My first wedge effort - not quite there yet!

[davidpretorius]

Hi All,

bought a 44 gallon drum mover and attached my dob base to it, then a lazy susan bearing system and then the top bit of the base.

I then thought, wouldn't it be nice to have this as ra / dec, so I decide to lift it up, but centre of gravity is outside the edge so over see would go! As i am at 43 degrees, i could adjustm but what if someon on the mainland wanted to do similiar thing, so i decided to play.

This is in conjunction to the motorizing of my dob, so i want a simple system where i wheel the scope out and align near south. calibrate on a star whilst in alt/az mode, then ask it to step to straigt south. whilst telescope is aligned straight south, come along with the extra supports, attach and lift up to required height for polar alignment.

I was close but no cigar, some stronger brackets are needed, as when the scope was put on, the 5mm steel angle supports bent.

Fun though!

[Miaplacidus (Brian)]

Hi David,

Very impressive for a first effort. It's for this reason (living in Hobart), that I'm grateful I'm mainly into visual astronomy. But tell me, where do you get a 44 gallon drum mover. (I've just gotta get myself one of those. I have this dream of opening up a big metal cupboard in the backyard and just kicking a bigger dob out onto the concrete.)

Cheers,

Brian.

[davidpretorius]

I can get one out of a chinese importer i know out of melbourne. It is around $50 odd dollars.

I will be sourcing for Mick Pinner's website when she is up and running soon.

pm me if you are interested.

We usually get a pallet from the importer every 3 or 4 weeks

[asimov (John)]

Good Idea. Like you said, stronger brackets...

[RAJAH235]

Davo, Why not try this way. You don't need any flimsy brackets on the ends. They are self supporting/locking.
HTH. L.

[asimov (John)]

Hmmm. Not a bad idea Laurie. You could actually make up a right angle bracket & bolt the 2 steel arms together where they intersect each other as well for added strength.

[RAJAH235]

Hi John. Actually I had timber in mind, bit stronger/less flexible? Especially on it's side. When the t'scope is mounted, it's weight will help in locking the 2 wooden arms. Must use hardwood though. L.
ps. Have to make the entry slot/hole on one of the brackets, slightly larger, to allow for the thickness of the timber arms.

[davidpretorius]

thanks rajah, i like the idea.
my biggest aim is to have nothing fixed to the base.

getting any sort of wedqe or eq platform polar aligned seems to take the most time.

This what i want to happen for the setup:

1. I want to roll out my scope on the drum trolley
2. roughly point in the vicinity of the poles.
3. align with a known star say rigel kent
4. enter alt/az or ra/dec of rigel kent
5. get computer to drive the base to the southern celestial pole
6. attach supports at say 20 degrees either side of where the scope is pointing at due south.
7. start lifting from northern side to desired angle.

i think a computer driven polar alignment will be more accurate and quicker than manually moving the trolley.

Like i said Rajah, great idea, i will see if I can adapt so that it is totally flexible and detachable

[Thiink]

That 44 gallon drum mover looks perfect for a cheap dob mover! Even without the motorizing etc.

[davidpretorius]

yes simon for $50 from Mick Pinner, very much worth it!