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Old 02-01-2025, 01:40 PM
Leo.G (Leo)
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Leo.G is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Lithgow, NSW, Australia
Posts: 1,470
Thanks Joe!
It's a heavy pier made with half inch plate top and bottom and 1/4" wall thickness pipe (I got it used cheap) and only 3 x 20mm x 50 slots/ mount holes on the base which are slots not cut matching the radius but square across the plate meaning it's not easy to get right if I get it wrong. My plasma cutter won't do beyond 10mm steel plate and I don't think the Dremel would be good. I do have a pneumatic die grinder somewhere.
Three 16mm x 1 metre stainless mount rods have long been bought to do it.


As for equipment, 8" GSO f5 Newt, 8" RC carbon fibre, 152mm Skywatcher 1200mm focal length Achromat with 80mm Megrez used for guiding, not excessive weight even with my Nikon D810 and guide camera attached. Though should a 10" Newt ever come up cheap, who knows.



The multi level support isn't going to work the way I'd planned because Bunnings no longer have the 600 x 600 x 50 precast slabs. Some research showed they had no reinforcement and crack easy as I saw myself at the local Bunnings store with a smaller 500mm square plate.


I can either make a frame and use some weld mesh and make a couple of slabs myself or, pour the main slab with reinforcing weld mesh (I have some 6mm wire stuff here) and then do a second slab on top with smaller reinforcing frame and threaded rod coated/covered so it doesn't bond to the thread for the last 150mm ( possibly a plastic conduit sleeve sealed with silastic to the threaded rod) and I should be able to slide that slab off separately if required.
Of course unless I get very lucky with the lotto Gods I plan on dying here and removal won't be my problem.
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