Pier Recommendations

[Astro Fan]

Just moved house and my new garden has a big unused concrete base where an avery once stood. I would like to bolt a pier onto this concrete base that gives me a good view of north and south. I will be mounting my CPC9.25 and celestron wedge onto the pier, taking the scope in at night, can anybody out there recommend a decent pier - thanks

[laser_jock99]

Most people make their own- I've had two steel tube fabricated piers at local engineering companies at little or no cost.

[Astro Fan]

I'll take my wedge down to the local tin bashers and get one made.

Thanks Guy

[CSM]

Before you make your own you might like to watch the video on this page. I have the AC282 - expensive but well worth the money. In any case, consider the points made in the video.

[Helite]

Before you make your own you might like to watch the video on this page. I have the AC282 - expensive but well worth the money. In any case, consider the points made in the video.

Hopefully someone can come along and enlighten me, but after watching the video linked by the user above I am left confused. The pier video states that the mount does not need to be levelled? My understanding was to get accurate tracking a level base was a must? There was also a few other statements in the video that made me raise an eyebrow but for the most part it was the talk of not levelling that made me scratch my head. Now I await some person wiser than myself to come along and educate me!

[x6gas]

Hopefully someone can come along and enlighten me, but after watching the video linked by the user above I am left confused. The pier video states that the mount does not need to be levelled? My understanding was to get accurate tracking a level base was a must? There was also a few other statements in the video that made me raise an eyebrow but for the most part it was the talk of not levelling that made me scratch my head. Now I await some person wiser than myself to come along and educate me!

For a German Equatorial Mount there is little reason to have the tripod /pier level.  The only slight reason is that if the tripod is always levelled then you shouldn't need to adjust the altitude of the mount head when polar aligning from session to session.  The ONLY thing that matters with a GEM is that the RA axis of rotation is aligned to the North Celestial Pole and you can do that using the Alt / Az adjusters irrespective of how level the pier / tripod is. 

I'm not too familiar with wedges so not sure if the same is true...

[Helite]

Oh well you learn something new every day, I was always under the impression it was kind of crucial to be as level as possible, thanks for taking the time to reply