Old Mount Rebuild

Negotiations over the 18" mirror have hit a slow spot, so in the interests of having some sort of functional instrument to use in the next few months, I decided to rebuild the old 4.25" Dobsonian mount for the spotter scope. I will post more pictures, but the few I have taken show the present state of the rebuild and repaint.

Basically, I stripped the mount of its previous navy blue color and sanded everything down to bare wood, which was difficult to say the least. I think I burned through about $25 dollars in belt sander pads after chemically stripping the paint off. For some reason, I had a primer, two layers of paint and two layers of polyurethane on last time.

This time, I did a primer, a stone texture spray, and a thick clear coat. Here are the results: 

Next, I replaced the greased record bearings with two laminate surface bearings, being Ebony Star 4551-90 by Wilsonart. I glued it on both the base bearing and the main rocker box using laminate contact cement.

Of course, I painted all exposed surfaces with flat black spray paint and a healthy clear coat.

I must say, compared to the amateurish job I did on this mount 10 years ago (it was my first telescope), I am quite impressed with the results.

 

I'm actually thinking of using this as a separate instrument right now, just because it looks so nice, but we'll see. The next task will be to work on the 18" scope spider, which I am now comfortable enough to design and build myself.

Stay tuned for final assembly pictures on the 4.25" rebuild. It's drying in my in-laws' basement overnight. Tomorrow will reveal all!