mhard26339

Thanks Beulah

Regards

Thank you fondofchips, in fact I was just reading your thread, well done looks good.

Regards

Hi All,

After spending many hours reading about other peoples observatory builds I decided, after another night setting up ony to be thwarted by cloud it was time to start mine off. I am basing by build on the excellent build completed by malc-c who has been patient with my questions and answer sessions  but with different pier.

After looking at commercial piers I lifted a drawing for one and took it to a local engineering company, the quote came back at £395 +VAT, I might as well by a commrcial one; however up to £500 is too much. By chance I was on an industrial estate in Kings Lynn looking for 200mm drainage pipe, yes sir we can get that for you 3M costs £85, OK cut it in half and sell on SGL not too bad but when leaving the shop I spied another engineering company with lots of pipe on a rack. To cut a long story short 1.9M offcut of 6" I/D PVC pipe 12mm wall thickness for £20.

I also saw the use of brake discs from a Skoda Flavia as part of the mouting plate which I thought was a good idea; I went onto e-bay and found that the rear disc from a Mazda 6 was one of the largest solid, ie not vented, discs available and at £14.99 each sold. Purely by chance the raised portion of the disc fitted perfectly into the pipe as shown. The 5 mounting holes accept 12mm studding and will be the key into the concrete within the pipe. Three holes have been drilled into the plates for 16mm studding to act as the stays and level the whole head; all of the studding and nuts came to £30

Total spend to date was £80 and I nearly had a pier (excluding concrete) but on thinking about mounting the scope I did decide to buy a commercial adaptor from Altair Astro to mount my  NEQ6. I thought that this was expensive at £80 but it was a conevient and speedy solution as time was running out on me to finish this elemnt and the experience of the engineering factory did not fill me with confidence of a cheaper option with the risk on me, I will explain the time element shortly. Attachment of the mount to the adaptor was very vague from Altair Astro, merely "use the bolt from the tripod" but I couldn't see how that would work. So, again on e-bay 4 washers 60mm O/D x 30mm I/D and 60mm O/D x 12 mm I/D and a 12 mm bolt does the trick, the washers being placed inside the adaptor for purchase.

The pictures show the pipe together with the brake disc temporarily fitted. Pictures of the discs drilled for, and with the adaptor attached as well as the NEQ6 in position. Finally, the disc is shown with the rods in place for when the concrete is poured. A template has been made to keep the rods in place during pouring, one disc is then bolted to the plinth, the other held on by the 3x16mm rods through the outer holes. There appears to be plenty of room to adjust the Az bolts without blooding knuckles.

I hope that this has given another example of a pier and head assembly amalgamating private inginuity and commercial availability. Unfortunately there will be no more construction for a while as the number of doctors appointments is getting ever more demanding as I have just been diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and my Chemotherapy starts next week. Hope to resume posting the actual construction a la malc-c sometime around end of August/September if all goes well, I don' think that I will be well enough until then. Whatever, I hope that this inspires another build somewhere that could have been held up because of a requirement for an expensive pier.

Hi Malcolm,

One? more question, now that you have been using the obs for a while would be interested to hear your views on the rigidity od the pier. Has it worked out to your satisfaction or could it do with being more rigid ie bigger. My set up will be NEQ6 Pro head with a 9.25" SCT, Hyperstar and SX cameras so this is an interesting (and potentially expensive) question. I drew up a steel pier (faily basic) and took it to a local engineering company and they quoted £395 + VAT!!!

would like to find a cheaper alternative. Anyone else with experience welcome..

Regards

Mike

Hi Again Malcom

Just going through your build again and interested in you sliding door; what materials did you use?, it looks good but coverage is a bit scant.

Regards

Mike

Hi Malcolm

From the support that you get from SL members I agree that a build thread is obligatory. Although I hope that all of the "issues" will be thought through beforehand (by reading others experiences) there is nothing wrong in asking for help and I know how much pleasure I get from reading about other peoples efforts.  Stand by in July!!!

Mike

Malc, a total inspiration. I am planning my build now as I am back in the country in June and have a 2 month window to finish but following your build I have now finalised thew construction as a 50/50 roof as per yours instead of all moving. Once again superb build, hope mine turns out half as good.

Regards

Mike

Can't wait to be a Dwarf !!!