mikey152

Hi. Saddleworth moor is the place for you just above greenfield on the Holmfirth Rd. There's a nice big layby before Wessenden head at the side of the A635 where you can park. The only light you will encounter is headlights from passing cars

Most of the Borocillicate blanks are now made in China. If you buy them from a supplier in UK as I have done , they just get them from China. I purchase them direct from China and they seem to be good quality. You can get up to 16 inches in diameter and I think up to 50mm thick

Sorry my mistake. Coarse is the most common

metric fine is more common than coarse

Hi Oldham here. Welcome

A Nema 17 motor is much cheaper and with an arduino UNO driver is seems it might be a better option. Thanks for the input everyone. Much appreciated

Another question . Would a Nema17 stepper motor be powerful enough to move a EQ platform smoothly. I can imagine a lot more torque would be required to drive a platform rather than a conventional DOB mount ,particularly mine as both my azimuth and altitude bearings are lazy susan and if anything run too freely. Another advantage I could see in a platform would be the possibility of being able to plonk both my telescopes on the same platform and as I am hoping to make a 12 inch mirror next year ,the possibility could arise of being able to use the same platform for all 3? What are peoples thoughts on this?

Cheers for that. Am seriously looking into building one.

Thanks for that. I do get it now. As the scope is only moving for about an hour, it will never get at an awkward angle and be fairly level most of time.

I am reading up on how to make a platform so I can fully understand how they operate. Ideally I would like to be able to transport it as there is far too much light where I live so would want to go up onto the moors which aren't too far from me. Would the platform have to be transported in 1 piece or could it be split to reduce the weight and still be able to be put into use in a short time ? I can split my DOB mount into smaller parts and put it together in a matter of a minute or so

I don't quite understand how the platform can be flat. I have looked at them and the platform is at an angle which surely must be at the latitude you are at. I know the platform is flat and you just plonk your dob on it but it must be at an awkward angle otherwise how would it track a star?

I haven't made a platform . I have made an equatorial mount which I don't like particularly at the angle that an EQ mount has to be here in tbe UK. My mount is the Stellafane type so I can rotate the tube to put the eyepiece in a convenient position. Would the telescope not be at an awkward angle as the platform would need to be at 53.5 deg here in UK?

I definitely don't want an equatorial mount I have built one and do not like them at all due to the awkward angle the eyepiece often ends up in. Also they need to be accurately aligned to the pole star each time it is used. I know an object will drift out of the field of view, but I am only interested in viewing an object for a few minutes without it moving out of the field of view.

I would like to build a simple azimuth drive for my home made Dobsonian mount. Can anyone suggest parts I need and where I can purchase them from?

i have a small ronchi screen also like yours. they are only really meant for testing at the eyepiece of your telescope