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Aluminium for pier plates

Pete D

By Pete D
in DIY Observatories

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JamesF

JamesF

Posted
Posted

Mine does. I need a plate to fit a pier adapter on.

But once you fit the pier adapter you then put on a mount which is adjustable in all the necessary directions?

I have actually pondered having a sloping adapter plate so the alt adjusters on my NEQ6 don't ride on the part of the adjuster cam that causes them to bend.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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It's to a concrete pier to fit on threaded rods, then the EQ6 Pier adapter.

There's still no requirement for it to be level, though unless you are setting it at an angle for a specific purpose I'll grant you that it probably looks nicer if it is somewhere close. I see no reason why you shouldn't use aluminium though, as long as it's thick enough for the job.

James

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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

Posted
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But once you fit the pier adapter you then put on a mount which is adjustable in all the necessary directions?

I have actually pondered having a sloping adapter plate so the alt adjusters on my NEQ6 don't ride on the part of the adjuster cam that causes them to bend.

James

There's a thought- an un-level 'levelling plate'! I was just going to epoxy a brass wedge inside the mount where the alt bolt presses onto. That way the bolt wouldn't be acting on such slope either.
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laser_jock99

laser_jock99

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Yes I agree I only called it a levelling plate because that's what some people refer them as.

In that case a thick piece of aluminium is fine. Here's my 40mm thick pier adaptor. I made sure the top of my pier was fairly level when I built it. As has been pointed out- any further adjustment is done by the mount mechanics.Dscf1897.jpg
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Gina

Gina

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I could have saved myself a lot of work if I knew when I made mine what I know now :D It was well over-engineered. I used 250mm diameter x 10mm thick mild steel plates with M16 bolts with the plates spaced by washers. I'm sure 6mm steel would have been quite adequate. We have a very old hand powered pillar drill with reduction geering with a half inch chuck. It has a hand-wheel screw feed which is capable of applying a lot of pressure. I used blacksmith's drills up to 25mm and then a taper reamer to get up to the 30mm required for the mount. A long slow job with plenty of oil for lubrication. Same with the 4 16mm holes for the M16 bolts - 8 of them! Never mind - it's done now :D

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Macavity

Macavity

Posted
Posted

Bought one of those Scopes & Skies (Celestron C11+) "Owl Boxes" - Beautifully Welded,

with 20mm steel disks top and bottom! I am determined to use it... somehow! :p

(I sense NO ONE would be prepared to pay the postage on 20lb weight!)

Bought an Altair Astro pillar --> Skywatcher HEQ5 (pretty blue anodised!) adapter plate.

In the process of fixing it (somehow!) to a Skywatcher Pier. Watch this space? :D

P.S. At the moment, reading up on strengths of Aluminium and Steel. Seems like these

latest / exotic Al Alloys are quite strong! In many Astro applications, sufficient? :)

If you really must, increase the thickness of plates by 50% - Or some factor...

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Pete D

Pete D

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I could have saved myself a lot of work if I knew when I made mine what I know now :D It was well over-engineered. I used 250mm diameter x 10mm thick mild steel plates with M16 bolts with the plates spaced by washers. I'm sure 6mm steel would have been quite adequate. We have a very old hand powered pillar drill with reduction geering with a half inch chuck. It has a hand-wheel screw feed which is capable of applying a lot of pressure. I used blacksmith's drills up to 25mm and then a taper reamer to get up to the 30mm required for the mount. A long slow job with plenty of oil for lubrication. Same with the 4 16mm holes for the M16 bolts - 8 of them! Never mind - it's done now :D

Do you think it is possible to drill 6mm plates with an electric power drill
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Macavity

Macavity

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Got through (the above) 20mm steel with Bosch "Multiconstruction" Drill Bits.

12mm Holes, hand-drilled, each about 5 minutes, with "cooling" breaks... :p

Common sense re. what you're doing? Not impossible! Worth while checking

out the recent "drill stand / press" thread here. There are EASIER ways... :)

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red dwalf

red dwalf

Posted
Posted

Do you think it is possible to drill 6mm plates with an electric power drill

i tried doing my 6mm plate with a hand drill, it does work if you have a good sharp drill bit, but luckily for me my neighbour has a drill press and a sharp drill and using that it took no time at all and holes where perfect, whereas my first hand drilled hole was slightly off form where i hand marked it causing me to slightly make the holes bigger than i need to allow the mount adapter puck to fit.

i also have one of Altiar Astro`s blue pucks for me HEQ5 mount, like said above they are a lovely blue colour although i don`t think they do them in blue anymore, black and sliver, expensive ish but work a treat and bolt stright onto the plate firmly.

luckily for me i managed to pick up a second hand one very cheaply, one of my best buys, had it over a year and only just managing to get round to fitting it.

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Coco

Coco

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Has anyone used aluminium for pier leveling plates. Looking at 25mm x 200x 200. I know it cost a bit more but not sure how easy it will be to drill 10mm steel. Any advice welcome, thanks.

15mm would be ok ... even 10mm should be perfectly fine..

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Astrokev

Astrokev

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I've just bought a 200 x 200 16mm Ali plate for my pier plate (singular). I intend to bolt this directly to the top of my (to be built) air ducting & concrete pier, with a 14mm hole in the centre to mount my NEQ6 tripod head to. Access to the bolt will be by an "owls nest" cut out at the top of my pier. The pier will be approx 250mm diameter so this will be simple to achieve without encroaching on the 4 bolts holding the plate down. Simple, and gets around needing 2 plates. As has been stated a million times recently, the pier plate doesn't need levelling (other than to look nice). There, that's my contribution to the "levelling not required" campaign!!!

I've drilled 10mm holes through 10mm Ali plate before using a hand-held drill. Fairly simple with care. 16mm plate may be more difficult, so I'm after a second hand pillar drill (I've started a few other threads which are up near the top of the list on this topic, which may be worth a read).

Hope this helps.

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Astrokev

Astrokev

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Posted

I use 10mm 300mm dia ally plates. Had them water jet cut complete with holes for £30 delivered.

post-11721-0-55148200-1367395507_thumb.j

Hi Roger, I note you also have mounted your tripod head directly to your plate. This is my plan. Do you find it gives enough rigidity / stability? I'm sure it does, which is why I'm going down this route, just want some reassurance!

Thanks

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