ATM more on mounts

[Ina Ron Lippard Renaissance Reproductions <renrepro@surfglobal.net>]

    Dear List,
    In my last post on this subject,I used off-the-shelf parts that could 
be put together to make an eq.head that almost anyone could build.It will 
be sturdy enough for a visual 6"or 8" Newtonian configuration.Not knowing 
the expertise of the builder makes it a bit hard to come up with  the right 
design.
    The problem with parts off the shelf is simply you get what you buy. 
With large pillow blocks,you get lots of beef. As was pointed out,even 2" 
blocks can be pretty big for a field mount.If your a weekend tinker with a 
small corner in her garage to work in, you won't have a 13X36 CC lathe. Now 
if you do have some tooling,like a 10" lathe,drill press and band saw it's 
a bit different. For example> Not wanting to be stuck with under-sized 
bearings for my 14" lap I made my own on the lathe.I bought 1" cups and 
cones at a local auto supply house and turned my own housings from CRS.In 
the case of a GEM it is possible to do just that. Make the bearing blocks 
on a lathe. Just put the 2"X6"X4" alum. on a face-plate and bore them for a 
shrink fit.Either use SS bushing stock 1/4" wall min.or tubing as the 
shafting.Machine a large collar that will shrink-press onto the polar 
shaft.Drill a 5 hole B.C. through both collar and DEC plate.Of course the 
DEC plate will resemble the polar bearing plate.If you want a bore 
scope,simply cross drill a hole through the DEC shaft so that it lines up 
with the polar shaft center.The lug that holds the mount will be welded 
directly to the polar plate.Or it can be bolted on if you make a large boss 
on the lathe,then side-mill for the lug flats.The finished piece will look 
like a round base with the lug in the center.Four bolts should be enough to 
hold this.
    I threw this together as I typed it out. It has flaws I'm sure. It is 
fairly easy to arm-chair critique any design.There are some folks that can 
design and make a first-class mount.But there are many more who do not know 
where to start.If I undertook a project like this,I'd start with a central 
question:What do I really want?After that,it is what can I afford?
regards,Ron