Mobile Dob base

[Celtic Deacon]

Apologies if this has been asked before, I've not been able to find the answer to this.

I've got hold of some castors so that I can make a "trolley" for my 200 Dob. I just want to make it mobile so I can move it around in my back garden rather than picking it up and walking about with it. Would it be better to attach these straight on to the base board or on to another piece of wood?

Thanks

Garth

[LukeSkywatcher]

Just incase you ever decide to sell the scope, i'd put them onto another piece of wood.

[Paulus17]

I would put the castors onto a sepearte ply board,just some shutter ply would be fine and just have some sort of hook clip to hold the Dob base to the new board.

Have you got the softer rubber castors??

I was thinking of doing this and was going to use the 3"-4" rubber castor just to raise the Dob up a bit.

[johninderby]

It's easiest to simply fit them to the baseboard. Mount them where the three rubber feet were. I found having castors fitted made it easier to sell a dob so it won't hurt the value at all. Did you get braked castors and are they the single bolt type or the type that attach with four screws.?

Here's a few pics of castors I've fiitted to a few dobs.

John

[Celtic Deacon]

Thanks for your advice Paul, Paulus and John. You can guess I'm not very practical/forward thinking .

I've got 4 x 2 inch castors 2 of which have brakes on and are attached with 4 screws. I want to mod the base to make it move a bit more freely also using Teflon or milk bottle disks, if I screw directly to ground board would this affect this movement?

[swamp thing]

If moving it about on grass or a more uneven surface, wheel arrow handles are the norm .

Like these, or with pneumatic tyres that would be a lot better. Can't find an image of them at the moment but hopefully you get the idea.

[Moonshane]

whatever you do, ensure you still only have three equally spaced points of contact with the ground. otherwise you'll always have a wobbly base.

[johninderby]

Thanks for your advice Paul, Paulus and John. You can guess I'm not very practical/forward thinking .

I've got 4 x 2 inch castors 2 of which have brakes on and are attached with 4 screws. I want to mod the base to make it move a bit more freely also using Teflon or milk bottle disks, if I screw directly to ground board would this affect this movement?

No it won't affect movement, and also you should only fit three castors as this is more stable than four. Think of the way a tripod works.

Also fit the three castors directly under where the Teflon pads are.

John

[Paulus17]

You might want to use These to fix the bolts to,they will keep everything nice and flush.

[Celtic Deacon]

Thanks again, I'll start this tomorrow!

Garth

[LukeSkywatcher]

I am just curious....................

How are 3 castors more stable on a DOB base then 4?

If the castors are screwed directly onto the DOB base (which is round) would 3 of the spaced at 120 degrees be more secure?

Likewise, i guess if the DOB is placed on a square wooden "dolly", then a castor at each corner would be the best solution.

I suppose its all about balance of shape of the base you put the castors on.

[swamp thing]

A four legged stool can wobble Paul if the floor is uneven. A three legged one can't. That's the principle behind using a tripod arrangement.

This arrangement works with casters too. Four wheeled vehicles don't adhere to this because of suspension. They are able to adjust to whatever the ground is doing alas casters can't.

[LukeSkywatcher]

A four legged stool can wobble Paul if the floor is uneven. A three legged one can't. That's the principle behind using a tripod arrangement.

This arrangement works with casters too. Four wheeled vehicles don't adhere to this because of suspension. They are able to adjust to whatever the ground is doing alas casters can't.

Just thinking about it, the base of my Heritage DOB has 3 rubber feet.

[Paulus17]

Keep us informed with how you get on Garth,as i say i might do this to mine

[knobby]

Regarding the earlier question ... will it affect movement? Well it will if the fixing screws are too long!