Equatorial platforms

I have an Orion XT8; I have posted previously sharing my frustration over hand-chasing. It seems that my only solution is to either buy or build an EQ platform. The cheapest I see on Astromart is $500 (Brian Reed). It is tempting to try and build one, since there are several websites that have delineated the procedure. It still seems to be very challenging and probably beyond my ability, but paying twice what what the scope cost to purchase one also seems silly. I'd like to know what experience others have had with such platforms, including the construction of them.

[QUOTE]Bennett Burbank said:

... but paying twice what what the scope cost to purchase one also seems silly. ...
/QUOTE]

Sounds like you need to buy an expensive telescope. (just kidding)

I use a platform and love it. I chose to buy rather than build, mainly because one came up for sale on Astromart at the right time.

I have an EQ platform by Affordable Equatorial, no longer being sold by Astro Systems. It is well made and easy to use. The running time is under 1 hour before resetting. The tracking is accurate and allows the use of high powers. The downside is that it raises the scope by a few inches. This can be minimized by making the feet fit into holes in the top of the platform or by removing the feet. Then you can get the height down to only 3-4" of additional height.
I now will be using it for the 10" as the 14.5" shown in the picture has the ServoCat installed.
I bought this platform here for under $300 and then did some mods to it to make it better for my use. I put an alarm buzzer to give a 35 second warning for the reset limit. I also added stops so that it could not slip and go past the limit. Added a compass that is permanently mounted for alignment and longer threaded legs for more adjustment for leveling.

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