ETX Storage Trunk
With the upcoming December 2020 grand conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, I dug out my remaining telescope, the venerable Mighty ETX
I had made a functional but ugly soft case for the OTA assembly. The plastic innards were crumbling away and something needed to be done. Several years ago I had purchased a plasma cutter and the nice Pelican-like plastic trunk has been rattling around ever since with no purpose in life. Not any more!
Stainless steel sheet (20ga) was used to make the dividers and brackets were spot welded to them and subsequently bolted into the trunk. The surfaces of the compartments that ride on the scope were padded with "yoga mat". The floor of the case is lined with 1.5" foam. The compartments will hold the cords and accessories.
Inside the lid I fashioned two stands with foam to hold the scope in position when the lid is closed. These were constructed from 18ga 1018 CRS
Storage of charts and manuals was solved with a hinged plate held in the closed position by two rare earth magnets screwed to the lid.
A lid with a magnetic catch was fabricated to keep all the "stuff" from coming out of this compartment.