Raising my Dobsonian...DIY guidance required!

[1stfishinspace]

Hi to all! I want to raise the height of my dobsonian (12inch solid tube on a standard Skywatcher dob mount) and am contemplating making a plywood stand to sit the OTA and mount ensemble on etc. Has anyone here done this and if so, how did it work out and do you have any tried and trusted designs You would be willing to share?

Many thanks and I look forward to some (hopefully) practical and simple solutions etc.

[Moonshane]

are you raising it to look over e.g. a fence? or is it than the eyepiece is not at a convenient height? if the latter than a chair with a good range of adjustment would be my solution.

if the former then I'd make a wide wooden (perhaps round with three feet below the feet of the ground board) platform with plenty of support and through which you could bolt upwards through the groundboard to ensure the scope stays on. you could even make a wider taller groundboard box where the platform IS the groundboard?

[Orion_the_Hunter]

I got a plant pot stand from t'garden centre for my 8"Dob. It might give you some ideas. There are some pics in this thread. >>> http://stargazerslounge.com/discussions-scopes-whole-setups/132484-plant-pot-stand-dob.html

[Moonshane]

the main thing is to ensure your centre of gravity is not too high. this can be achieved to some extent by bolting the dob base to the platform as the platform contributes to the overall weight and therefore retains the COG as low as possible.