One of the weakest points of many new telescopes is not the lens or mirror, but the mount. Often small, inexpensive scopes are woefully undermounted, leading to shaky views at high power and difficulty tracking objects. For larger scopes, it's a matter of improving the current mount to make it better, or simply a large enough one to handle the weight and mass of a given telescope. Here are projects I have worked on to improve some telescope mounts over the years.
Many retail stores sell decent lenses in not so great telescope packages that are stuck on top of even worse mounts. However, since the lenses for these telescopes are usually at least "decent," there is a way to salvage what you've purchased, and make your department store telescope into a useful scope. In January 2010, I wrote a column about how to do that for my local paper. The link to the slightly longer, link-filled version of it online is here.
In late 2011 I added a new feature to the tripod for this mount. It is a simple, rotating spreader bar that keeps the hinged legs from flopping around or unintentionally collapsing. It was a simple addition, but make a vast improvement in performance and use of the tripod and scope.
I purchased what is probably considered a rather large 127mm refractor in late 2008. To use it smoothly, relibaly and effectively, I needed a mount large and steady enough to handle that size scope. I didn't have the money to buy one (that would have been about $500-$1000, so I built one instead, for about $100. This was my second attempt at it (the first one was a little clumsy to use). It's effectively a "Dobsonian" style telescope mount, but made for a refractor. For more information about this design, click here.