| The 10" Meade
SCT, like many others, is just too heavy to casually pick up and take out to the yard.
Wheels for the tripod are available but they won’t run easily over minor obstacles, and leveling the scope requires a lot of bending over. A much better solution also saves mucho bucks. |
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| Three cheap rotating side-crank 800lb. trailer jacks from Fulton each require exactly one new drill hole at sixty degrees --use a metal cutting bit, about 3/8ths. The jacks are then bolted at this sixty degree angle to the sixty degree tripod legs. This naturally makes the jacks perfectly vertical so the jack wheels freely carry the scope. |  |
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Unfortunately, the torques developed in rolling will quickly cause these trailer jacks to rotate out of position. Therefore three short strips of metal strapping (green left) are bolted from the jacks to a common tie point in the middle to prevent this catastrophe. The result are wheels for the tripod that allows you to level the scope while standing up and looking casually down at the level on the scope, before releasing the tripod legs. Voila! The scope is moved and leveled. It even moves over grass! But watch out for tipping when the front wheel snags going downhill since the wheels are not as wide as the tripod legs. Just sitting there, leveled up a bit, it is very stable. For the first time in history: 10" tripods that can get through standard house doors! I added a table on my unit with just two nuts on the existing Fulton bolts. The diagonal bolts (in red left) are vertical and therefore give a strong place for a shelf bracket for the table. You can also hold a lot of telejunk off the bolt and fasteners (far green left) that come with these Fulton 800lb. Trailer Jacks. Beats those wheelie bars flat. Cost about $100 worth of stuff. Kmart and many marine suppliers carry the Fulton jacks. Note the jacks from Fulton have a 2" pipe grove that makes the standard bracket fit tightly. Other jacks don't seem to have this grove. Robert Thibadeau. |
