Home-made telescope trolley

[Finite (John)]

Well I got tired of dragging my Meade 10" sct outside, down the stairs, and across the lawn everytime I wanted to do some viewing, then all the way back again when I'd finished for the night. So I moved my scope out to the garage to make the carrying distance much less (and to avoid the stairs).

However, by then I'd carried the scope in and out enough times that one of my knees was feeling the strain and had got quite bad (it hurt diabolically for some months even just walking about). So my scope wasn't getting much use, even with just a short lug out of the garage and back. It was time to build a trolley!

I looked all over the net for something I liked and found one which looked the part and was of the type I had in mind, but there were no measurements for it. Even the size of the scope it was carrying wasn't mentioned, so I could only guess at dimensions. But the scope looked like an 8", so I set about using it as a visual guideline and started from there. Attached is photo of the result. My brother was visiting from Auckland so gave me a welcome hand for the assembly. What do you reckon? I think it looks alright. This thing has made my life stacks better. I've yet to build a frame to hold the battery pack base. Also I've yet to complete anchors for the legs (to the frame) and would like to build some stabilizer/leveller legs on it....all in good time though, the set-up's up and mobile which is the main thing. A bungee cord temporarily holds a crucial leg to the trolley frame for when rolling it down a ramp out of the garage and back up into it again. I fitted pneumatic tyres as I go over a bit of stony terrain, then a cattlestop, and up over a small curb to the front lawn of the house. The scope's more solid on the trolley than I expected it to be, and it seems about as vibration-free on the trolley as off it.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

That is really cool, could be a good things for me too. I get annoyed with so much setting up time. I would add a mechanism to lift the wheels up when set in the final position.

[Finite (John)]

Yes, that's the plan, some screw-down feet fitted by each tripod leg should do it I think? The handle is hinged so just folds up out of the way against the tripod, and I've been considering putting some very dim red LEDs underneath the buggy frame so they just outline where the wheels are in the very dark.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Nice thought

[rainwatcher (Peter)]

That's really good. I also am sick of moving my 8" Dob and C8+ around. I considered mounting wheels so that when you tipped it slightly the wheels would be in contact but this is much better, i will still do that for the Dob to keep it compact. My only concern was vibration but i think its worth a go. So it's out to my bolt hole (aka The Shed), a bit of plaigarism is on the cards.

[Poita (Peter)]

Keep the tyres under inflated and it will be nice and vibration free.

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

That is good ... I like that .. very well made by the look of it.

Flash

[Finite (John)]

Originally Posted by rainwatcher

That's really good. I also am sick of moving my 8" Dob and C8+ around. I considered mounting wheels so that when you tipped it slightly the wheels would be in contact but this is much better, i will still do that for the Dob to keep it compact. My only concern was vibration but i think its worth a go. So it's out to my bolt hole (aka The Shed), a bit of plaigarism is on the cards.

Plagiarism not a problem Peter, that's how I got the final idea for this one!..Google "Amyrobb" and have a look at the buggy which gave me the basic plan. I gave the front wheels a wider wheelbase so it would turn well without the wheels binding on the frame, and devised a different system to connect the steering assembly to the main body without having to have the axle frame on a different height to the main frame.

I'll put up some dimensions and build photos if anyone is interested.