glenn, I've gotta disagree with you on the need for a station wagon or a 4x4. You could easily fit an LB16 in a hatchback. I'll grant you that sedans are a toughie alright. I have only had my new LB16 in the car once and that session was clouded out but it was worth it just to see the look on the guys faces when I opened the boot/trunk to show them the new 16in scope

My car is a hatchback alright but eh not the usual kind

I found that while you can't fit any living thing bigger than a 6 year old in the back of an Audi TT, you can in fact fit a 16inch lightbridge with the back seats folded down!

It fits easier than my old Orion XT12i. That long solid tube only barely fit lengthwise with the front passenger seat pushed all the way forwards and tilted forward and the 30in base had to lay down on its side. These two parts alone took up 4/5ths of the loadspace so I couldn't take much more accessories than my eyepiece case never mind a passenger!. The truss arrangement of the LB16 helps out a lot but the 25in tall base can stand upright with the UTA sitting inside it and the LOTA on its side towards the back. I now have 1/3rd free for other gear [b]AND/b] the front passenger seat doesn't need to be tilted or pushed forwards so now I can take a passenger too!

That said I have been looking at solutions for tooless dismantling and flatpacking of the base to make even more room. Some nice ideas over on the LB yahoo group. However I am still not sure about what to do. I am trying to reconsile folding or hinging with the already bad base flex problems of the LB16's. It'll make flex worse. Am trying to think of ways where I get to have me cake and eat it too.

In terms of mods, I've transferred my Telrad with Dewshield+right angle mirror, Orion Raci with DIY Illuminated crosshairs, GLP with DIY On/Off and Moonlite focusser with rigel motofocus. I've also found that I seem to have a newer version LB16 than you. On the inside surface of the UTA truss attachment points I have a threaded hole for a bolt. Its like Meade redesigned the truss brackets with this hole to attach a UTA retainer but then backed out and decided to save the 50c retainer production costs after all. Well after a tip from a guy called Lyle over on CN I cam up with these attached to the truss brackets. Best mod ever. What was an absolute nightmare trying to mount the UTA on my own now can be done safely and quickly and without fuss on my own. If you replace your existing two bolts in each truss bracket, you could rig up something similar with longer bolts, a bit of plastic and some washers and nuts.

I am also half way through fitting an Orion Skyview Pro German Equatorial Mount Intelliscope kit purchased for 50 euros a few months ago in anticipation of an LB16 purchase. A little modding of the casings and rewiring and this kit can be made work on a dob. Luckily I learned about this just at the right time, while they were on an Orion stock clearance sale of a frankly ridiculous 80 us dollars. I got a US CN member to order me one cause Orion wouldn't ship internationally. He forwarded it to me in Ireland. DSC for 50 euros! Bargain or what!!

Lots of other mods in the offing, watch this space