Open to ideas on piers. Who supplies them.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #1 26-09-2008, 09:13 PM

Ok....I've got the concrete base for the pier, now I need the top part to mount my Losmandy G11 onto. I'm open to suggestion for the best place to get one from..preferably in Aus....or should I look local and get one made up.

h0ughy (David) · #2 26-09-2008, 09:37 PM

try contacting steve bain - I will pm you his number

Bassnut (Fred) · #3 26-09-2008, 09:40 PM

Stick dyna bolts in the base, put a tube on top, pour concrete into it, put 1 meter treaded rods into the top before its dries (for the mount base, appropriately spaced), and presto, a pier for a G11, for a fraction of the price of a steel pier, like this http://fredsastro.googlepages.com/observatory

Why do you want to buy a pier?.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #4 26-09-2008, 10:11 PM

I already have the concrete part Fred, now I'm looking for the bits to connect the concrete to the mount.

Bassnut (Fred) · #5 26-09-2008, 11:21 PM

oops, OK, then you need to get the pier G11 "pot" ( G11 option ,one bolt fitting), or if you dont have that (as I didnt) dyna bolt an aluminium adaptor plate to the pier with a hole the size of the mount base and ankor with angled bolts. Its complicated, PM me if you wish.

Bassnut (Fred) · #6 26-09-2008, 11:25 PM

6 th item down "MA" http://www.losmandy.com/access.html

seeker372011 (Narayan) · #7 26-09-2008, 11:46 PM

Paul

my pier arrived in Sydney today-I bought one off star optics who are in your neck of the woods..since I dont know what I am doing with concrete and so on its probably cheaper in the long run to buy a professionally made unit

its for an EQ6 though

Narayan

[1ponders] (Paul) · #8 26-09-2008, 11:58 PM

That's exactly what I'm after Fred, except mine needs to be between 400 - 500mm high. I know I should have made the pier higher, but I don't intend to have a G11 for ever. I'm waiting for you to tire of your PME

[1ponders] (Paul) · #9 27-09-2008, 12:03 AM

I'll give Star Optics a call Narayan and see what they have down there.

I do recall that there have been a few topics on piers before, but I can't find the one I want.

Bassnut (Fred) · #10 27-09-2008, 12:13 AM

OK, well, what I would do (I had to add height at one stage too), is use 4 thick, long 1 inch dia(or so) threaded rods (Bunnings), drill holes in the pier for them, get special 2 part epoxy tube just for fixing rods into concrete (forgot the name, awesome, it works, Bunnings) and fit adaptor plate (had one cut locally for $50). Then in 48 yrs, when u inhearate my PME, angle grind them off, and drill 3 new holes and start again (done this, in reverse, easy)

Ian Robinson · #11 27-09-2008, 01:44 AM

I like the idea of the deck for an observatory being light and breezy underneigh more than a solid concrete slab, that will soak up the heat in summer and bugger up viewing while cooling off.

Had a brainstorm

- I have a double garage that has a big recycled sliding door on the north wall, came from my house where it was the front door when I bought the house.
Might put a pier in the yard next to the garage and the put a timber deck around it that is level with the sliding door. (a 3m x 3m (near 10' x 10"))deck might be sufficient I think - can aways extend that if I along the north wall if I need more later as I have a 6m x 6m garage and room for that again on the north side) - an area of my b/yard I don't use now the kid has grown up - the old tramp used to live there .... and just grows grass right now.
The deck will be handy as a BBQ area too and will add value to the property.
Then when I've got more money - I can enclose the deck and put sliding Skillion roof or 1/2 gable roof (probably simpler to put on rollers and still be rigid and robust) that will butt up against the north wall of the garage over it maybe, thereby needing no new doors , only 3 walls, and a very simple skillion truss - cutting down on costs and utilising thye structural strength of my existing garage which would protect the structure from southerly busters.

Which would be better (cheaper ?!?) :
skillion roof on rollers ? (a shallow Warren Truss)
1/2 gable roof on rollers ? (a shallow Creeper Truss)

When I eventually extend my driveway from the back of my house to the garage (and run power from the house to the garage) that will simplify getting mains to the observing (I'll run cables in pipes buried in the concrete) to the garage and so to the platform (observatory) too.

Wonder how much I might be looking at to do a "conical pier" onto which my Atlux can go and timber deck ?

tino · #12 27-09-2008, 07:43 PM

Was in the MRO site and saw that they are supplying custom piers. Might be worth a look. Here is a link: http://darksky.net.au/forum/showthre...=1605#post1605

netwolf · #13 27-09-2008, 11:51 PM

Thanks Tino, just finished chatting with Bert. A very friendly chap. The piers are available from them to general public. Aprox 300$ for the basic 8" dia unit plus shipping. But if you have plans they are happy to try and make what you need. Paul sounds like you need to make something similar to what Ranier (rsbfoto) has made in his new observatory.

http://rainerehlert.com/ObsReal14/cons/OReal14-05.jpg

Regards
Fahim

[1ponders] (Paul) · #14 28-09-2008, 08:44 AM

Thanks for the link Tino. I had a bit of a look around but apart from the animation on the services page I couldn't find any examples of their piers.

That's about what I'm after Fahim, thought I'd be more inclined to go with a plate fixed directly to the concrete pier, rather than have adjustment nuts under the plate. Shouldn't be too hard to make.....by someone who knows what they are doing.

I actually have a pipe already, 8" stainless, kindly donated by Astroron, but I only need 6" so it might have to go to the outside, to be constructed, guests pad.

bert (Brett) · #15 28-09-2008, 08:58 PM

I have made a few piers now, I would recommend ditching the stainless pipe. You will have to get a stainless base plate amd gusseting and that will have to be tig welded, in other words you are looking at cubic dollars.

Stainless has great thermal properties tho.....

I spoke to fahim about a pier and he showed me this pier adapter http://www.losmandy.com/access.html. This adapter makes it very easy to make something up yourself.

Brett

netwolf · #16 28-09-2008, 10:31 PM

This is a closer look at Raniers adaptation of the Losmandy MA adapter plate on top of his pier extension.
http://rainerehlert.com/astro/pier03.jpg

Ranier mentioned to me that the gold color is due to the cadmium treatment which makes those plates 100% immune against rusting.

Her is a drawing of the extension.
http://rainerehlert.com/astro/extensi%f3n.jpg

I emailed Scott to see if we can get a drawing of the MA adapter, with the screw positions, so that a top plate cane me made to suit this. Ranier in his just atached it using the central bolt then Drilled holes around it to attach more bolts. finally he removed the central bolt. This makes the MA less prone to rotate around one single bolt. He also mentioned the new MA come with 3 extra holes around the centre to bolt to a top plate.
Regards
Fahim

[1ponders] (Paul) · #17 29-09-2008, 07:53 AM

By the looks of it I'll probably go with the same setup as the Losmandy pier but a lot longer and with a plate on the bottom with 4 holes rather than the one. It looks like the simplest solution. My concrete pier top is dead level in all directions so as long as the pier extension is plumb across the bottom and up the tube I won't have to worry too much about leveling issues.