The "Sexy Red Beast" Pier

[coldlegs (Stephen)]

Well maybe it's not sexy but it is definitely a red beast. All 120kg of it!! I couldn't resist the massive scrap pipe for $100 so I grabbed it. That alone added 20+kgs to the weight. Made a couple of stuff ups. The holes in the bottom plate were not big enough to fit the concrete drill through for the 16mm anchor bolts so had to down size to 12mm. The bottom pier plate suffered from a little warping at the corners. I suspect this was because of the original instructions “not to spot weld but to continuous weld only” so the instructions have been changed to spot weld then continuous weld. May be a welding expert would like to comment on this. Total cost .. about $900.
Plans are attached for anyone to print out and modify to suit.
Cheers
Stephen

[koputai (Jason)]

Pretty cool Stephen, heavy stuff!

A couple of things I've found after doing a similar project:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=79998

1. Why not just mount the NEQ6 to the top of the pier and do away with the top adapter plate and the four adjustment bolts. These adjustments are not needed with the NEQ6/EQ6.

2. You may find your top plates are too big. I made mine 300x300x16mm and find that the scope and counterweight bar sometimes come awefully close to the top plate. At some stage they will hit.

3. The parts of the gussets that are outside the direct line between the edges of the top and bottom plates is superfluous. It adds no strength and gets in the way.

Of course, I'm just being picky! Great job!

Cheers,
Jason.

[coldlegs (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by koputai

Pretty cool Stephen, heavy stuff!

A couple of things I've found after doing a similar project:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=79998

1. Why not just mount the NEQ6 to the top of the pier and do away with the top adapter plate and the four adjustment bolts. These adjustments are not needed with the NEQ6/EQ6.

Agreed. Am thinking about one of those "owls nest" tops welded on top of the pier.

2. You may find your top plates are too big. I made mine 300x300x16mm and find that the scope and counterweight bar sometimes come awefully close to the top plate. At some stage they will hit.

Checked mine and can get about ten degrees past the meridian before things get tight.

3. The parts of the gussets that are outside the direct line between the edges of the top and bottom plates is superfluous. It adds no strength and gets in the way.

Have to disagree here as it's all about flexure not strength. I suspect the gussets would help.

Of course, I'm just being picky! Great job!

Cheers,
Jason.

Cheers Stephen