Limerick Astronomy Club

Jerry, When we were at the Burren last saturday night we were discussing the problems/dangers of setting up a heavy telescope for observing.
Here is a link to an image of the dolly I am using for the Meade 10" : www.pulsar-optical.co.uk/prod/AC091.html
As you can see the 3 legs are telescopic (no pun intended) to accomodate varying spread widths of the tripods that come with different scopes.
The scope's tripod legs sit into a hole at the end of each of the dolly legs (it cannot easily fall off/or out of the dolly) and the hex bolts are tightened.
When you get to your observing point then you can simply wind down the the anchoring cups and you have a reasonably rigid set up for your observing session.
For me this has transformed the number of times I take out the scope for observing. The only improvement I would like to see on this design is if it came with bigger diameter castor wheels. This set up is a little top heavy and you would not want to be too aggressive when moving it from A to B.
Let me know if you would like to see it. Conn
p.s. Thanks for the guided tour of the sky at the Burren .. it was thoroughly enjoyable

07/10/2013.
Hi Conn,
Many thanks for your posting and attached link.
I must say the overall design was well thaught out
there is nothing to get in the way of your feet or
projecting to trip you up. It certainly beats my
proposed design which would be circular and therefore
would be in the way of feet. However I did intend to
fit large castors with pedal brakes, ( this idea came to mind
last year after Dave and Frank upgraded the turntable on
the Clubs Dob 300 and there was a discussion on the merits
and demerits of various castors.). Also my design would be
built around one telescope mount and would not be as adaptable.
Also as you pointed out to me mine would probably need a
tractor lawn mower to tow it around. Regards, Jerry.

Jerry, I forgot to mention that there are locks on the castors on my telescope dolly but from my experience of using it I found that with the castor locks on that if you bumped against the scope it could still move by pivoting on the castor struts if you know what I mean. This movement is significant enough to upset the alignment so much that another alignment run is necessary.
So, I both lock the castors and wind down the stabilising cups and that works fine.
As I mentioned before .. I have some of those castors in stock and you are welcome to them if you plan to try and build your own scope dolly.

20/10/2013.
Conn, I will get back to you as soon as I can to
continue discussion on castors for dolly.
Regards, Jerry.

27/10/2013.
Hi Conn,
I am forwarding you by e-mail further information
on locking swivels and castors simultaneously. This is an
option that could be used when rigid locking is required,
say for tracking for camera work etc..
Rrgards, Jerry.