Ground breaking for pier

[Stevp]

Saturday morning progress.

Shuttering removed and gravel raked back round, in a fashion.

Dinner time.

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[red dwalf]

looks a neat job

[Stevp]

Afternoon progress report.

Pier fastened down, feeling very solid!

The plan is to temporary fix and set up the mount tonight to ensure I've got the best alignment for the north pin before making permanent fixings

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[Stevp]

I wasn't hopeful when it turned dark as we were swamped in thick fog here, though just managed a clear enough window to do a rough polar align and mark the top plate up for fixings. Good fun with a mount on the Ali bracket with no bolt underneath to support, no lights, a small torch, pencil, knelt down looking through the polar scope and trying to mark!!

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[Mukv]

Greetings

first light sounds close, good luck! 

Andy

[Stevp]

Greetings

first light sounds close, good luck!

Andy

I'm hoping so! Can't wait. Dad is going to make the top plate up this week so hoping to be done next weekend. After that I'll turn my attention to reducing the nearest tree.

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[Stevp]

First look at the top plate. Another chunk of cedar for the plate to bolt down to the post, yet to be oiled. Holding a baseplate for my eq3-2 (and possibly future upgrades that use the same footprint) made of aluminium, sourced from a popular auction site. Held with all stainless fixings.

And of course couldn't resist trying the mount on it!

Cheers

Stevp

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[ollypenrice]

I'm sure this will be perfectly OK but here we have the paradox of so many piers in DIY posts; we begin with a concern for the stabiltiy of an utterly massive concrete base at the bottom, then at the top we end up with the whole mount head fitted on three or four rather spindley lengths of threaded bar. Often this is done to allow for mount levelling which isn't necessary for perfectly accurate polar alignment. I'd be far more concerned about the top than the bottom though, as I say, I'm sure this will work as well as it looks - which is great.

You'll love having a fixed pier. It's a life changer.

Olly

[red dwalf]

must admit i used 4 m12 threaded rods but that was for a neq6 mount, if it does flex just use thicker threaded rods

[yesyes]

I really don't think the threaded bars are as much of an issue as many seem to think. We're talking about very short lengths.

Also, if the scope is well balanced, the vast majority of the force is downwards, not sideways.

[Stevp]

I'm sure this will be perfectly OK but here we have the paradox of so many piers in DIY posts; we begin with a concern for the stabiltiy of an utterly massive concrete base at the bottom, then at the top we end up with the whole mount head fitted on three or four rather spindley lengths of threaded bar. Often this is done to allow for mount levelling which isn't necessary for perfectly accurate polar alignment. I'd be far more concerned about the top than the bottom though, as I say, I'm sure this will work as well as it looks - which is great.

You'll love having a fixed pier. It's a life changer.

Olly

Thanks for the comments Olly. I have certainly read similar on other posts. To some extent I'm working with what I have. As the mount needs to be bolted upward I've had to leave the gap, but kept it to the minimum needed to get a hand under. If it was a permanent set up (in an obsy) I'd have say the Ali block down to the post and recessed the top for the bolt as it would be permanently on there. As I'm going to be removing the mount after each session I've had to do it like this. The bolts holding it are m10s, and at this stage it's just visual or maybe a bit of webcam/planetary so I'm not overly concerned, If I need something more sturdy in the future I'll be setting up a Pier 2.0 thread and see how I can improve

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[ollypenrice]

I really don't think the threaded bars are as much of an issue as many seem to think. We're talking about very short lengths.

Also, if the scope is well balanced, the vast majority of the force is downwards, not sideways.

I don't think they are a huge issue either. Really my point is about the concrete end. Why worry so much about that and then not worry about the threaded bar? I guess I wouldn't worry about either!

Olly

[yesyes]

ah, OK, now I understand what  you meant... ;-)

[Stevp]

Woohoo we have a pier!!

Stainless fixings up and down to take the block

'Fancy bits' to hide the bolts and brackets at the base, with the bonus of added stability.

Final coat of oil applied, all done and dusted ready for watching the footy this aft. If it's still nice later I can get set up!

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[ollypenrice]

Woohoo we have a pier!!

Stainless fixings up and down to take the block

'Fancy bits' to hide the bolts and brackets at the base, with the bonus of added stability.

Final coat of oil applied, all done and dusted ready for watching the footy this aft. If it's still nice later I can get set up!

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That's beautiful. Can't you get a brass EQ6 from somewhere??

Great looking job.

Olly

[Stevp]

Woohoo

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[red dwalf]

far too posh,

looks great

[Ant F]

what did you use to mount the mount to ?? is that a brake disc??

[Stevp]

what did you use to mount the mount to ?? is that a brake disc??

Hi Ant,

It is a custom made bit of aluminium to take the mount. I bought it second hand from someone that had used it previously but has changed setup since. It does look a lot like a brake disc though!

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[Ant F]

hmmm ive read somewhere that people used brake discs but i cant remember for the life of me what type of car it came from. 

looks pukka tho

[Stevp]

hmmm ive read somewhere that people used brake discs but i cant remember for the life of me what type of car it came from.

looks pukka tho

Cheers! Well pleased with it. I've also read about similar but can't offer any advice I'm afraid. There's a thread on here by RobertC which uses a brake disc, might give you some more info

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/201975-started-work-on-the-shed-obsy/page-3

Cheers

Stevp

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[nightvision]

I really like that pier design, I may do something similar.  How solid is it, I assume you have tried to move it to see if it flexes or vibrates?

Off to read from the start of this thread...

[tekkydave]

Brilliant construction and a beautiful object in it's own right. Will make a great bird table. What? Oh sorry I thought I was on the RSPB site

[Mukv]

Greetings

thats a very nice looking piece of functional art you have there! Traditional styling clasic matarial blended with a modern function!

you are the artist astonomer !

Beautiful

Andy

[Stevp]

I really like that pier design, I may do something similar. How solid is it, I assume you have tried to move it to see if it flexes or vibrates?

Off to read from the start of this thread...

It is as rock solid as i could have hoped for. Of course if you hit it hard enough it vibrates, but as the pier is made of wood it dampens the vibration very quickly. The weakest part in stability is the galvanised brackets with a single bolt, as there was enough for them to flex a little. Much improved by a second bolt and the wooden caps have improved even more. Been set up on it tonight and it feels a lot more solid than the tripod! I'm sure it doesn't compare at all to some out the piers out there, but it definitely does everything I want.