The Upcycle Observatory Build

[Chris]

1 minute ago, Stuart1971 said:

You will also find, as I did, that in the winter  months It won’t vibrate anywhere near as much, it’s the heat that makes it far worse, when the plastic, concrete has cooled it will be much les prone to vibration..., and may be fine...👍😀

Thanks Stuart, it's pretty good now I've built up the footings a couple of inches extra and added the 8" tube over the top with plenty of rebar. It's made a world of difference which is a relief

My last pier was 8" all the way up in an 18" cubed footing and was rock solid. This is a smaller obsy than my last so I thought I could just down scale the pier and footings along with everything else. Lesson learnt. 

[Jkulin]

Chris can I make a suggestion? Get those thread bolts for separating the two aluminium plates as close as you can together, you really don't want them more than a couple of inches at the very most and bigger rods means bigger prizes, so see if you can up the size to 16mm!

[Chris]

11 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Chris can I make a suggestion? Get those thread bolts for separating the two aluminium plates as close as you can together, you really don't want them more than a couple of inches at the very most and bigger rods means bigger prizes, so see if you can up the size to 16mm!

Hi. The idea is that the pier is very adjustable. You have the plates far apart (the pier higher) for a refractors, and close together (the pier low) for Newtonians. My last pier had very little adjustment and I couldn't use Newtonians. The fixed pier was just too high so I've used a lower fixed pier section with longer bolts with this MKII version 

Indeed, I can always upgrade the threaded bar, I just happened to have some 12mm so we'll see how we go

[fifeskies]

+1 for upgrading those 12mm rods to 16mm

especially for the longer setting , will kill a fair bit of oscillation for you , my pier has 16mm rods and is pretty much vibration free.

( cheap on an auction site from far east ).

Almost twice as much metal in the 16mm  (x1.8 as it goes by diam squared)

[Jkulin]

2 hours ago, Lockie said:

Hi. The idea is that the pier is very adjustable. You have the plates far apart (the pier higher) for a refractors, and close together (the pier low) for Newtonians. My last pier had very little adjustment and I couldn't use Newtonians. The fixed pier was just too high so I've used a lower fixed pier section with longer bolts with this MKII version 

Indeed, I can always upgrade the threaded bar, I just happened to have some 12mm so we'll see how we go

Hi Chris, I do believe that one of the fundamental causes of the vibration is the length and thickness of those rods.

I posted a video sometime ago which explained that there was no need to have any form of adjustment as your Polar Alignment should take care of that, I have never used rods on my pier and it has never affected my images.

[Stuart1971]

1 hour ago, Jkulin said:

Hi Chris, I do believe that one of the fundamental causes of the vibration is the length and thickness of those rods.

I posted a video sometime ago which explained that there was no need to have any form of adjustment as your Polar Alignment should take care of that, I have never used rods on my pier and it has never affected my images.

I actually disagree...it’s the small diameter of tube filled with concrete, Added with the height, if that was solid, with no movement, then the rods would be fine....I have seen numerous piers built of solid steel with fins, and rock solid, with plates separated by that distance on m12 studs, and they are fine... 👍😀

[Jkulin]

9 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

I actually disagree...it’s the small diameter of tube filled with concrete, Added with the height, if that was solid, with no movement, then the rods would be fine....I have seen numerous piers built of solid steel with fins, and rock solid, with plates separated by that distance on m12 studs, and they are fine... 👍😀

That's fine, but there is enough documented advice from many experts who will advise otherwise.

[Chris]

All I know guys is that there was a large amount of vibration coming from the actual 110mm tube itself, not the pier adaptor. I know this because I repeatedly tapped the pier at different heights and with the pier adaptor completely removed the tube vibrated quite noticeably.

Also as mentioned installing the 8" diameter tube section completely stopped any vibrations. I can always upgrade the M12 bar to something a bit more substantial and this is good advice, but in the name of science why don't we see how the M12 rods actually do before upgrading? 

[Stuart1971]

33 minutes ago, Lockie said:

All I know guys is that there was a large amount of vibration coming from the actual 110mm tube itself, not the pier adaptor. I know this because I repeatedly tapped the pier at different heights and with the pier adaptor completely removed the tube vibrated quite noticeably.

Also as mentioned installing the 8" diameter tube section completely stopped any vibrations. I can always upgrade the M12 bar to something a bit more substantial and this is good advice, but in the name of science why don't we see how the M12 rods actually do before upgrading? 

Exactly... 👍😀

[Chris]

In today's episode the weed membrane and decorative stones are down, and the sub frame has been loosely positioned ready for fixing. I just need a bit more timber.

[RobertI]

Do you perform observatory commissions?

[Nigella Bryant]

On 18/08/2020 at 00:04, Jkulin said:

Chris can I make a suggestion? Get those thread bolts for separating the two aluminium plates as close as you can together, you really don't want them more than a couple of inches at the very most and bigger rods means bigger prizes, so see if you can up the size to 16mm!

I went overkill with 20mm rods, lol.

[Jkulin]

@Nigella Bryant lol🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Is it straight?

[Nigella Bryant]

20 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

@Nigella Bryant lol🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Is it straight?

Unfortunately not, lol 

[Chris]

There is one thing I'd like an opinion on. I was hoping to get marine ply for the flooring, but the ply Wicks had was simply labelled ply! I picked up 4 sheets of 12mm which should be plenty thick enough as the floor frame is about 10" between centres. 

Is it worth weather treating the underside plus sides of the ply if it's going to be sitting 4-5" above the ground ? 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Lockie

[Gina]

Yes, I would think so.

[Chris]

1 minute ago, Gina said:

Yes, I would think so.

Thanks Gina, I'm sure I have some fence treatment in the garage which should do the job. 

[Davey-T]

16 minutes ago, Lockie said:

There is one thing I'd like an opinion on. I was hoping to get marine ply for the flooring, but the ply Wicks had was simply labelled ply! I picked up 4 sheets of 12mm which should be plenty thick enough as the floor frame is about 10" between centres. 

Is it worth weather treating the underside plus sides of the ply if it's going to be sitting 4-5" above the ground ? 

Its worth getting some clear wood preserver  and splashing it all over including the already treated joists, quite expensive for decent stuff but will guard against anything pest / rot related.

Marine ply not needed, cost a fortune ( unless you're expecting a high tide 😂

Dave

Edited August 20, 2020 by Davey-T

[wormix]

I slapped a load of bitumen paint on the OSB I used for the flooring in my shed and it’s been sound for the last 5 years. 

[Chris]

5 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Its worth getting some clear wood preserver  and splashing it all over including the already treated joists, quite expensive for decent stuff but will guard against anything pest / rot related.

Marine ply not needed, cost a fortune ( unless you're expecting a high tide 😂

Dave

Good shout Dave, I don't need to worry too much about getting it where I shouldn't if it's clear lol If I can't find any in the garage I'll take a trip to the shops.

I'll be honest and admit I didn't realise marine ply was LITERALLY marine 🤣 I thought it was like a damp conditions material.  

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by Lockie

[Chris]

4 hours ago, wormix said:

I slapped a load of bitumen paint on the OSB I used for the flooring in my shed and it’s been sound for the last 5 years. 

That's good to know, I nearly wen't that route myself. Thought it would save some money but I found that the 18mm OSB was around the same price as 12mm ply. The floor joists are close together so 12mm should be fine. 

[Chris]

Yesterday's progress - everything's had two coats of Cuprinol wood preservative, and the floorings almost finished.

[RobertI]

Nice progress Chris. Of course the burning question is, what scope and mount have you got planned for the Obsy?

[JeremyS]

Looking good Chris. You really are making rapid progress on this project. I'm impressed!

[Chris]

11 hours ago, RobertI said:

Nice progress Chris. Of course the burning question is, what scope and mount have you got planned for the Obsy?

Thanks, well I just missed out on an older style EQ6 for £150! messaged as soon as I saw the add but I was just beaten too it.  It might have to be the Starquest mount and the Meg72 or ST102 for a while but we'll see what pops up  

Edited August 22, 2020 by Lockie