Thread: New observatory
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Old 05-10-2020, 11:25 AM
xelasnave's Avatar
xelasnave
Gravity does not Suck

xelasnave is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Tabulam
Posts: 16,866
So to raise my blood pressure I thought damn it just make this alluminium thing for the pier ...that should send your blood pressure thru the roof.

Came up with a design that I am happy with so I made up heaps of good clay with saw dust which took ages as there were small rocks in the clay which I needed to remove... and after started building the mold...I think I can do it but sometimes I can get over confident...however I set up the forge and dug out a steel crucible with a handle , I dont like steel because of my sad experience of melting the bottom out of the other one I had...anyways I just need not to go overboard with the blower..I realised I have a petrol leaf blower at the main house which I should be able to use for the forge...

I filled the forge with just all the timber off cuts from various projects of late and topped it off with some cow manure that I had put on my mini garden...I have not decided if I will fire the mold before using it or not..if it is ruff I will so I can add material grind it etc...we shall see after it dries. I may fire the crucible I made and just keep it as an art object cause it looks cool ..melt some coloured glass over it would be nice.

Got the concrete and rocks to about floor level but I had to find a larger diameter tube...which happily I did...I bent the bolts so as to give the grip in the concrete and made up a template to position the bolts so I can finish off the pier with the bolts in place. All I need now is a drill bit a little larger than the bolts so I will pay a visit to the main house and see if I can find one...I suppose I could use a smaller drill and use a rat tail file to make the holes large enough...

It was a clear night last night but I did not have it in me to take photos so I sat on the little deck off the observatory with my binos and enjoyed visual for a long while...it is amazing what you can see with binos..I used my 20 x 50mm which are perfect although eye relief is not flash.
Alex
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