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Laminate sheet - where to buy????

russ

By russ
in DIY Astronomer

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barkis

barkis

Posted
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May not appeal to you Russ, But the last Dob, I made, I used a piece of Kitchen worktop as a base.

The Teflon bearings slid around on it a treat. I know it is a compressed fibre, but I coated the exposed areas with PVA , and stuck a piece of plywood on the bottom of it, and screwed the feet to that. I have also used melamine sheet stuck with contact adhesive to two 18mm ply stuck together.

I don't think Formica is available anymore, but that used to be Ideal too.

Ron. :smiley:

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russ

russ

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Thanks Ron. I was getting to the point of digging out a piece of black gloss kitchen worktop from the shed. Beacon Hill suggested contacting a local Kitchen furniture manufacturer and asking for an offcut of the laminate sheet and then glue that to the base of the Meade. But can't find one of those.

Also what do people use for Alt bearings? I've seen the 25mm teflon furniture sliders in B&Q, are those the right thing?

Russ

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barkis

barkis

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What I did Russ, was find a short length of water pipe, or drain pipe. When I had worked out the diameter of the Altitude bearings, I would machine the plywood discs, until they were A tight fit on the wooden discs, then cut the "Tyres" if you like, off the pipe, then press them onto the discs.

Some Araldite served to stick them in place. The bearing surface for the tyres, was either thick felt glued to the surface of the bearing track, or two pieces of Teflon used as the bearing surface.

Either method worked for me, although the felt method had a more positive action, when you moved the scope, it tended to stay where you stopped the push if you know what I mean. there was no slight drift when you released the pressure. Of course it go's without saying, that good balance has a big say in the performance.

Ron.

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russ

russ

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Thanks Ron.

Meade have the drain pipes on the side but use Nylon pads instead of Teflon. Loads of stiction, makes it impossible to move the scope accurately. Just sent an email to Beacon Hill to buy some Teflon pads. That should sort the Altitude.

We have a Magnet & Southern near us. They sell custom made Kitchens, i wonder if they will sell a piece of laminate for the base? hmm.

Russ

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russ

russ

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Hi Ant, we have a spare bit of worktop no probs. It's just i was hoping to stick a bit of laminate on the existing base with some teflon pads. Just trying to find someone with the laminate that isn't already attached to a worktop that's the hard bit.

Thanks for the offer though.

Russ

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haitch

haitch

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I'm looking around for how I'm going to refurb the base of my dob in the near future but the more I look around the more I'm getting confused with all these materials. :smiley:

What's the difference between teflon and ptfe sheet or are they the same? :bino2:

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