DIY equatorial platform

[granty515]

After a few months of building due to family commitments (3yr old twins) and a change of design half way through I successfully built a vns eq platform , with plans I got of the net .

1st test was a daylight one just to see if it moved my 10 inch dob and not calapse in on it self .

2nd test was at night which was successful managed to get about 50 minutes before reset and tested Jupiter for 20 mins at x 350 which was great even left the scope for 10 mins for a little break and came back with no drift or anything.

Will follow up with some pictures of the platform decided against writing a big long post on how I built it but am willing to answer any questions

Thanks

[Scooot]

You must be very chuffed. Out of interest how much do you you reckon it cost you, just curious to compare with the manufactured ones.

Ps, I should add I realise cost might not be the main motivation as I'm sure you thoroughly enjoyed making it.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Scooot

[granty515]

No way near the same cost as the manufactured ones you can get I spent about £18 pound on ply wood then about £20 on bearings nuts and bolts drive shaft(all from a model shop ) and a £30 eq1 stepper motor from eBay (not ideal for Speed control gonna up grade it to a remote control one so I don't have to keep bending down to set it up) so roughly about 75 quid with little finishing touches like paint and spirit levels.

[Mike73]

I had a Watchhouse platform and regret selling it now so have been looking at the TS platforms as they are cheaper.

I'd be interested in seeing the plans for yours though if you can post them up?

[granty515]

Hi I used www.reinervogel.net plans for a vns platform you can print the plans off for the North bearings for your locations latitude stick them to a bit of ply then cut out with a jigsaw for the South bearing he just uses a pivot point, but I decided to go against this and used a bolt located through the platform and base at 50 degrees my latitude. I will get some photos for you tomorrow

[Mike73]

Photos would be great, thanks.

Thats a great site, bookmarked!

I see one of his platform increases EP height by only 60mm which is far better than anything you can buy commercially.

[granty515]

Yes their not very high at all in fact I've got a 250px which I used to sit on a table I made about a foot tall to raise the eyepiece so I made my platform about 130mm high and cut about 150mm of my table so have table then platform and telescope

[granty515]

Found a picture of the platform from testing the other day.

[granty515]

Side on view of platform still needs another coat of paint and adjustable feet to be added

[granty515]

Another pic

[Ptarmigan]

Hi I used www.reinervogel.net plans for a vns platform

Very interesting link, a wealth of information and food for thought !

thanks for the pointer

(and he has a novel way, buried in his html, of deterring website harvesting ! )

Edited March 24, 2014 by Ptarmigan

[granty515]

I wish Id found the website at the start of the build wouldn't of wasted so much time brilliant site

[Wyvern]

Hi I used www.reinervogel.net plans for a vns platform you can print the plans off for the North bearings for your locations latitude stick them to a bit of ply then cut out with a jigsaw for the South bearing he just uses a pivot point, but I decided to go against this and used a bolt located through the platform and base at 50 degrees my latitude. I will get some photos for you tomorrow

 Ooh..... a very tasty web site indeed. Many thanks for link granty515. 

Les

[pixelsaurus]

Did you shape the north sector circular or elliptical?

[granty515]

Did you shape the north sector circular or elliptical?

hi i used elliptical north sector from a template i copied and printed from a website 

thanks

[pixelsaurus]

hi i used elliptical north sector from a template i copied and printed from a website 

thanks

Thanks for that. I assume you mean the templates on reinervogels site. Not sure they would work for me as my latitude doesn't coincide with those listed. Also I do not trust my manual skills enough to try and make them. I was sort of hoping an elliptical sector could be formed in a similar fashion to the sectors on the cylindrical bearing platforms ie on a jig. Thanks anyway.

[knobby]

Nice job... Well done

[granty515]

Thanks for that. I assume you mean the templates on reinervogels site. Not sure they would work for me as my latitude doesn't coincide with those listed. Also I do not trust my manual skills enough to try and make them. I was sort of hoping an elliptical sector could be formed in a similar fashion to the sectors on the cylindrical bearing platforms ie on a jig. Thanks anyway.

hi the only way ive seen elliptical sectors done on a homemade jig is fixing a hinge to the south end of the platform with north sectors attached then fixing that to a door frame (or similar) at you latitude degree then mounting a drill with a sanding disc on jig working it backwards and forwards to shape the sectors. it all looked pretty complex so i used templates a powerful jigsaw with a strong fine cutting blade and a steady hand lol

[hunterknox]

Good work that man. I love EQ platforms as a technology for the marriage of simplicity and sophistication. 20 mins at 350x is an achievement indeed.

[pixelsaurus]

I think I will resort to a jig. If I cut anything by hand, I'm just asking for disappointment. So I guess the next question is: what kind of drive did you settle for? Tangent arm, friction drive on the sector rim, rack and pinion? As soon as I get the garage cleaned up and stack the 3 cumecs of firewood to be delivered Thursday, it will be time for me to make a start. You give me hope.

[pixelsaurus]

Read cumets - cubic metres.

[granty515]

If you go for vns platform I got away with a simple friction set up using a eq1 stepper motor, gonna upgrade to one with hand held remote next, bit of a pain setting up speed continuously bending up and down for 5 minutes or so lol

[gooseholla]

I'd love to make one of these. However, based on my feeble attempts to even get a simple dob mount square, I think it is beyond me with my current tools and experience.

Looks good though.

[Lawrence Dsouza]

Can any one help me 23 degree latitude template 

[dlavall]

I'm looking for a low latitude design myself.  I think I can make a template from Fusion 360 (auto cad) but I'm not sure that the VNS design is a good option for lower latitudes due to the fact that the pivot point would be so much further north.  I'm at 28° N latitude.

Thoughts?