Limerick Astronomy Club

Lads,
I saw how the 10 and 12" scopes were been used last week at the public observing nights and I have to say I was chuffed at how well they performed.
I cant get over how sharp the views were through the 12" now that its optics were aligned using the new collimator, I'd now put it as been better then the 10", where before it was significantly inferior cos collimating it by eye was a nightmare tbh.

I'm always looking at these scopes thinking of ways of improving them, making them easier to use, as Jerry said in the last meeting
"the best scope you have is the one you end up using the most"

One thing that can be an issue is their weight and ease of moving around, what would people think of 4 of these under each corner of 12", the entire scope would be sitting on 4 of these,


That way it can be easily moved around if needed and then locked into position to make it steady.
Also, I noticed the rockerbox section is hard to grip/lift, is it worth getting small handles for this or cutting out small hand holes/grips ?

These are only ideas, just bouncing them out there....

I have a load of these castors (with the little lock) in my garage, exactly like the image you have posted here and I will gladly donate them if they are suitable.

That sounds like a good plan.
Easy to change back if it doesn't work.
Fair play.
And thanks Conn for the castors!

One thing that can be an issue is their weight and ease of moving around, what would people think of 4 of these under each corner of 12", the entire scope would be sitting on 4 of these,

The base of the 12" is supported by 3 pads, so i'm guessing we would have to use 3 castors as well.
I just don't know how stable this arrangement would be. Also the difficulty in moving the 12" is all in the setup, once it is in place you never need to shift it.
2 or 3 brass handles on the rocker box would be ideal though, and contribute nicely to its steampunk look as well.

@Conn, very many thank for your generous offer of the of the castors.

Gordon Lalor wrote: The base of the 12" is supported by 3 pads, so i'm guessing we would have to use 3 castors as well.......
and contribute nicely to its steampunk look as well

steampunk, I love it, haha, we need more brass though.

Seriously though, I dont think 3 wheels wouldn't work, it would keel over, it only works for the rocker box as there is a big steel bolt and bar in the center holding the thing together.
If we had to take off 2 of the pads to make space for 2 of the wheels, then that would not be a big job, and you do have a point about the setup.

I suppose Jerry is the man to really ask if it would help as he's the man who has to deal with it, I was trying to think of a way of making it easier to handle, if there is no real benefit then no problem, so Jerry what do you think ??