Thanks Gary, your Argo has helped me find objects I never could from my back yard. The skyglow tonight was really bad; I managed to find the Saturn nebula for the first time, I couldn't see it in the 25mm EP, but once I had the 8mm EP in, there it was, just off centre! I think I tested the pointing quite well, at all points of the compass and near zenith all objects were in the 8mm EP. It's performing great, I couldn't be happier with it. And I honestly just plonked it down, the base was certainly not 100% level, and did the basic alignment.
Thanks Ian, I'm glad you like it! I'd certainly recommend designing your own base to suit your needs. Its a very satisfying process. Not to mention it looks better, is lighter, and functions SO much better. I think all up the cost was about $300 total materials. But this includes more than enough ply to make another base, and enough ebony star and teflon for another 4 bases! So I would guess the actual "used materials" to cost about $150 or less. Obviously this doesn't include the Argo. This was using top quality marine ply, a base could be made much cheaper and still function better than a cheap factory base.
I also found some sailkote dry teflon lubricant at my local marine shop. This stuff is amazing and has made the azimuth motion incredibly smooth, highly recommended!
