AstroGoods Astronomy Products: Standard and custom Dobsonian telescope mounts.

Dobsonian Mounts
E-Mail for shipping estimates.

Custom Mount Choices				Low Cost Mounts

Mounts only.	With bearings.	With clamshells and bearings.	Other custom mounts.	Standard 6", 8" and 10".
Which choice will be best for you? Click here.

Custom Mounts:

Custom mounts are designed for your comfort so you see and enjoy more.
A custom mounts can improve stability, provide smoother motion visible in the eyepiece, and be designed to a comfortable viewing height
Made from 3/4" Baltic birch plywood, lighter weight and water permiable like commercial pressed-wood based mounts.
Designed to reduce weight by removing unnecessary plywood, also providing hand-holds making moving the telescope and mount easier.
Two varieties are availble:

Solid mounts built with internal doweling between rocker box boards. Stiffeners inside and outside the rocker box if necessary.
Collapsible mounts for storage and transportation solutions. Collapsibles fold flat to 5" height with no loose parts.

Kits or finished:
- Kit - arrives with all parts, predrilled, rough sanded with 80 grit. You fine sand, finish and assemble.
- Finished Kit - spray finished but not assembled. Reduces shipping costs and helps availability outside the U.S.
- Finished - arrives spray finished, assembled and ready to use.

Other Custom Dobsonian Mount Applications:

Tripod mount your smaller Newtonian for perfect standing at eyepiece height, rock solid performance, Uncouple for use as a tabletop Dob.
Designs can be customized for Maksotov, Mak-Newt, Mak-Cass or Cassegrain telescopes.
Two telescopes on one mount? Interchange different size telescopes on one mount? We can do it!.

Low Cost Standardized Dobsonian Mount Kits:

Solid mount and altitude bearing kits, preset designs for 6" f/8, 8" f/6 or 10 f/4.7 telescopes. Altitude bearing supports are custom cut to fit your telescope tube outside diameter. Bearings ride securely inside the rocker box side walls. Easy assembly, all parts included. We do not modify to these designs.

Customer Comments

Solid Mounts:

"Beautiful work! Pure pleasure to use and not have to think how this or that eyepiece will affect the scope's balance" J Schwartz

"Wow!!! It's beautiful and the movements are so smooth. Thanks for a great product." W. Ferrara

"Fits better than from the factory." A. Bessler

"Mark you are an amazing Dob Mount maker." B. Stone - 8" Orion XT

"Huge improvement over the stock mount from Discovery Telescopes" J. Fisher

Collapsible Mounts:

"Thank you for the mount! It looks great." T. Campbell

"Ingenuous and folds down to a very manageable size and weight. I'm very impressed!!" G. Susick

"Just to let you know the mount (kit) went together really well." JB

"The collapsible Dob is a home run, Mark, a grand slam home run!!" J. Robinson

Solid Mount with Clamshell Rings with Altitude Bearings:

"I have received the mount and finally had a chance to try it out last night. It is awesome! It looks stunning, the movement is perfect, and I love the way it folds up." - Matt M.

"The motion is excellent and the balance is very good. Nice fit & finish all around." W. Thomas

"There is a lot of forgiveness with the balancing. Very pleased." T. McGuire

Ron had us make a mount with bearings for his 10", and clamshell rings with bearings for his 6" to fit the 10" mount: "Stand arrived this evening. Great job! Looks super, works great. The most amazing part is that it weighs 1/1,000th the weight of the original Orion stand!! Geez!! The real reason that I wanted the mount, so I could put my 6" to good use also. I had no mount for it before, now it looks good enough to sell. BUT - I won't!!" Ron DeAngelis

"Looks great Mark, can't wait to put it all together, thanks." Pat

Collapsible Mount and Clamshell Rings with Bearings:

"I have just had the best weekend, astronomy wise and all due to you.(Plus we finally have clear skies) Thank you a thousand fold, the mount just goes wonderfully, the smoothness and stability. The height is great, can’t express my gratitude and excitement enough. My family would also like to thank you as well, as they now have a happy wife and mother." Maureen Boyd, Australia

"I have stained and assembled the mount; excellent job in your design. The mount has great movement and stability, I’m really enjoying this mount." - S. Block

Custom Mount Specifications

Mounts have round ground boards and are designed for minimum height. Additional height for a more comfortable viewing position upon request. Parts are CNC cut for uniformity and precise fit.

Solid Mounts: Side and front boards are screwed together and contain internal dowels adding stiffness. Tall solid mounts may have curved internal or external stiffeners for rigidity.

Collapsible Mounts save storage space and fit easily in your car. Collapsible mount boards are all attached as single unit with heavy duty anodized aluminum hinges, fold flat to 5" height and sets up in minutes. No loose parts; all knobs store securely on the rocker box bottom board.

Kit orders are predrilled with all parts included. Wood parts rough sanded with 80 grit. Teflon pieces precut, countersunk and come with screws. Formica laminate Crystal 42 bearing strips and azimuth ring are precut to size. Parts are dry-fitted before shipping. Requires fine sanding, Philips screwdriver, 2 wrenches, glue, wood putty and paint/finish..

Finished orders arrive assembled.

New: All altitude bearings ride on supports mounted on the side boards instead of our old style on top of the side boards. This prevents lateral slip by capturing the bearings.

Tube fitting bearings have inside supports with an arc cut to fit the outside diameter of your telescope tube, and require a 3/8" bolt hole in your tube to secure it. Bearing thickness is .708". Small bearings are up to 12" diameter. Large bearings available up to 24" diameter.

Clamshell rings provide 1/8" gap around the tube (1/16" on any side). Line the inside of the rings with adhesive backed felt or weather-stripping to obtain desired fit. The clamshell rings two bottom boards are joined with heavy duty anodized piano hinge. The two top board open, and secure together using a thumb screw passing through one board and screws into an anchor seated in the adjacent board. Altitude bearings are diameter of your telescope tube (up to 12").

Finished and assembled mounts can be shipped to US and Canada. Finished but unassembled mounts and Kits can be shipped worldwide.

Materials: 18mm Baltic Birch plywood, virgin Teflon, Ebony Star replacement Crystal 42 Formica laminate and assorted hardware. Finished mounts have up to four coats of fine sprayed polymer sealer with a cinnamon (reddish) tint.

Shipping: FedEx Ground domestic, USPS internationally. Contact us for a shipping cost estimate.