Hi Nick:

First I would build almost anything before a german equatorial. In building the ones I have, I learned a few things.

What you can not machine accurate enough needs to be adjustable. Lattitude settings and perpendicularity of the DEC and RA axis.

Spread out the areas of of moment.Where the head meets the pier. Where the RA shaft meets the DEC housing and where the DEC shaft meets the saddle. Where the head does meet the pier do not use the three finger or flange, design common among commercially made scopes ie. CAVE, OC, Astroscopics etc. Spread that contact point out to two fingers down between four fingers up Larger bearings at this points are most helpful. Use accurate bearings on the bottom ends, so while smaller they may not be cheaper.

When possible couple the drive as high up on the axises as possible. It is nice to have large worms but if mounted on the bottom of the axises they interfere with the latitude adjustment. There they are more prone to damage and tend to lose torque and accuracy.

Look for these attributes before settling on a given design.

Good Luck and Have Fun,
-Rick

• RE: RE: German Equatorial Mount Design - bobmay - August 31, 2000 - 18:51 UTC
  • German Equatorial Mount Plans - andypod - September 28, 2002 - 08:26 UTC