[PeterAnderson (Peter)]

I am selling my permanently mounted 16 inch Equatorial Newtonian and replacing it with a number of Celestrons - 14, 11, 9.25 and my old 8.

Okay, they each have a purpose. I use the 14" for occultations and high resolution stuff, the 11" with F6.3 adaptor is great for various imaging jobs, and my new 9.25" has remarkable resolution, clearly superior if the atmospheric conditions are a bit 'iffy'. (We could have a long discussion on how the larger instrument suffer under medium to poor 'seeing'.) As for my old 8" classic it is light and portable, and I can easily pick it up andtake it outside the observatory, or wherever as the occasion requires.

Now my 16" took up a fair bit of space with quite an arc of swing, close to 4 metres diameter, and I will have a fair bit of space when it is gone. I had made my 11" and 9.25" wheelable within the observatory to get to a usable spot and then wheel away when not required, and a week ago I posted details on a $62 wheelable stand for the 9.25" courtesy of Bunnings parts.

Anyway on this occasion, I thought that rather than plonking the C14 down centrally, it would be nice if I could easily move it. However the problem is that any wheeled mount would add around 120mm to the height, perhaps more.

Then I saw these little dollies for $10 from Bunnings and rated to 90kg. (The C14 all up is a few kg lighter than this.) I bought three dollies. I just dropped a heavy washer in each to spread the load a little. No work, no drilling, and for $30.75 it is easily movable if required and only adds around 20mm to the height.

It does not run as smooth as the nice wheels for the C9.25" but there is a lot of weight here. particularly over the polar axis. It seems to work well on a smooth floor and is not that free that it will move when you don't want it to. Time will tell.......