Permanent/removable pier?

[martin_b]

Hi All,

What I'd like is a pier on my patio. So far so good... However SHMBO has insisted that.

It can be removed when necessary, and I cant leave bolts sticking out of the ground.

Any suggestions?

cheers

Martin

[roundycat]

try one of these: Astro-Physics Inc.

Dennis

[Beyond_Vision]

You could put female threaded rod into the ground which is then flush with the patio. Then use bolts to secure the pier.

Regards

Kevin

[tinvek]

defiantly female rods are the answer, just remember to find someway of covering the holes when not in use or you ll end up with threads full of carp

[MartinB]

try one of these: Astro-Physics Inc.

Dennis

well that would certainly end the problem of SWMBO!! Just make sure you have enough left over after the settlement to pay for it.

[Psychobilly]

Use grub screws coated in Grease or vaseline to seal the tops...

[Bigwings]

Thinking out of the box a table or ornament to cover the bolts making a feature out of it and a new pair of shoes for SHMBO

[ollypenrice]

Do the female locators even have to be threaded? Just neat little holes (Steel tube bonded into concrete or slabs) and then you have little prongs on your mount to locate into them.

Olly

[pmlogg]

I've had similar discussions in my home although we did not get to the detail of bolts. Perhaps you could conceal the mounting surface and bolts under a removeable section of paving. A rubber seal and/or drainage holes might be required.

Other ideas I had that were rejected were to have the top of the pier concealed as a bird feeder, or bird bath, i.e. removing those at night for use as a pier. I'd offered to use a large wooden post instead of metal but still got the thumbs down.

I saw a picture on line of someone who was using a tall clay chimney pot as a sort of pier. There are ones made that are fairly tall with a large inside diameter that could conceal a metal or wooden pier. A planter on top would hide the connections. I've not made that suggestion yet.

My concerns with the removable options would be that 1. the time taken to set it up would counteract one of the main benefits of having it and 2. that the repeatability of setting it up might mean that polar alignment etc. would still have to be done.

Someone told me that they leave their AP pier outdoors all the time and it has not affected it - so that's not permanent -right?. Here,my better half seems to have got used to the mount sitting in the hallway and the storage box for the telescope sitting in the dining room so that might work. But what I'd like to do would be to have a waterproof box with power and usb connections running indoors for remote imaging (well you have to have a dream, don't you).

[martin_b]

Thanks for all the advice..

I'll run the options past SHMBO and see how we go :-)

[roundycat]

If you attach a small laser to one of the tripod legs or, better still, the bottom part of the mount you only need to polar align once. Mark the spot on the wall or somewhere that the laser lights up and use that for your alignment. Just make sure you put the tripod in nearly exactly the same place every time. I did this and managed to set up from scratch in about ten minutes and PA was already done. Good enough for imaging anyway.

Dennis