12 replies to this topic

[StephenH]

I decided to build a concave eyepiece cabinet for my 10' TI observatory. I looked on the internet for pre-built cabinets that might fit and give me the room to use a laptop on as well as store my eyepieces and accessories but to no avail. Got some ideas though.

 

Given the limited room available, with the trap door and the 16" Mead LX200R taking up the bulk of the floor space, the cabinet I settled on had to fit against the curved wall of the observatory and not be too wide. The cabinet built is 12" wide with two drawers, each about 8" deep. I bowed the front panels of the drawers using clamps and screws and also glued them in place.

 

Considering I'm not a finish carpenter it came out pretty good.

 

 

[fallenstarseven]

Beautiful work!

[macdonjh]

Wow.

[jfgout]

Beautiful built!

[ccard]

You should submit to Astronomy or SkyTel for an article submission 

[Jon_Doh]

Nice.

[SteveGR]

I decided to build a concave eyepiece cabinet for my 10' TI observatory. I looked on the internet for pre-built cabinets that might fit and give me the room to use a laptop on as well as store my eyepieces and accessories but to no avail. Got some ideas though.

 

Given the limited room available, with the trap door and the 16" Mead LX200R taking up the bulk of the floor space, the cabinet I settled on had to fit against the curved wall of the observatory and not be too wide. The cabinet built is 12" wide with two drawers, each about 8" deep. I bowed the front panels of the drawers using clamps and screws and also glued them in place.

 

Considering I'm not a finish carpenter it came out pretty good.

It looks good!  And more importantly, useful.
 

[SimonIRE]

Crikey.

I posted a thread about wishing I had Woodworking skills in the off topic forum. That cabinet looks like it was made by a pro. I wish I could do this. There something about astronomy, owning an observatory and DIY that goes so well together. I’ve tried to learn new skills but with my work (dealing with this pesky pandemic), find it hard to get the time.

Congratulations on your fine creation!

Edited by SimonIRE, 23 July 2021 - 12:43 PM.

[AL-14086]

Beautiful workmanship!! I have a question for you, given that that back radius is larger than the front radius how are the drawers designed allowing to be pulled out to almost fully open? Are the inner rail guides running at 90 deg instead of >90 deg as the top is? Truly beautiful work, thanks for sharing.

[Bingoin]

Really nice work!

Could you tell me, how you bent the frontpanel of the drawer to a radius?

 

Greetings,

Juergen

[outofdark]

Very classy.  It looks like a fine piece of furnature.

[StephenH]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

 

Beautiful workmanship!! I have a question for you, given that that back radius is larger than the front radius how are the drawers designed allowing to be pulled out to almost fully open? Are the inner rail guides running at 90 deg instead of >90 deg as the top is? Truly beautiful work, thanks for sharing.

The rails run at 90 degrees. Their simple wood guide rails. I wanted sliding drawer rails but could not find any that are short enough. Most are 12" or longer. The backside of the drawers are square, which, while cutting back on the depth of each drawer ( they narrow at the middle due to the concave front to about 5"), still allow my eyepieces to fit.  

 

Really nice work!

Could you tell me, how you bent the frontpanel of the drawer to a radius?

 

Greetings,

Juergen

The front panels are 1/4" thick oak strips. They bow enough using clamps to secure to the drawers ribs, which are 3/4" plywood arched strips about 1" wide along the top and bottom of the front of the drawers. I glued them in place and secured them with 3/4" wood screws that were countersunk, then applied wood putty over them to hide the screw holes.

[Jaimo!]

You should submit to Astronomy or SkyTel for an article submission 

More like Fine Woodworking.   Nice job.