Hinged Astrophotographic Tracker

Here's a few photos of my barn door mount based on the instructions provided by ClownFish on the Cloudy Nights Blog. He calls it a Hinged Astrophotographic Tracker. I made some minor modifications to his design. The polar alighment scope is attached to a machined piece of crown moulding that is epoxied to the square end of the shelf as shown. The scope fits nicely into the grooved part of the moulding. Also, I added springs in between the two boards near the hinge to minimize the torque on the nut which turns the timing wheel. I can easily add or subtract springs as needed based on the weight of the lens I've attached to the camera. Lastly, I constructed a 30 degree wooden mount with a 3x4 piece of wood to provide a starting alignment for my location in Southern California.