Hi all,
Why would you want to go from GEM to DOB I hear
you ask?
Today I converted the old 8" homemade Newt to a simple
rough Dobsonian mount for my son.
I had promised it to him once I either built a bigger one or bought
one.
Now that I have a 12" Newt on the GEM platform this one came
from, I had to work out a DOB base to get him going.
Easy...just use the GSO-DOB base sitting unused in the shed.
This is merely a test run knocked up to iron out the height/balance
issues...the F7 Newt OTA is quite long and heavy but luckily the
balance point is not too far from centre.
I will knock him up a better, more lightweight dedicated base now that
the observing height doesn't seem too awkward.
Edit: Done just that today....newer pics (3-8) show how I used a router to
cut a nice radius matching the pivot brackets.
Glued on some edging, swapped the Teflon pads from the old
to the new...job done.
Understandably, all my daughter wanted to do was see her
reflection ....
Some pics....
Steve