The ground board was made as a triangle rather than a square, circle or some other shape mostly because it would be easy to make and fairly light. Since it is 1" thick wood, it is pretty heavy relative to its size. In fact, 3 years later I still have a scar on my foot from when I dropped the ground board on my bare foot during construction.

Some general notes from Kriege I kept in mind during the design process:

• I think Kriege says someplace that the diameter of the ground board should be roughly the same as the diameter of the primary mirror.
• Make the bottom bearing about the size of the bottom of the rocker box (pg 250).
• The motion of the telescope will have the best feel when the resistance on the altitude axis matches that of the azimuth axis. However, azimuth resistance changes with the altitude of the scope. So he suggests targeting the optimal viewing position at an angle of 60 degrees above the horizon (pg 250).
• Bringing the Teflon pads towards the center of the base will decrease resistance (pg 250).
• Keep the footpads directly under the Teflon otherwise ground board warping will result in uneven pressure on the Teflon.

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Last updated 1/12/06