Homemade Pier and Telescope Cover

[Jasp05]

Hi guys,

Been thinking about building a pier and permanently mounting my heq5 in the backyard for a while now.

Still researching all the finer details of things to be taken into consideration.

I'm planning on using 220mm OD 200mm ID tube as a pier with a 600mm diameter base plate 10mm thick.

Going to run some 150x10mm thick plate up the side(about 3/4 the way up the tube) as braces. Basic cad drawing attached of initial idea.


But rather than concrete this into my backyard, I already have a large concreted driveway area that I'm planning on bolting this pier to.

My question is do I, or should I try and insulate the pier from the driveway? I'm sure with the kind of gear I'm using me walking around on the driveway is not going to affect my imaging to any great extent. But still thought it prudent to ask.

Also has anyone built or got input on a basic "Roll on - Roll off" cover (See picture)for their pier outdoors? Being in Central QLD we get plenty of heat and moisture and I am conscious this will need to be controlled to some degree to prevent / limit degradation of equipment. Planning to attach this shed to a set of tracks to stop it from being blown around whilst not in use and damaging the scope.

But any input on the pier design or the Roll off shed plans is welcomed.

[OzEclipse]

Aaron,

For that sized mount, you can get away a thick walled or even 3mm walled 100mm tube and no braces unless you plan on hitting it with a sledge hammer while using it. If you want to put braces / fins, 4mm is plenty. The thickness of the fins won't add much rigidity to the mount but they'll be hard to weld.

Also no problem with bolting it to a slab. I did this many years ago. I used an old surplus truck brake drum as my base flange. I bolted it to the slab. The drum slid with a perfect fit up inside the tube. The tube could rotate on the drum acting as my azimuth adjustment. Three bolts locked the pier to the drum when azimuth was right. The mounting was a 25kg welded steel mount. Much heavier than your 10kg EQ5.

The pier you're describing is suitable for a much bigger scope and mount and overkill for your application. ISSDAOL has his EM400 and Mewlon 300 (~76kg with OTA, mount and counterweights) on a piece of 220mm steel tube bolted to the observatory floor slab. Given the weight of his instrument, he doesn't have fins. You can see it here http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=153968


Joe

[Billyboy78]

You could also fill it full of concrete to deaden any vibrations.