Re: [ATM] Next part of the project

["Jerry" <wa4guu@verizon.net>]

Francis...

I forgot you said to comment on the list and just sent to you 
So here is much of what I said for the list.


Congrats on the mirror.

The hefty equatorial mount is in a number of ways a throw-back, but for an
8" f6 metal can still be reasonably portable.

If you are only using it for visual there are ways to drive an alt-az to
keep an object in the field and even have GOTO capability. It can work
sufficiently well on less than a well machined metal mount. All that is
probably easier than making the metal mount too.

But the well machined and aligned equatorial is easier to drive for
photography.

There is no reason an alt-az has to be a wood Dobsonian. With a more precise
(than wood) machined metal alt-az mount, getting good result with a drive
system would be easier. You can adapt one of the drive systems such as the
Meade GOTO and have good tracking. The Goto with its database, and ability
to interface with a PC can be a good thing. If you are so inclined and able,
you can build one of those systems from scratch. Or you could buy one of
those systems off the shelf and design your mount to match.

I don't know about you, but I have convinced myself that unless you are
planning on using that thing mostly for photography and not much visual, you
should cast your metal parts for a alt-az and drive it with a GOTO system.
The alt-az makes getting to the eyepiece much easier no matter where the
scope is pointed. Computer drive makes it near as good as an equatorial at
tracking for visual purposes. It is the way to do this stuff now for visual
astronomy.

Pound for pound, a alt-az is a sturdier mount.

Jerry


-----Original Message-----
From: Francis J. O'Reilly
 

a wooden
Dobsonian mount, but is that really what I want to do? Not really. I prefer
metal. 

I intend to try to make one myself. Originally, I wanted to try to make an
equatorial mount by casting the parts myself. I was dissuaded from this in
favor of an Alt-Az mount by Bill Giamotto at the workshop. (

I still wish to cast the parts for the mount using a home
foundry set. Yes, I know that I could buy plumbing parts and various other
items and cobble together such a mount, many of us, myself included, have
done that, but I want to try something different.

Does anyone on the list have any experience in this area? If so, I'd like
to hear from you. Please post all responses to the list if you forward them
to me personally, I suspect that everyone would like to hear your input as
much as I would.
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