Show me your Dob dolly please :)

[emadmoussa]

Jumping the gun here...I'm thinking about building a dolly for my Dob, but also thinking about some mechanism to slip the scope + base off this dolly for observing then back up again. The last thing I want is adding extra height to the set-up.

Will be great having a look at some of your arrangements.

Thanks!

[Steve Ward]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dobsonian+telescope+trolley&rlz=1C1GGGE_en-gbGB473GB473&espv=210&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=4Jc-U4WKDqKy0QXXxYDwCw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1366&bih=667

[emadmoussa]

Is there a readily made solution that's sold in the UK?

[Bart]

for what size Emad?

[Steve Ward]

Anything here of use ... ?http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?gotonode=ViewProduct&method=mViewProduct&productid=6560&productdescription=&productcode=&category=29&catgroup=273&catmicrogroup=&analysiscode=&requiredresults=16

http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?gotonode=ViewProduct&method=mViewProduct&productid=6559&productdescription=&productcode=&category=29&catgroup=299&catmicrogroup=&analysiscode=&requiredresults=16

[emadmoussa]

for what size Emad?

12 and 14 inch.

[emadmoussa]

Anything here of use ... ?http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?gotonode=ViewProduct&method=mViewProduct&productid=6560&productdescription=&productcode=&category=29&catgroup=273&catmicrogroup=&analysiscode=&requiredresults=16

http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?gotonode=ViewProduct&method=mViewProduct&productid=6559&productdescription=&productcode=&category=29&catgroup=299&catmicrogroup=&analysiscode=&requiredresults=16

Yep, I thinking about these as well.

[jabeoo1]

Emad: I just bought a set of these to use on a hand build outdoor wood seasoning store.   But I am sure that a nice piece of thick wood with these attached to the bottom would be perfect.  You can choose the size of the platform & the position of the coasters, that way meeting the exact needs.  They come as swivel with brakes or swivel without & in pairs & sold as sets of 4 for £22.  They can take as much as 600kg between them.  Attach a nice length of rope to make a handle grasp via 2 holes in the wooden platform & your done for less than £40.  Just an idea as I am currently making this wood store thing.

[jabeoo1]

In fact I may take my own advice and build one for my own Dob

[estwing]

one for the 18"

..and this was the 12.5"

Edited April 4, 2014 by estwing

[Lorne]

Here's mine, levelling feet and wheels for easy movement. Adds a few inches to the height but not a problem on my 300.

A close up with the Dob base in place

There are holes on the dolly to match the Dob feet to prevent it slipping off when I wheel it out from the garage into my garden.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Lorne

[emadmoussa]

Here's mine, levelling feet and wheels for easy movement. Adds a few inches to the height but not a problem on my 300.

2013-08-12 16.46.53.jpg

A close up with the Dob base in place

2013-08-11 22.11.32.jpg

There are holes on the dolly to match the Dob feet to prevent it slipping off when I wheel it out from the garage into my garden.

Good one. What kind of feet are these...I mean are they called?

[C7tsj]

Here's mine, levelling feet and wheels for easy movement. Adds a few inches to the height but not a problem on my 300.

2013-08-12 16.46.53.jpg

A close up with the Dob base in place

2013-08-11 22.11.32.jpg

There are holes on the dolly to match the Dob feet to prevent it slipping off when I wheel it out from the garage into my garden.

Pretty clever. Perhaps slightly bigger wheels would give easier movement but suppose it depends how far you need to move the scope. Clever setup though.

Mark

[Lorne]

Emad,

Got the feet off Ebay, M10 levelling feet, after a few experiments I changed the m10 thread to m12 threaded rod welded on to the foot, this was attached by welding a m12 nut onto a piece of flat bar. A m12 knurled knob was screwed on locked in place by a locknut. The rubber swivelling castor was bolted onto the flat bar then the complete unit was screwed onto the wooden base (x3)

Hope this helps

L.

[Lorne]

Mark,

The wheels are only for taking the scope from the garage to the garden - about 20 feet on slabs.

If I'm out at a dark site - usually rough, sloping etc - its built up where I need it so its only the levelling part that is required.

L.

[Advertise]

Here is mine.

Not the best images but... 

It´s a modified hand truck (if that is what they are called in English).

Like this one:

The "back" is removable so that the scope can rotate in any direction.

It also has 2 screws in the front so that I can level the whole thing.

[Moonshane]

I use a sack truck too like the yellow one.

[swamp thing]

Here's my seventy+ year old dad wheeling my 20" Dob about in his back yard.

Wheelbarrow handles make moving large scopes very easy indeed.

I went with a single wheel, as I needed mine to be more manoeuvrable.

[Beulah]

Nice one Steve.

I am seriously thinking about modding my scope that way - making sure the 'dolly' is detachable when required.

[swamp thing]

Nice one Steve.

I am seriously thinking about modding my scope that way - making sure the 'dolly' is detachable when required.

It's a relatively simple idea the axle fits into two rebates cut into the ply braces on each wheelbarrow handle. The axle fits from underneath. One simply rocks the Dob backwards and fits the axle into the slots. Gravity does the rest.

The handles are held on by star headed clamp bolts threaded into t nuts on the rocker box. The axle itself is an ash hod handle.

[sparksnsuch]

Lorne,

Sent you a PM

sparksnsuch

 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by sparksnsuch

[JonCarleton]

I took the easy way out and just bought the Harbor Freight furniture dolly.  A 4 wheel, rectangular dolly with carpeted top for under $20.  It works, but it isn't fancy.

https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-movers-dolly-38970.html

Then too, I am only rolling it from the storage room, through the house and out onto the wood deck.  No "off-roading."

Edited March 24, 2020 by JonCarleton