Pipe Mounts Almost Completed
In between projects, when I have a little bit of time and I'm feeling fairly well, I always go back to some unfinished little projects. Sometimes the weather interrupts a project. Sometimes my health interrupts a project. Sometimes other more important projects get bumped up in priority. In time, I always get these little projects accomplished. My health may require a lot more time than healthy people require but I always seem to eventually finish these projects.
One of these projects that seems to be an on-going project is making a couple of homemade telescope mounts. These two adaptable mounts are not 100% completed just yet but they are close. They are close enough to being complete that I was able to test them a few days ago. That was a nice feeling!
I designed and built two types of mounts... an equatorial mount (shown in this first photo, below) and an altitude-azimuth mount (shown down lower in the photos). I have a very lightweight telescope mounted on the mount in this first photo so I used a short counterweight bar. For heavier loads, I have a longer chrome counterweight bar. I also have a lot more weight to use, if necessary.
I needed an effective way to clamp any of my telescopes to these mounts. I designed and built a few wood (hardwood) mating plates to go between my mount and the saddle clamps I chose for these mounts. This first photo shows the backside of these wooden plates with t-nuts for screwing down the Vixen saddle clamps...
The tops of these wooden plates were beveled on two edges... this particular design sort of evolved as I was cutting and sanding these plates.
Here is one of the Vixen saddle clamps on the equatorial mount...
The mounts are secured to the pier using a 10mm x 100mm stainless bolt with a large knob screwed up from underneath....
Here is the altitude-azimuth mount... telescope on one end and counterweights on the opposite end. The black knobs on these mounts are for tension and locking the mount in place. There is a small piece of leather on the end of each of those locking bolts. The leather keeps the tension/locking bolt from damaging the threads.
I can remove the counterweights and the counterweight shaft from the altitude-azimuth mount and add a second saddle clamp. In this photo, below, I have two telescopes mounted and the mount still seemed to move smoothly and surely while also providing stability.
The only problem I encountered is that the mounts didn't mount perfectly to the pier. There was still some slop so I designed a little hardwood donut to mount on the bottom of each of the telescope mounts. This donut will mount perfectly to the telescope pier which will eliminate the slop. I was waiting on some forstner drill bits to finish fabricating this part so this is all I have left to do on this project.
One of these projects that seems to be an on-going project is making a couple of homemade telescope mounts. These two adaptable mounts are not 100% completed just yet but they are close. They are close enough to being complete that I was able to test them a few days ago. That was a nice feeling!
I designed and built two types of mounts... an equatorial mount (shown in this first photo, below) and an altitude-azimuth mount (shown down lower in the photos). I have a very lightweight telescope mounted on the mount in this first photo so I used a short counterweight bar. For heavier loads, I have a longer chrome counterweight bar. I also have a lot more weight to use, if necessary.
I needed an effective way to clamp any of my telescopes to these mounts. I designed and built a few wood (hardwood) mating plates to go between my mount and the saddle clamps I chose for these mounts. This first photo shows the backside of these wooden plates with t-nuts for screwing down the Vixen saddle clamps...
The tops of these wooden plates were beveled on two edges... this particular design sort of evolved as I was cutting and sanding these plates.
Here is one of the Vixen saddle clamps on the equatorial mount...
The mounts are secured to the pier using a 10mm x 100mm stainless bolt with a large knob screwed up from underneath....
Here is the altitude-azimuth mount... telescope on one end and counterweights on the opposite end. The black knobs on these mounts are for tension and locking the mount in place. There is a small piece of leather on the end of each of those locking bolts. The leather keeps the tension/locking bolt from damaging the threads.
I can remove the counterweights and the counterweight shaft from the altitude-azimuth mount and add a second saddle clamp. In this photo, below, I have two telescopes mounted and the mount still seemed to move smoothly and surely while also providing stability.
The only problem I encountered is that the mounts didn't mount perfectly to the pier. There was still some slop so I designed a little hardwood donut to mount on the bottom of each of the telescope mounts. This donut will mount perfectly to the telescope pier which will eliminate the slop. I was waiting on some forstner drill bits to finish fabricating this part so this is all I have left to do on this project.
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