Home made Telescope Box

[Starman73]

Hi there All,

Just wanted to share with you pictures of a box I have made to hold my telescope and accessories. I used an old tea chest that my wife's family used when the migrated to Australia.

There is a fair distance to get from my garage to the back yard where I set up the scope, its also a lot of grassed area too.

Inside the box I had to secure the monitor to the lid of the box with occy straps because the lid wasn't deep enough to have the monitor and a mounting on the back of it.

Anyway. just wanted to share it with you all. Maybe someone out there will get an idea from it to use themselves.

Regards,
Paul

[mozzie]

nice portable setup paul.grab the tripod and your ready to go..my only concern is the meade ota do you have some foam to shape around it so it doesn't move around in the chest,you don't want to damage it at all.

[Deeno]

Great way to keep the gear organised!

Particularly like the Bugs Bunny mouse mat......

[leon]

Love bugs as well and on the whole what a nice job, well done, it looks pretty useful.

Leon

[ZeroID]

Nice Work !! You might find there are some threaded holes on the back of the screen you can put small bolts through the top lid to secure the screen. ( I was working on a similar idea before I built the observatory ).
Get some foam and restraint around the OTA though, expecially underneath to stop the bumps across the grass lousing up your collimation.

[alistairsam]

nice work, and is that a floppy disk in the drive?!! Haven't seen those in ages.

[Starman73]

Hi there,

Thanks so much for your replies. Under the scope I have a cradle of wood with foam over that. I am also going to use some streatchy stuff to use to tie around the scope to hold it in place.

I'm glad the Bugs Bunny mouse mat gets a few comments. Unfortunately I can't lay claim to making that!!!!!!

I was going to attach the monitor to the lid of the box, but I ran into a little problem. I didn't want to drill through the lid and put fasteners on the outside as I didn't want to ruin the look of the box. The monitor was too thick to use a proper mounting system, so I had to resort to what I have done with good old occy straps. It seems to be working well.

An old floppy disk drive, yes you did see correctly. I don't know how old that computer is, but I got it second hand many years ago. I thought it was a better idea to use and old computer than to buy a new one, then get it affected by the cold and damp of outside. The monitor is a cheep second hand one too.

I am glad people like the box, I hope it will make taking the scope out more of a joy than a chore like it has been, having to take 4-5 trips. I have enjoyed making it, and hope that I will be making a few more things out of wood, which I enjoy too.

Thanks again
Paul

P.S Please feel free to leave orders if you want one. Mights take a few years to make though!!!!