Counterweight for EQ6

[bojan]

To use this mount for my 10" Newtonian, I need additional counterweight, cca 15kg in total..

So I decided to make my own.

The start was the round plastic 4 litres cake box ($2.50 at local shop) to be used as a mould and 1/2 bag of premix concrete, leftover from pier slab ($3.00?).

A friend machined for me the plastic tube with 18mm internal diameter (for counterweight rod), which I center-placed into the plastic mould (cake box).
I also added some reinforcement for the second half (actually, additional 5-7kg, as right now I already have 10kg).
Then the concrete was poured in.. now I am waiting for it to set and then to proceed with the rest (it was cold last night so the setting process is slow...).

[Tinderboxsky]

Excellent. A tidy up and some paint and it will look right at home on your mount. Reminds me of when I did the same thing on a larger scale to make a mooring weight for my yacht.

Steve.

[nebulosity.]

awesome idea Bojan, I'll keep it in mind when I build my GEM :thumbsup:

[Poita]

Nice work. I went with drilling out barbell weights, but this is really tidy.

[bojan]

It is on the mount.. 14kg total (10kg concrete, 4kg metal) is enough to balance my 10" Newt.
So, I need to add 6~7kg of concrete to the existing counterweight, that will be 2/3 of the cake box mould (just to cover the reinforcement, visible on the pics). The counterweight will then have to be 6-10cm closer to the OTA than it is now
If I need any more weight on the OTA in the future, I just have to move the counterweight a bit further away from the tube.
The total load on the mount will be ~35kg... a bit heavy but probably within the carrying capacity of the EQ6.

[bojan]

Phase 2..
The cake box was cut, so the additional concrete could be poured in.. the estimated outcome should be ~15k.

[avandonk]

Bojan I had ninety lbs or 40kg of weight above the axes of the mount. Only the wind will beat you!

Bert

[bojan]

Nope.. if/when all this is housed under this.. (in the near future)

[avandonk]

How are the electronics going?

Bert

[bojan]

Getting there.
Driver circuit is assembled, control is with SoundStepper (alternatively with Bartels (in step-dir) mode) and CdC/EQAlign.
New motors are here (400s/rev, http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/270871351081?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX: IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649), still need to machine the motor shaft ferules (to fit wider timing belt pulleys).

[robz]

Hi Bojan, what brand of observatory is that?..........and how many $clams?

Rob.

[bojan]

The brand name is "Bojan's Dome (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=105922&highlight=dome)" ;).. . not sure about the final price, but it should be ~<2k$ in total (with automation).