Yes. I thought the idea might have hairs on it!! Ok. Let's try a different tack. Now I need to set the scenario first. I'm living in the suburb of Elizabeth (Adelaide/SA) which is noted for it's extremely reactive clay subsoil and the sight for the mount is on a recently paved area between my house and my new shed/garage. The ground under the pavers is compacted paver fill/rubble and I intend to have a small (2.5metre?) observatory over the pier/mount and do some imaging.
From what I have read in the website posts and thousands of responses about this subject I'm almost certainly screwed and will have a substantial movement throughout the year due to varying levels of rain/soil moisture. So, where to go from here?
Given that I may have to adjust the level and possibly some minor rotation of the pier more often than usual I think I might take advantage of an idea first mentioned on this website by Steve (kinetic) in this post.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ght=clay+laser
Steve used a laser mounted on the base of his mount pointed at the wall of his house to make the adjustment easier. I'm thinking if two lasers are mounted on my NEQ6PRO with one pointing seven metres East to the wall of my house and the second pointing eight metres North to the fence and once the pier/mount is initially levelled/aligned it should be possible to easily re level and realign the set-up at any time.
If that works, then the next question is what needs to go under the pier? As Steve (Kinetic) pointed out that whilst there is considerable evidence that a concrete block is best, with a very reactive soil you may be kidding yourself. As this lot will be inside an observatory and nobody moving around I'm beginning to think if I remove some pavers and put a 1.5 metre by 1.5 metre x 10cm reinforced slab it would do as well as could be expected on extremely reactive soil.
Any thoughts/ comments very welcome.
Cheers
Stephen