How to build an astronomy accessories case

Image credit: Mark Parrish

Click here to download a plan and cutting template for this project

Whatever stage you have reached in astronomy, or whatever interests you have, you will inevitably accrue a lot of precious equipment.

This needs to be stored carefully, but also transported to dark sites in an orderly way so you can make effective use of your time – which is why this project is on how you can make your own accessories case and customise it to suit your particular needs.

Our basic design has space for eyepieces in the main layer with a lid, which doubles up as a tray you can use for a star chart.

Additional layers can be added to the stacking design to house other items, such as cameras, filters, cables and tools.

One of our main objectives was to create a design that didn’t require any of the tricky woodwork joints usually associated with this kind of project.

In its place we have devised a neat, overlapping corner method, which just requires some accurate sawing.

You might find a timber supplier or friendly DIY enthusiast with a machine to do a lot of the cutting work for you, but with a little care it is possible for anyone to make strong boxes using our technique.

The construction is then a simple matter of pinning and gluing together.

We also added an inexpensive LED battery lamp (found in many DIY superstores).

If you disassemble it you can spray the lens red and mount it on a moveable arm made from plywood that folds away inside the case to form a kind of angle-poise lamp.

This makes locating that elusive eyepiece much easier in the dark!

The upturned lid forms a tray – useful for temporarily placing lens caps and small items on, but which can also form a small chart table.

We designed it to accommodate an A4 sheet so we could use printed charts.

The lamp can be positioned so that it illuminates the chart or box below and if the lamp unit is affixed to the plywood arm with a Velcro patch you could use it as a removable torch if you need light elsewhere.

The eyepieces are held in two internal timber shelves.

These are drilled to suit the eyepieces and we used non-marking nylon screws to hold them in place.

Each shelf is glued in place, supported on two small rectangular off-cuts of plywood, which are stuck to the inside of the box below either end.

We lined the bottom of our case with felt, but there is room here for a rack of filters or other small accessories such as pencils and notebooks if you wanted to improvise.

Each box has a raised internal lip around the top edge and this fits inside a corresponding recess below the base of the box above.

This means the boxes can be stacked and locked together to form a modular case of any height.

You could keep all your accessories in one place at home, but perhaps only take selective layers out for a night’s observing. You could even add dividers into individual layers.

A shoulder strap was added to our upper layer to make carrying easy, but handles could be added or even small casters if your stack of cases becomes large or you decide to scale up the design.

It is also possible to add some padding to the lid to create a seat if you often find yourself waiting for the clouds to clear.

You might decide to stick to the online plans for your first layer, but once you have mastered the basic principle, it is easy to add some more layers with varying heights or devise your own modifications as your interests in astronomy grow and evolve.