What I did on my holidays.

marki · #1 01-10-2009, 05:29 PM

At last I found time to put my pier together. I have taken some pics from midway through the project as I did not think to do it from the start

. The metal pier was bought from another IIS member and is 210mm pipe with 6mm walls I think. It's bloody heavy at 54kg. It was black to begin with but I painted it white applying ten coats of epoxy enamel as it fitted into my yard better and offers good protection. The pier has been filled with sand.

The mounting plates are 350 x 450 x 20mm 5083 ali (very hard) and all holes have been threaded to accept 1/2 inch stainless bolts (excepting the bottom plate height adjustment holes). The top plate has been drilled and threaded to accept a meade ultrawedge but I plan to turn up an adapter so I can also mount the HEQ5 (have lathe and mill).

The concrete base is sat on a 500mm dia x 1m deep pile with 15mm galvanised reo which runs up to the top of the mounting plinth. The base is 1m x 1m x 400mm thick. This has two layers of galvanised 10mm mesh. On top of that is a 400 x 400 x 200mm plinth to which the pier mounts and this is all that shows above the ground. All the concrete (20/20) was poured in one go and vibrated to make sure it hit max strength. The mounting bolts are 1/2 inch x 800mm long and have square plates welded to them to make sure they stay put. I also welded the bolts to the mesh to make life easier.

I spent a lot of time setting up and it paid off. On bolting the whole thing together only 0.1 degree of adjustment was needed to level the top plate. The center runs true north-south so the wedge is set pretty much in the centre. Overall I am pretty pleased. It is as solid as a rock (I know I hit it with my hand to test for vibration. My hand still hurts and the pier didn't move a bit). Somes pics of the job.

1. The concrete has been poured into my very over engineered formwork. Didn't move a mm

.
2. Showing the form for the plinth and holding bolts.
3. Formwork removed and backfilling taking place.
4. Pier fitted and leveled on mounting bolts. Dry packing still to be done.
5 & 6. Pier completed with ultrawedge mounted.

Cheers

Mark

astroron (Ron) · #2 01-10-2009, 06:22 PM

It looks like a very professional job, Mark

Well done

multiweb (Marc) · #3 01-10-2009, 06:30 PM

Now you need an EQ mount to put on this outstanding pier. Not a wedge!

Barrykgerdes · #4 01-10-2009, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by multiweb

Now you need an EQ mount to put on this outstanding pier. Not a wedge!

Yep that effort needs nothing less than a G11 but preferably a Paramount.

marki · #5 01-10-2009, 07:01 PM

Thanks Ron, I used to do this stuff for a living many moons ago in another life

. Funny how old tricks are easily remembered when you have to.

Marc and Barry, I have to use what I have right now but the LX200R does a pretty good job. Converting the pier to take a EQ mount would be a straight forward job as the plates can easily be removed and replaced with another set and I have metal working machinary at home so I can do pretty much as I please

. Don't mention Paramount ME around me, I am likely to go and buy one and it has already rained for the last 28 days straight

. I will try it out tonight and my QHY9 is on it's way and I am on holiday

.

Mark

TrevorW · #6 01-10-2009, 08:29 PM

Paramount, Paramount, Paramount

what ME, who ME

Moon (James) · #7 01-10-2009, 08:49 PM

Mark
Great formwork... to bad you can't see it any more under all that dirt.
Have you got enough room to build a little house around it during your next holidays?
James

marki · #8 01-10-2009, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moon

Mark
Have you got enough room to build a little house around it during your next holidays?
James

Unfortunately no. I am trying to save as much lawn as possible which is why I wanted such a small foot print at the top.

Mark

DavidU (Dave) · #9 01-10-2009, 11:35 PM

Great design and completion Mark. I bet it performs well.

telecasterguru (Frank) · #10 02-10-2009, 07:16 AM

Mark,

Great work, and if you wanted to you could mount a sun dial or bird bath on it during the day.

Frank

dpastern (Dave Pastern) · #11 10-10-2009, 06:47 PM

Nice job Mark. Let us know how the QHY9 turns out as well, I'm thinking of getting one of them (long term, others things to get first, like a car!).

Just out of curiousity, why are people recommending the Paramount, rather than something like an AP1200GTO?

Dave

marki · #12 12-10-2009, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpastern

Nice job Mark. Let us know how the QHY9 turns out as well, I'm thinking of getting one of them (long term, others things to get first, like a car!).

Just out of curiousity, why are people recommending the Paramount, rather than something like an AP1200GTO?

Dave

Thanks Dave, I will let you know how the camera goes once I have it all setup (still working on getting the focal reducer spacing correct). I not fussy I would take either of the mounts

.

Mark

MrB (Simon) · #13 12-10-2009, 01:20 AM

Not sure which would perform better... but the PME looks more impressive

And you could probably get it sooner than the AP.

marki · #14 12-10-2009, 01:53 AM

Simon I think they are as accurate as each other though I haven't looked up load capacity or the like (both would carry more than I could afford to put on them in any case

). You are right the PME sure is a thing of beuty.

Mark