Even with a fair amount of sophisticated equipment, I found myself wanting a simple "grab and go" setup that I could use without having to plug in electronics, polar align, etc. I was looking for something that I could take to school star parties and other public events that would be easy for a novice to use. I also wanted something that I could use while my main rig was in use for astrophotography. After researching products on the web, the mounts I found were either too expensive or too flimsy (I won't name brands).
The rig I wanted had to:
Not finding what I wanted commercially available, I looked in my scrap pile and parts
bucket and figured I had just about everything I needed to make one. As it turned
out, the only thing I didn't have laying around was the black paint! I don't think
there is anything used in the construction that can't be easily found at your local home
improvement store. The dovetail adapter I used can be purchased direct from Losmandy. I modeled my mount after a high-quality mount made by Televue.
I just made it beefier. I had a tripod from a Meade LX-50 that is fairly substantial
and would work well for my purpose. Unfortunately, even extended it was a little too
short for use with my two refractors. So, I built a 12" extension. Below
are some images of the final product with notes on its construction.
Note: this project required a fair amount of metal work including cutting, welding,
drilling and thread cutting. Although mine is constructed from metal, one could
easily build it from wood.