My Low Cost and Wife Friendly Observing Area

[AdeKing]

I've wanted a permanent setup for a while now but my wife for some reason did not take kindly to the suggestion of a Todmorden pier in the middle of the lawn.

We eventually agreed that a permanent pier could be tucked away in the northwest corner of the garden provided it could be covered up and hidden.  However, I set up my kit there several times last year and discovered that The problem with that corner of the garden is that in the southeast corner of the garden is our patio and summerhouse and tying to observe from there was like viewing targets through a stream due to the heat given off by the patio slabs and summerhouse roof.

At the end of last year, I managed to pick up a Skywatcher Pillar Mount from @Stu.  The pillar mount wasn't initially received well by Mrs K and I was resigned to the fact that the mount would live in pieces in the garage until I could be bothered to sell it.

However, fast forward three months to the beginning of Covid Lockdown and I decide to brave the wrath of Mrs K and set up the Pillar Mount in the garden and set about using it virtually every day.

The mount was set up on a set of vibration suppression pads, mainly to stop the height adjustment bolts from sinking into the lawn. 

I personally didn't think much of the anti-vibration pads as they seemed to add more vibration than they got rid of to be honest. 

Eventually having seen how much more use I've had out of my equipment Mrs K agrees that I can have a semi-permanent setup in the garden provided it is easily moved so it can be hidden when we have visitors and doesn't involve pouring a huge block of concrete or paving a large area in the middle of the lawn...........and under no circumstances were hollow concrete blocks to be involved. 

I'm a visual only observer and so didn't need to sink a tonne of concrete in the garden, and I originally suggested setting out three paving slabs, one for each foot of the Pillar, but this met with disapproval, as did the solution that involved filling short lengths of plastic 4" waste pipe in the ground.

Anyway, I had another think and eventually came up with the idea of filling some terracotta plant pots with concrete, enlarging the drain holes in the bottom of the pots to 16mm diameter to take the levelling adjustment bolts of the pillar and then sinking the pots into the lawn.  I figured that the terracotta pots blended in quite well with the garden and would green over with moss fairly quickly and the 16mm holes in the pots would allow me to re-locate the mount pretty accurately after moving it to mow the lawn.

This plan got the seal of approval, and deciding that it would be prudent to act quickly before decisions were reversed I sprang into action and spent the weekend sorting things out.

1) - Turf Cut

2) - Holes Dug

3) - Type 1 aggregate tamped down and concrete placed to hold pots.

 

4) - Holes backfilled, holes cut in turf  and turves replaced

5) - Mount put in position

I got first light with the setup last night and am pleased to report that the stability of the setup is very much improved over the original setup with the anti-vibration pads.

 

[MarkAR]

Nice write up and a great idea.

[carastro]

Glad you found a way around it and it works for you.

Carole 

[AdeKing]

6 hours ago, MarkAR said:

Nice write up and a great idea.

Thanks Mark, it's not an exciting post involving large holes and lots of concrete  but I wanted something to show that there are simpler options out there for those who can't have something immovable set up.

5 hours ago, carastro said:

Glad you found a way around it and it works for you.

Carole 

Thanks Carole. First use suggests that might have achieved what I set out to do. 

Let's hope it doesn't all break up at the first sign of winter frosts 🤞🤣

[Tenor Viol]

Just as well I live on my own 🙂

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Great idea and I am glad your perseverance and initiative thinking has paid off. Now just enjoy it 🙂 

And a really good story and write up.

Steve

[Mark at Beaufort]

I like that idea Ade and it looks very good.  I am glad that you were able to keep the Wife happy.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Very ingenius! 👍

I had a stroke of luck yesterday. "Observers Corner" is official.

We received a quote you couldn't turn down for a new patio area and front path. The price was so competitive, 'er indoors was easily convinced a path should be laid to my corner of the garden and an observing area properly laid. 😁

Soon I'll be huddled down behind my street light blocking 8ft fencing to the west and northern tarp light shield without (or at least reduced) muddy & cold feet. It will be big enough for a chair & table, tripod and me. A pier may come next, softly does it...

Edited June 23, 2020 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Swoop1]

A very tidy and unobtrusive solution to your dillema Ade.

I keep trawling the interwebs for a second hand Romulan cloaking device to install on an obsy with no luck yet so will be making do with a corner of the garden pier myself.

[Graham Beamson]

A very clever idea and helpful write up. Thank you !

I'm thinking of setting up a small back yard observatory and an important requirement of the project is not too much in the way of earthworks or big engineering so as not to upset Mrs B. So rather than digging a hole for a pier I'm looking into the idea of using one of the Skywatcher pillar mounts standing directly on the block-paved patio.

I would have a Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount and a Skywatcher Esprit 120 refractor on top of the pillar. The total payload on the pillar would be about 40kg. I would be doing visual and astrophotography. The Skywatcher pillar itself is only 900mm high and I would probably need an extension - I believe that a 200mm extension is available from Skywatcher. Ideally I might need a bit more than that.

It looks as if you have an extension on your pillar mount and possibly one that is more than 200mm - is that correct ? Also, in the light of your experience, what do you think of my proposed payload of 40kg ?

Thank you, Graham.

[CraigT82]

Thats a great idea Ade! I've got the same pillar and have driven 3x 500mm permanent ground markers into my front lawn and I set it up on those, haven't managed to get permission to leave it our there semi permanently though, still have to set up and tear down each session 🙁

[mce]

Just a word of caution. I have this kind of setup which is more less permanently outside. We had some very violent storms earlier this year, and it blew over in the night, fortunately with fairly minor damage. However, I am now rather paranoid, and I check the weather forecast every day for wind speed. If it looks bad, the pillar gets a bag of garden compost draped over its legs, and then it isn't going anywhere (touch wood)!

 

[AdeKing]

6 hours ago, Graham Beamson said:

A very clever idea and helpful write up. Thank you !

I'm thinking of setting up a small back yard observatory and an important requirement of the project is not too much in the way of earthworks or big engineering so as not to upset Mrs B. So rather than digging a hole for a pier I'm looking into the idea of using one of the Skywatcher pillar mounts standing directly on the block-paved patio.

I would have a Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount and a Skywatcher Esprit 120 refractor on top of the pillar. The total payload on the pillar would be about 40kg. I would be doing visual and astrophotography. The Skywatcher pillar itself is only 900mm high and I would probably need an extension - I believe that a 200mm extension is available from Skywatcher. Ideally I might need a bit more than that.

It looks as if you have an extension on your pillar mount and possibly one that is more than 200mm - is that correct ? Also, in the light of your experience, what do you think of my proposed payload of 40kg ?

Thank you, Graham.

Thanks Graham, this solution has certainly worked for me and the holes in the upturned pots make re-positioning the mount accurately fairly easy, normally with a small tweak required to polar alignment.

I'm not sure on the payload the pillar is capable of, as I could never find any numbers.

I'm now using a Vixen GPD2 mount and the heaviest setup I have is an ED120, so I'm probably working with about 24-25kg max load on the pillar myself with about 8kg each for mount, scope and counterweights.

I was using the 16" extension, but found it too prone to vibration, so switched to the 8" extension instead.

I preferred the height with the 16" extension, but the stability is much better with the shorter extension in place so I make do with the lower height.

6 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Thats a great idea Ade! I've got the same pillar and have driven 3x 500mm permanent ground markers into my front lawn and I set it up on those, haven't managed to get permission to leave it our there semi permanently though, still have to set up and tear down each session 🙁

Thanks Craig, that sounds like a good alternative.  Being able to to leave the mount set up permanently has made a huge difference to my observing.

Mine is in the rear garden, I'm not sure I'd be happy with it left in the front garden.

3 hours ago, mce said:

Just a word of caution. I have this kind of setup which is more less permanently outside. We had some very violent storms earlier this year, and it blew over in the night, fortunately with fairly minor damage. However, I am now rather paranoid, and I check the weather forecast every day for wind speed. If it looks bad, the pillar gets a bag of garden compost draped over its legs, and then it isn't going anywhere (touch wood)!

 

Thanks for this tip, I haven't suffered from that problem, but I do have a couple of 25kg bags of ballast handy that can be deployed in bad weather.

[Graham Beamson]

Thanks very much Folks, That's all very helpful. I was thinking of putting my set-up inside a shed on wheels, so the mount might not fall over in high winds but the shed could take off, so I'll have to find a way of anchoring it - maybe locking wheels to begin with and then sacks of ballast if necessary. It's all good fun thinking about it. Mrs B would like the mount in the middle of the circular patio and wall !

[Gfamily]

I'm wondering whether there a market for a lightweight but ornamental birdbath design that would sit in top of a pier in the middle of the lawn by day, but be replaced by an EQ mount at night.

I'm sure we'd be happy to give the pier a suitably rustic paint job.

 

[Swoop1]

Would you be able to place a couple of eye bolts in the ground and then fit some turnbuckles to the pier/ shed to tighten to the eye bolt?

[mce]

28 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

Would you be able to place a couple of eye bolts in the ground and then fit some turnbuckles to the pier/ shed to tighten to the eye bolt?

I thought of this for my pillar, and even bought the bolts. But the paving is natural stone, and I am frightened of splitting it. Also, the bolts could be a trip hazard when the rig is not there. On the whole, I will stick with the sack of compost - it has a minimalist feel to it. 🙂

[JeremyS]

Maybe a low cost wife and a friendly observing area, @AdeKing?

🙂

 

[AdeKing]

4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Maybe a low cost wife and a friendly observing area, @AdeKing?

🙂

@JeremyS, you made me double check what I'd written for a second.

The second part is right, I only wish the first part were. 😃