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My new Pier - sourcing all the bits

nipper

By nipper
in Discussions - Mounts

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nipper

nipper

Posted
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In the last few months as my interest in imaging has escalated, so has the idea of a observatory in the backyard. While I will post the plans and progress of the actual construction in another thread at a late date, this week I completed plans for the pier. Today I was able to visit a number of suppliers in the steel trade to source exactly what I need, with a few extra services also.

Here I have posted a picture of the design - a pretty basic, garden-variety pier. As you can see it has second top plate to accomodate a Pier Adapter from Altair (just waiting for them to reply to my email to confirm availability) I went of my a local steel supplies and came away with the first two element of the pier: The pipe and bottom plate.

  • The pier pipe is 165mm dia. x 900mm in height. The wall thickness is 5mm and cost £30.
  • The base flange is 300 x 300mm x 10mm thick and cost £10

When I mentioned I wanted the top plates cut round so they sent me around to a lser cutter, who will cut the top plates and cut 4 x 18mm holes in each plate, as well as laser cut 8 gussets. A total cost of £95.

Then the laser cutter recommeded another local steel fabrication shop who will weld it all up for £90. So for a total of £225 I will soon have a new pier.

Next week I'll revisit the laser cutters to collect the top plates and gussets. Aiming within a month to have the pier complete and ready for painting!

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Zakalwe

Zakalwe

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If you can, design out the 'leveling' plate. There is no requirement to level an EQ head on a permanent pier, but you might make the mount less stable by having the entire payload on four bolts.

The plates are needed to gain access to the centre mounting bolt that fits into the head.

Why would it be "less stable"?

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nipper

nipper

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Thanks for the positive feedback on this, much appreciated :)

laser_jock99, I need that top plate - I call it the adapter plate - because at this point I have no other way of fixing an NEQ6 mount to the pier. I hope to use a Pier Adapter from Altair but I also need clearance underneath the plate to secure the central bolt. I cannot do this with the welded top plate. The attached pictures are from the Altair website. I just don't know how else I can attach it.

Keith, it never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity of some people. No fuss and it just works !!

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nipper

nipper

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Thanks for the positive feedback on this, much appreciated :)

laser_jock99, I need that top plate - I call it the adapter plate - because at this point I have no other way of fixing an NEQ6 mount to the pier. I hope to use a Pier Adapter from Altair but I also need clearance underneath the plate to secure the central bolt. I cannot do this with the welded top plate. The attached pictures are from the Altair website. I just don't know how else I can attach it.

Keith, it never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity of some people. No fuss and it just works !!

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

Posted
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Thanks for the positive feedback on this, much appreciated :)

laser_jock99, I need that top plate - I call it the adapter plate - because at this point I have no other way of fixing an NEQ6 mount to the pier. I hope to use a Pier Adapter from Altair but I also need clearance underneath the plate to secure the central bolt. I cannot do this with the welded top plate. The attached pictures are from the Altair website. I just don't know how else I can attach it.

Keith, it never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity of some people. No fuss and it just works !!

'Owl Holes' to access the retaining nut are a common, flex free solution:

Dscf1902.jpg

Dscf1897.jpg

EDIT: you might also want to check out the videos ant points raised in this thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/155533-pier-construction-are-we-all-doing-it-wrong/

before starting your pier design as some valid points are raised.

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JamesF

JamesF

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'Owl Holes' to access the retaining nut are a common, flex free solution:

I've not seen that second photo before that I recall. Is that a solid lump of metal that fits in the top of the pier tube, or hollow? Is it free to turn, or does it bolt into the pier tube somehow?

James

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

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I've not seen that second photo before that I recall. Is that a solid lump of metal that fits in the top of the pier tube, or hollow? Is it free to turn, or does it bolt into the pier tube somehow?

James

It's a solid lump of turned aluminium that only just fits into the tube. It was free to turn if pushed hard (which is how I got my coarse azimuth alignment) but now it's drilled, taped and bolted to the tube so can't move any longer.

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nipper

nipper

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Yes the 'owl hole' idea seems to be a very convenient and practical design and caters for the problem of the centre bolt. I've been following the thread regarding the 'rat cage' and I've been reading about issues of stability in mounts on and off for some time. I understand that I could spend hours, weeks or months designing the perfect pier but in the long run I do not believe it make any difference to my images from my pokey little roll off roof tin shed in the corner of my backyard. The concept of having two plates separated by a couple of inches of threaded rod had been applied to home built observatory piers for years and I feel if there was a significant issue, the practice would have been stopped. I've seen imaging done with an old fence post as a pier and the images are perfect, so I'm more than happy not to over engineer this pier.

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