Help with dobsonian mount

[Seth]

I have a dobsonian mount and I have had an idea to mark out the azimuth in degrees on the base so when I turn the mount I know how many degrees my telescope is along the azimuth. The circumference of the base is 144.513262cm. But I cant figure out how to mark out the figures in degrees.

Any ideas on how to work out how much 1 degree is and how to mark it?

Cheers,

Seth

[crashtestdummy]

keep dividing the base in to segmants,4 quarters first then,8 then 16 etc then you have 90/45/22.5 degrees and so on and eventually small enough increments.get a protractor and work from the centre hole of your base then mark out in straight lines to the edge for your marks

[crashtestdummy]

alternatively measure round the circumfrence of your base and divide by 360 to get 1°

[Seth]

Thankyou very much

[Craig20264]

1 degree = 4mm

[hemihaggis]

you could draw a line up center of scope and use a compass with baseplate to read off the degrees . simple .

[brantuk]

You can get a template here - take it to your local Staples offic supplies and they'll print it out full size for around £15 - then just stick on the base

Setting Circles - You are not logged in

(Just make a pointer on the top part of the base to point to it - add a Wixey for elevation and you'll have an amazingly accurate pointing system)

[Seth]

Thankyou for the help guys

[knobby]

As Brantuk said ...

I've done mine a bit different, I didn't want to damage the mount so I've stripped the mount ans put the guide on the top if base and used a lovely red paper clip on the bottom! !

Works a treat and I can completely remove it if I resell

Good luck

[knobby]

Forgot to add picture ...

[Odd Thomas]

Thats cool.

[knobby]

Thanks. Just didn't fancy cutting or drilling chunks out of it!

Once its aligned with a known object I just stick the paper clip in the correct place with blutak

[brantuk]

Very neat solution Knobby

[knobby]

Forgot to add picture ...

forgot to add that the number scale has to be backwards ... ie anti clock for this to work , takes a bit of getting used to but it works

[knobby]

Come on Seth, you,ve had all day ... how ya getting on ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

As Brantuk said ...

I've done mine a bit different, I didn't want to damage the mount so I've stripped the mount ans put the guide on the top if base and used a lovely red paper clip on the bottom! !

Works a treat and I can completely remove it if I resell

Good luck

Looks great.

I was just thinking/wondering. If you add a 360 degree template to your DOB base, does this mean that you then have to "polar align" your scope so that the zero degrees mark is facing north, 90 degrees is facing east etc?.

[sunshine185]

I usually point my dob at polaris , then set the marker at zero degrees, I guess this is polar aligning, but it is possible to point the scope at any object, then put the marker at the corresponding degree on the base. As long as the base is level, either method works ok.

[Seth]

Well using a combination of techniques suggested mine has partially worked just a bit flimsy will modify it a bit and put a pic up if I have time. Thanks.

Cheers,

Seth