Frankenscope Base changes

The Base
• Azimuth movement of scope pathetic by default. Put a lazy susan in instead of the hard plastic glides. Turned too easily—scope weathervaned in the wind, and without any contact between the outer portions of the two layers of plywood disk, the scope tended to rock back and forth excessively. Used furniture glides as shims at nine points along perimeter—they are load bearing, but bulk of weight still on lazy susan. (Had a dickens of a time grinding each down to make right amount of contact, and was tough to find a glue that would hold between the two dissimilar plastic surfaces, esp. w/grease present—I use a graphite/moly high pressure joint lube)
• Had initially moved Meade’s hard plastic (definitely not Telfon) pads on trunion rest closer to the 70* angle desired. Still l—ended up replacing them with ‘EZ-Glide” teflon furniture glides. Two on each side meant that was enough surface area in contact w/Trunion that enough friction to hold scope, but no “stiction” to moving
• Since the trunions have a tendency to move laterally if the scope if raised and lowered repeatedly a full 90 degrees (something that usually happens mostly during setup), I put a simple wingnut-secured tab on each side to hold the trunions in place. This takes pressure off the Magellan I’s mount if I’m using it, since otherwise it would have to hold the OTA in place alone. (First had height of trunions mismatched after move, which I think contributed greatly to the lateral shift, and definitely affected DSC accuracy. Even after having them within 1/16th of an inch of the same height from bottom of tube, the scope continued to be off-level by ½ inch Perplexing…)
• The base was too tall to fit in my full-sized domestic station wagon along w/rest of scope, so I used angle iron/bolts/wing nuts to make “quick release” mounts to affix the vertical base to the disc.
• I added a brace (making a square, vice “C”) to the vertical portion—made more stable on and off scope
• Replaced the two flimsy plastic handles on base w/two sturdy metal handles. (I carry the base intact from my garage if observing at home—it’s not that big a deal for someone whose idea of fun is bench-pressing 450+ lbs in the gym every morning! I do the same with my 10” LX200 on its tripod, which lends new meaning to a “GO TO” scope!)
• Usage note: discovered that heavy duty (70 amphour) marine battery and power inverter could be inside the base uprights against the front., and that the scope still pivoted fairly easily on base. Let me power fan, laptop w/o having to worry about disconnecting from battery. When I don’t expect to move that far in azimuth (concentrating on a constellation, I place battery in rear and use a robust homemade power cord to power fans and keep smooth turning). Update—since weight (40 lbs) of the Marine battery was affecting the azimiuth turning friction, I discovered that my 17 amp hour gel cell battery which weighed less than half as much was a better fit, and w/a smaller form factor. Can probably run two nights without having to recharge, although recommended to do so after each session. (Not sure how deep cycle this battery really is!). Second update: with installation of DDR2, have returned to the 70 AH marine battery, which sits on a ledge along scope base, where provides weight to give traction to DDR’s knurled azimuth wheel
• Made both of the two outside vertical braces “quick release” with wingnuts, bolts, and angle iron. Couldn’t have both fixed permanently in place and still fit base in my Taurus wagon.
• Since sometimes set up on slightly uneven surfaces, have begun putting Celestron Vibration Suppression Pads under three of the stock rubber feet spaced equidistant around the base. Great at damping out wind or user-induced vibration!