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For grass and soft ground I use terracotta plant pot saucers with a small depression drilled in to the centre of each one. The points of the tripod feet fit snugly in the depression. The saucers just need a bit of adjustment when setting up the fine positioning.

Ensure the ground you are on is stable. Paving slabs that move aren't good!

Alexxx

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I use three small 'pavers', the sort of thing that block drives are made of. These are set on the lawn, below lawnmower level, on top of small piles of concrete suitably marked with the leg positions. As Alex has said loose paving slabs are asking for problems.

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I set up on a poured concrete slab patio in my backyard near my backdoor.  I put Sorbothane pads under each foot to better dampen vibrations.  They really do work.

I had my grown daughter try an experiment one night in the backyard with regards to vibrations transferring through the ground to the telescope.  Without pads under the scope, I aimed at a target at high magnification and had my daughter jump up and down at varying distances from the scope to see if I could detect the vibrations in the eyepiece view.  They were super obvious at 6 feet and could still be detected when she was 50 feet away at the back fence.  I repeated it by jumping while she was at the eyepiece.  We were both amazed at the results.

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14 hours ago, Louis D said:

I set up on a poured concrete slab patio in my backyard near my backdoor.  I put Sorbothane pads under each foot to better dampen vibrations.  They really do work.

Which pads  do you use? sounds like a good idea!

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Before leaving England I left behind me, in all the houses I had lived in, small circular concrete pads. I dare say that in years to come archeologists and/or Woo-Woo merchants will come up with explanations for 'The Derbsyshire Circles.' They lie along ancient burial site lines. They were part of a US military installation designed to look for UFOs. Seen from above they make a letter B or a letter S depending on how you join the dots...

Olly

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1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

Before leaving England I left behind me, in all the houses I had lived in, small circular concrete pads. I dare say that in years to come archeologists and/or Woo-Woo merchants will come up with explanations for 'The Derbsyshire Circles.' They lie along ancient burial site lines. They were part of a US military installation designed to look for UFOs. Seen from above they make a letter B or a letter S depending on how you join the dots...

Olly

Goodness knows what future archeologists will make of the proliferation of warlike Paul Bunyan statues across the northern US...

W1siZiIsInVwbG9hZHMvcGxhY2VfaW1hZ2VzLzBj

...or the stratum of AOL CDs dating from the late 1990s and early 2000s (at one point about 50% of the CDs produced had an AOL logo on them).

aol.jpeg

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4 hours ago, Astrosurf said:

Which pads  do you use? sounds like a good idea!

I bought some new old stock 100% Sorbothane insoles from the late 80s or early 90s for about $6 off of ebay and cut 2 inch square pads from them to put under each leg or foot peg.  It's also sold on ebay in its pure form as disks, I believe.  It is really amazing stuff at damping vibrations.

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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superb-Tripod-Vibration-Suppression-Pads-Dampers-for-Telescope-Spotting-Scope-/201807989811?hash=item2efcb18c33:g:FmoAAOxydlFS9PxK

Or these are good in grass as they stop the pointed feet sinking, and you can also peg them down through the holes, if you need to move your mount so it goes back in exactly the same place.  I use these at star parties:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Anti-Vibration-Tripod-Foot-Pads-Heavy-Duty-Skywatcher-/280617692553?hash=item41561e2d89:g:PjMAAOxypNtSgsee

Can't remember if we're allowed to link to outside websites, please remove if not.  

Carole 

 

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These are identical to what I cut up to make my home brew pads for cheap.  The outer packaging looked like this.  Too bad these are more expensive now than in the past.  It used to be a cheap way to get Sorbothane.

The only problem I have is that those dark blue squares stick to the bottom of tripod feet, and I forget that they're there at the end of the night, so I pick up the tripod and they fall off randomly, making them difficult to find once I realize what I've done.  Just beware of vibration suppression pads using urethane instead of Sorbothane to save cost.  The former is no where near as good as the latter at vibration dampening.

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My new patio area is a solid 8-10" of poured concrete and stretches the whole way along the back of the house and about 10ft out from the back of the house. An 18 wheeler could drive over it and it wont vibrate. The only problem with concrete is that it absorbs heat during the day and releases it at night. Add to this the fact that most homes have central heating pipes underneath concrete pathways/patio etc. These two factors combined can cause heat thermals radiating upwards at night. This wont be good for observing.

Its best to set up a scope on grass.

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14 minutes ago, SteveMcHarg said:

Thanks for all the input ! What about types of Concrete and different mixes ? Or is that being extreme ? 

Quick drying concrete, i'd suggest. Never know when its going to rain. You can buy stuff that is mixed already, just add water. It sets rock solid in about 2 hrs. Ive used it to support a washing line (dig hole in ground,pour in concrete,place washing pole in,leave to dry). That washing like is not going anywhere any time soon. Come to think of it, the concrete mix the company (who did my patio) used a quick drying mix. 8-10" of poured concrete and it was able to be walked on after about 2 hrs. I cant remember exactly, but i think my patio area is 39-44 metres squared (large) and it was set solid in no time at all. 

The company i used are Allcrete:

http://www.allcrete.ie

Maybe the website will tell you of materials used etc. They operate in the UK also.

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2 hours ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

Its best to set up a scope on grass.

I agree that hot concrete can cause thermals, but they're nothing compared to thermals rising from neighboring house roofs with asphalt shingles.  I setup at the southeast corner of my patio and point my dob south and east.  The end of the tube is hanging over grass.  I've never noticed thermals from the concrete, but I have noticed thermals when viewing directly over a neighboring house shortly after sunset.

I don't like setting up my dob on my grass because I have thick Saint Augustine that doesn't compress well beneath the ground board, so the whole dob tends to "float" on the grass.  I'll do it if it's the only way to get a clear view of an object.

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46 minutes ago, Louis D said:

I agree that hot concrete can cause thermals, but they're nothing compared to thermals rising from neighboring house roofs with asphalt shingles.  I setup at the southeast corner of my patio and point my dob south and east.  The end of the tube is hanging over grass.  I've never noticed thermals from the concrete, but I have noticed thermals when viewing directly over a neighboring house shortly after sunset.

I don't like setting up my dob on my grass because I have thick Saint Augustine that doesn't compress well beneath the ground board, so the whole dob tends to "float" on the grass.  I'll do it if it's the only way to get a clear view of an object.

I have to agree. Ive never noticed heat thermals from concrete releasing heat during the night. I mentioned it simply because it can happen. You are correct though, the heat thermals to worry about come from neighbouring houses if you have your scope pointed at something above the roof of their house.

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Here's how I position my mount. I use three L-shaped post anchors from which I cut the top off. Then I wrapped the plates in roofing material so the tripod legs won't slip, and drove the anchors into the lawn.

Once I find the anchors under all the snow, setup is easy and polar alignment a breeze. I have my tripod leveled, which also helps in alignment repeatability.

tripod.jpg

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8 hours ago, wimvb said:

Here's how I position my mount. I use three L-shaped post anchors from which I cut the top off. Then I wrapped the plates in roofing material so the tripod legs won't slip, and drove the anchors into the lawn.

Once I find the anchors under all the snow, setup is easy and polar alignment a breeze. I have my tripod leveled, which also helps in alignment repeatability.

 

Can you give me a link to the types of anchor you use? I assume the roofing material is roofing felt like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Premium-10m-Shed-Felt-Green/dp/B00NC2XKTG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486716911&sr=8-1&keywords=roofing+felt

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Currently looking at this kind of stuff, I have a large bush / shrub thing in the garden that I plan to take out, then put a pad down for the telescope. I had read about the heat thing with concreate, but think rain and cloud are going to be more of a problem than it being too hot!

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