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Leveling Base
for
XT-12 Intelliscope

 

 When you assemble the Intelliscope, the instructions tell you to set the base on a perfectly level surface.  Then, you install the OTA onto the base and stand it vertical -- using a level, check to see that the tube is vertical.   There is an adjustable stop on the base that you adjust to ensure the OTA is vertical in relationship to the base. 

When you use the Intelliscope, you start off with the OTA vertical -- then -- turn on the handheld controller, find two alignment stars, and align the scope.  It is easy to misinterpret the instructions about the OTA being vertical -- read carefully:

  •   When you assemble the scope, set the base on a perfectly flat surface -- check with a level -- install the OTA, stand it vertical, measure the OTA for plumb, and adjust the stop on the base so that the OTA is aligned perfectly vertical in relationship to the base.
     
  •  When you use the Intelliscope controller --   set the scope on the ground, plug in the controller, DO NOT TURN THE CONTROLLER ON, then move the OTA to its vertical position against the stop.  This does not mean that the OTA must be perfectly vertical -- that is, if the scope is on the ground and the ground is rough or not level, the OTA will be slightly out of vertical -- that's fine because the OTA, when it is against the vertical stop on the base, is vertical in relationship to the base.  Carefully read the Intelliscope instruction manual and it tells you the scope does not have to be on level ground after it has been assembled.
     
  •  HOWEVER -- sometimes it's not possible to find a good spot to set up the scope, especially if you are at a viewing location that is on rough ground.  For this reason, I made a leveling platform that I can use in case the place where I set up the scope is really rough.  This article shows how I built my leveling platform.  I rarely use this platform -- just find a patch of ground that's reasonably flat and plunk the scope down there, but, sometimes I am at a location where the ground is quite rough and this platform comes in handy to keep the scope sitting on a solid foundation.

Here are some photos and a description of the leveling base -- construction is pretty much self-explanatory and the base is applicable to any Orion Intelliscope scope.  Note:  I am a fairly careful craftsman but in the case of this leveling bases, I made it up as I went along, bought some materials, hacked away with my saw and drill, and let it roll.  If this base is useful to you, please feel free to modify it.


The problem was to make a base on which I could set my Orion XT-12 Intelliscope and then level the base.  I figured I needed:

  •  A triangular base.
  •  Adjustable legs on all three of the corners of the triangle.
  •  Holes in the base into which the feet on the XT-12 would sit.

Here's a photo of the finished product.

The base is made of 3/4-inch B-C plywood.  The bottom edge -- the edge facing you -- is 35 inches wide, I don't recall the other measurements -- finished size will vary with the size of your scope.  Look at each corner where you will see a 1/8-inch X 6-inch eyebolt.  These eyebolts screw in and out of a T-nut in the plywood.  On the end of each eyebolt is an acorn nut that rests on the ground.  By turning the eyebolt in or out, I can raise or lower the corners of the leveling base -- with the scope sitting on this base I put a bulls-eye level on the scope base, turn the eyebolts in and out until the level shows level and the scope is then sitting level and is ready to align.

Note that adjacent to each eyebolt is a 1-1/4-inch hole drilled through the plywood base.  The XT-12 Dobsonian baseplate has three hard plastic feet -- those feet fit into these three holes -- the locations of these holes will vary depending on your scope.  Note that there are two holes roughly in the center of this base.  The bottom of the XT-12 base has a bolt that holds the XT-12 base together -- the head of that bolt rests in the upper one of these two holes -- the lower of these two holes is a mistake.

Here's a close-up view of the leveling legs.

 

The leveling leg has three components.  This photo is taken looking at the bottom of the leveling base.

  •  A T-nut that is set into a hole drilled in the corner of the leveling base.  I used T-nuts with 3/8-16 threads.  The T-nut is fastened to the base with three small screws.
  •  An eyebolt with threads to match the T-nut.  I used a 4-inch long eyebolt -- this length will give you plenty of adjusting range.
  •  An acorn nut that serves as a foot for the eyebolt.  I plan to replace this acorn nut with a hard rubber or plastic foot as soon as I can find one.

Construction process

Construction of this base is self-explanatory but here's a rough idea of how I did it.

Materials

I got all the material at my local big-box hardware store (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.).  My materials were:

  •  One 4-foot X 4-foot piece of 3/4-inch plywood.
  •  Three T-nuts, 3/8-16 threads.
  •  Three eyebolts, 3/8-16, 4 inches long.  Don't use anything shorter than 4 inches.
  •  Three acorn nuts with threads to match the eyebolts.  Or, if you can find a plastic or rubber foot, or any other foot, use it.
  •  Black paint -- exterior latex, gloss or semi-gloss.
  •  #6 Phillips screws, 1/2 inch long, to secure the T-nuts to the plywood base.

Building the base

As stated previously, look at the photos and you should be able to build your own leveling base.  Here is the process I used.

  1.  Get together all materials; a pencil; a yardstick; tape measure; telescope; saw; drill with assorted bits and hole saws.
  2.  Lay the plywood on the ground.
  3. Set the telescope on the plywood.
  4. Using the pencil and the yardstick:  mark the points where the feet on the scope base sit on the plywood; using the yardstick as a straightedge, lay out the base -- make the base a triangle that is somewhat larger than the base of the scope.
  5.  There is a bolt that attaches the bottom half of the scope's base to the top half of the base.  The head of that bolt protrudes out of the bottom baseplate.  You must drill a hole in the leveling base to accommodate this bolt head otherwise the scope will not sit level on the leveling base. More about this later.
  6.  Remove the scope from the base and cut the base out of the sheet of plywood.
  7.  The feet of the XT-12 are 1-1/4 inches in diameter -- using a hole saw, cut a 1-1/4-inch hole in each of the three places that you marked for the scope feet.
  8.  Now -- I rubbed chalk on the head of the bolt in step 5.  Then, I set the scope onto the base -- the feet fit through the three 1-1/4-inch holes and the bolt head rested on the plywood.  I lifted the scope off the plywood and there was a chalk mark where the bolt head hit the plywood -- cut a big hole here -- I used the 1-1/4-inch hole saw.
  9. Drill three holes, one in each corner, to accommodate the T-nuts.  Measure these holes so they are evenly placed in the corners of the plywood triangle.
  10. Set everything aside and paint the leveling base.  I put three coats of black, latex, exterior semi-gloss paint on each side and the edges.
  11. After the paint is dry, turn the plywood upside down.  Stick the T-nuts into the holes drilled for them in each corner and secure them with the small Phillips head screws.
  12. Flip the base right-side up.  Screw the eyebolts through the T-nuts so an inch or so is sticking out the bottom of the plywood.  Turn the plywood over and put an acorn nut on each eyebolt and tighten.

Your leveling base is now complete -- sit it on the ground.  Place the scope on the base so the feet on the scope go through the three holes in the base. 

I use a bull's-eye level -- lay it on the scope base and turn the eyebolts in and out of their corner holes to level the base.

That's it.

If you build this base, please send me an e-mail with photos so I can see your improvements.


Here are the same photos as above with annotations.

 

 

 

 

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