building a permanent mount

[Ian Kahler]

Hello everyone,

I have  been giving some  thought to building a  semi permanent mount for  my 5 inch refractor.

I have an EQ mount but the  tripod is  ...well really unsteady in that it randomly decides to try and  collapse.

SO I figured I would  build  a  mount/post, that I can set up on the  back of  my deck in the  back yard.

I have to ponder  this; as  how I would build it though. I am wondering if  anyone  else  has  gone  this  route????

Ian

[MarsG76]

Hi Ian,

I basically dyna-bolted a welded pier into a poured concrete slab. The pier is heavy, 70Kg plus, and its sheer mass is keeping the whole setup very stable.

Are you going to build a little hut/home observatory to leave you setup on the pier permanently?

Leaving the setup on a pier permanently really help with setup and imaging time, seeing that you can resume imaging night to night very quick, and you're already accurately polar aligned from the time you turn on your power.

 

[bottletopburly]

i recently built a pier ,Thread here ,

 to be honest it`s not that hard ,well bit of physical work involved , decide where you want to situate pier , dig a big hole mine was 900mm deep 600mm sq ,rebar rod hammered into the ground, make a shuttering frame for the top  , do you want power to it if so feed a piece of plastic pipe into the centre so cables can be fed to mount after concrete poured , pour concrete i used approx half a cubic meter , base done ,

Pier decide how tall you need it to finish ,  have a google for an engineering company local to you and get all your metal plates lasercut ,you will need a 300mm steel  base plate with holes for fixing down and a 60 mm centre hole ,(info how i done mine on my thread ) a 12mm steel plate for the top sized to match the pier adapter ,they are approx 175mm in dia , length of steel tube  i used 139mm x 5mm walled x750 mm ,your putting a 5 inch refractor on yours so you may be better off going for maybe 200mm dia pipe as your pier will be longer ,maybe other members have theirs on a 139mm tube  you can always tack weld supports full length of tube ,many ways it can be done ,get it welded up , finish with powder coating and bolt down , cost wise mine came in approx £200 had i bought one then it would have been nearer £500. 

[Jkulin]

Just done this: -

Hope this helps?

[ollypenrice]

The word 'deck,' to my english ear, sounds like wooden deck. If this is so I would think again. A pier needs a solid floor beneath it, ideally one not attached to the the floor you're walking on. This isolates it from pedestrian vibration.

An easy way I used recently for the first time involved buying some pre-formed concrete pillar rings, epoxy bonding them onto a concrete floor and to each other, and filling them with concrete and rubble before drilling the top for a pier-top plate. They are self supporting as you do the concrete fill so it's all very simple.

Olly

 

 

[Jkulin]

Hi Olly, If I had seen those concrete pillar rings anywhere then I would have bought them as they look every bit as good as a custom designed peer.

[Jkulin]

Oops, Posted in wrong place

 

[Ian Kahler]

thank you everyone.... lot of  helpful ideas and  information there.

 

[ollypenrice]

7 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Hi Olly, If I had seen those concrete pillar rings anywhere then I would have bought them as they look every bit as good as a custom designed peer.

Local builders' yard (in France.) People seem to like building fake Greek temple facades around their front doors these days!!!

Cost was zilch.

Olly

[hughgilhespie]

Hi,

Some interesting ideas. I did a search for concrete rings and found these. https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/product/concrete-drainage-pipe-300mm-x-25m.html

The length (2.5 metres) is a bit excessive but it shouldn't be too difficult to cut to length with an angle grinder. They are probably stiff enough that you wouldn't need to fill them with more concrete, particularly if you bury the bottom metre or so. And they are wonderfully cheap!!

Regards, Hugh

[Hadron]

Reading your original post the idea was for semi permanent which is the same criteria I was aiming for. In the end I plumped for a seriously heavy weight but free standing pier that could be moved from place to place yet was more stable than the standard HEQ5 mount and also (by virtue of its weight) less nickable enabling me to leave it set up in the garden between sessions 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/299777-pier-project-completed/