Tables for table mounts

[zcjp]

Slightly silly question. I've just bought a Skywatcher Virtuoso MAK90 which is a table top mount.  What kind of tables do you folks who have similar use to  stand your scopes on?

I'm using a plastic patio table at the moment but i's a bit wobbly. 

I'm not too far away from an IKEA store if that's any use.

[happy-kat]

Hi

Upturned bucket/container sometimes

[Louis D]

Doesn't it have a 3/8"-16 mount on the base underside to attach it to a wide range of photo tripods?  If not, my apologies.

[Geoff Lister]

This is a photo of my Heritage 130P. The mount base is similar to that of the Virtuoso. The plastic table/stool and glass-top table allow easy 360 degree access.

Geoff

[zcjp]

3 minutes ago, Geoff Lister said:

This is a photo of my Heritage 130P. The mount base is similar to that of the Virtuoso. The plastic table/stool and glass-top table allow easy 360 degree access.

Geoff

That looks ideal. I don't suppose you can remember where you got the table from?

[zcjp]

8 minutes ago, Louis D said:

Doesn't it have a 3/8"-16 mount on the base underside to attach it to a wide range of photo tripods?  If not, my apologies.

Yes but it needs to be levelled to work properly and I suspect that levelling it on a tripod will be more difficult than doing it on a table top.

[Geoff Lister]

1 minute ago, zcjp said:

I don't suppose you can remember where you got the table from?

Sorry, I can't remember. It was probably about a decade ago.

[Geoff Lister]

3 minutes ago, zcjp said:

I suspect that levelling it on a tripod will be more difficult than doing it on a table top

Most tripods have an adjustable clamp on each leg, so the bubble level on the Virtuoso mount will show when the leg lengths are correct.

[Tiny Clanger]

Despite being a pretty hamfisted carpenter I made my heritage dob a triangular table out of  the wood salvaged from an Ikea sofa which expired. Making a table top isn't hard, the difficult bit would be making and attaching the legs , I swerved this by buying a set of ready made metal furniture legs with plates at the top with screw holes to fix 'em to the table top I'd made .

There are pictures showing the table in the thread I made for the chair I built later

 

[Gfamily]

1 hour ago, Geoff Lister said:

Most tripods have an adjustable clamp on each leg, so the bubble level on the Virtuoso mount will show when the leg lengths are correct.

Handy hint - if the ground isn't level, rotate the tripod around its centre until one leg is exactly lined up with the 'up' side of the bubble level. That way you only need to shorten one leg. It's surprising how long it took me to realise that this is obvious!

Edited August 31, 2021 by Gfamily

[zcjp]

30 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Despite being a pretty hamfisted carpenter I made my heritage dob a triangular table out of  the wood salvaged from an Ikea sofa which expired. Making a table top isn't hard, the difficult bit would be making and attaching the legs , I swerved this by buying a set of ready made metal furniture legs with plates at the top with screw holes to fix 'em to the table top I'd made .

There are pictures showing the table in the thread I made for the chair I built later

 

IKEA legs?

[Tiny Clanger]

26 minutes ago, zcjp said:

IKEA legs?

No, these  , I used the 25cm ones which proved very sturdy, I can confidently stand on my table ! The height is good to use seated with the dob, looking in the back end of a mak will probably require a higher table .Those legs only flaw was a threaded hole at the bottom (intended for a levelling foot) , which I worried might admit damp when I used the table on my lawn in the winter. Discs of closed cell foam attached to the feet with glue gun hot melt glue have stayed stuck on remarkably well and stopped any chance of ingress of moisture.  Plus you get a set of 4, and wonder what possible use the left over leg can be put to ....

Heather

Edited September 1, 2021 by Tiny Clanger

[Tiny Clanger]

Before I made the table , I sometimes put the dob on an old but heavy based cheap copy of a B&D workmate , it was a bit too high to use with the heritage dob for high alt. objects for me , but as long as targets were below 70 degrees and I could find a flat bit of grass to park the 4 feet on it worked OK .

[HoneyBadger-231]

I just built this tonight for my skywatcher heritage 150p.  

 

The plans are available on eyesonthesky.com . Cost me 43 dollars and about 2 hrs to make it

[Geoff Lister]

7 hours ago, Gfamily said:

Handy hint - if the ground isn't level, rotate the tripod around its centre until one leg is exactly lined up with the 'up' side of the bubble level. That way you only need to shorten one leg.

I did the opposite with my Skyliner Dob base. There is no adjustment for the feet. I line-up one foot with the 'down' side of a bubble level (an addition to the base), and slide a wedge under the foot until the bubble is central.