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The bearings are not the issue. They are very nice and smooth. Vinyl bumpers on PVC flange for altitude, and furniture sliders on vinyl LP for azimuth. These work great. It's flex in the base that is the problem. It supports a lot of vibration with little damping.
I tried replacing just the base plate with 20mm plywood. A little better, but the vibrations are still way too much. The vinyl flexes very easily, so that needs to sit on something solid as well.
Portaball would not pack up too well and would need a lot of counterweight to balance, that's why I didn't go that way.
I decided to chuck the whole thing and go all plywood (12mm). This will eliminate the wobble in the base, and using plywood for the sidewalls as well will let me get away from the straight edges, so I'll be able to drop the scope right down and still brace the mount properly. atm the scope is sitting 5-6 high to leave room for the bracing elements.
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