upahill

Well its as done as its going to be for a while. Bolts arrived today - the 4 bolts to hold the adapter in place were supposed to be fully threaded but got sent shoulder bolts instead - luckily had a few extra washers to make up the difference. My 3D printed peg idea probably would have worked - its rock solid but too short - doh! I really dont think it will be needed though. Mount bolt is perfect, used a 2" spreader washer underneath to tighten up against. Just need to clean up now, set up the rest of the gear for a polar alignment tonight - and maybe mow the lawn! Next project is rebuilding the dob in the background - tried using it last night and its just dreadful, but thats for another thread.

Haha yeah, its 1 layer of gorilla glue now

Ooh thats a nice idea... looks a little better.

Another print failure, thought I would try and recover by printing the second part anyway and gluing them together but frankly its not going to happen or look right so trying again. Argh!

I think so. The glue has set today and the pier is fairly solid - well within my requirements anyway. I was stood where the mount is now and it wasnt shifting. I am having a redesign of the pier adapter though, and printing a new one - wasn't happy with it at all. The pin slots now go all the way through and a chrome rod will be pushed through the pier adapter, stone block and then epoxied in place. Some of the mass removed to cut down on material as ill be printing with a denser infill. Some of the cut outs have been shrunk to give a much tighter fit. I should still be able to cast out of resin if I get the time, will just block off the pin holes and drill/tap the final fitting for the actual eq6 peg. Have ordered the hardware for mounting everything so that will hopefully get here on Tuesday and I can get back to imaging. Full moon tonight and its like daylight out there so happy being indoors ?

Well the glue is 'curing' so hopefully it will be a bit more rigid than it feels at the moment. Im going to need a longer M12? nut for the main bolt, and a metal spreader plate for inside the owls nest. I am amazed at just how crumbly these blocks are - after drilling a hole (suprisingly easy) its just pretty much crumbling around the edges. 3D printed adapter isnt strong enough to hold a azimuth peg unless I print again at 100% infill - but given how crumbly the blocks are im half tempted to do something completely different at the top, I have some 8mm steel plate somewhere I could cut to the same size as the top and this would give me something solid to work from, then bolt an adapter to that. Is an azimuth peg even necessary if its staying set up? A good polar align and clamp down should be enough to stop it from moving around.

Printed OK and fits good. There is some play which I expected as I oversized the central dip and tapered the verticals incase I do create a mold for resin. It's suprisingly strong and should handle the mount ok as it is though, clamped through the block with a large washer. 4x M10 bolts to hold it in place if I don't go down the glue route, the azimuth pegs will be either a bit of metal cut to fit or just a metal pin - not sure on the implication if any of having a round azimuth peg - the one on the tripod head is square. They are 8.6mm which I did so I can tap them out to M10 if I go with resin.

Thats what I figured, i contemplated drilling some bolts into it and then bolting the slab to that - its all a bit of a test really. Needs to be easy to remove without leaving a tonne of concrete in the ground, and slightly more convenient than a tripod.

My plans for a decent outdoor obsy and pier have been put on hold for a while, but I wanted something a little more reliable for the winter that didnt take an age to set up (or end up living in the hallway) My goal is to make this as cheap as possible and as quick as possible. It's not forever and I would rather but the money into the right gear at the right time. I saw a todmorden pier on here and decided that would be the best approach. Unfortunately under the grass, about 3" down is solid stone, digging isnt going to be an option without getting machinery in and permission. Current plan is 3" of sub-base sand, a 600x600x50 slab, and then 3 concrete blocks for the height. Since its temporary the blocks will be glued together ? The 'pier' is actually level in the picture, its the ground, fence posts and hills that are wonky. I had a look at pier adapters and they are quite expensive, eventually ill likely get the Altair one, but as a test I figured I could print one, and if it works - cast it out of a strong resin. Fingers crossed the print will be finished in an hour or so and I can test the tolerances. If it goes to plan I'll only need to take out the scope and briefcase with all the hookup cables etc out each time. Ill probably construct something that goes over the mount to keep any rain off but let it breathe, or get a telescope cover if anyone has any reccomendations. I had planned to drill 5 holes in the top of the block, the spacing is just about right if it sits quare, hence the additional holes for azimuth pegs as north is slightly off axis. Then again its disposable and re-printable so may try out the glue here too and only do the one central hole. I think in total the pier weighs about 70-80kg which makes it fairly solid and its sat on a flat rock the footprint of a car so fingers crossed.

I can vouch for the Ender 3, got one for my old-man and it hasn't let him down yet (although he doesnt do the cad work) Have also had Tevo/CTC/Formlabs and Custom builds but for simplicity at the price the Ender can't be beaten really. That being said, if you want something that just works everone swears by the Prusa and had I had the funds at the time thats what would be sat on my old mans desk now. Yet to see anything totally turn-key yet though - it seems every way you go you need to be prepared to tinker a little.