Here's my new telescope pier, and how I constructed it, which will save me time during setup, and makes a much more stable base for astro photography - Awesome!
Excellent video. No stupid music. No endless babbling. Straight to the point without explaining every simple detail. If only every DIY video could be like this. Well done Sir.
great video! i did have to have a chuckle when you are walking down to the garden and said its a great place for a pier and then "would have been a great place for an observatory too.."
Very nice option to not having a full on observatory. Actually with wireless connectivity it is no different than an observatory in that you eliminated all that back and forth work, connecting cables isn't a big deal, in fact I sometimes leave everything intact if I'm planning on a two or three night imaging session, but I'm on a tripod. Great idea and solution. Setting up and breaking down is a PITA and eats into imaging time time besides.
Nice one mate - short and sweet. Love how you used the drainage pipe as a cover. I am going to build a pier as well - Waiting on the utility company's to do their survey's so I don't cut through a cable or water pipe. Cheers Jim
I really love this build and I'm going to build one like it - the corrugated tube is a really good idea, lots of concrete and makes a good and solid construction! Would like to see a follow-up video on it. If there were anything you would have done differently if doing it again - what worked great and what worked not so great. I like that you only did one plate, where many other has multiple plates, but it seems like you have enough room to level it off and get underneath to lock the mount in place. How did it go with leaving the mount outside for the past 3 years - did you do it? My plan is to add mains power and ethernet jack next to it as well...just have to wait for my EQ6-R to arrive - it's in backorder everywhere :/
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That's a vid I'd pay to see. No more rat problems. Those pesky varmints turned in to pink mist. Overkill? Then again, you'd never have any problems with your neighbors ever again! Just kidding. Won't you think of the hedgehogs, kind of thing. Love those little fellas running about at night. Wouldn't want to upset them. :-)
Thanks Mark, and yes I have left it out, double covered all year, although I did take it off for a clean and re-grease. Yes power and Ethernet would have been nice, but the only issues I have had are with USB connectors, so being able to take in the connecting unit has helped with the reliability
That I a great looking Pier and nice tutorial. Can i ask if once you have polar aligned. does taking the scope off and then putting it back knock your polar alignment off at all?? Cheers
Intriguing. The posting is three years old. Anyhow, I have a question for Mieky. Will the counter weight hit the pier if you set the latitude to about 5 degrees. Your latitude may be much higher but I am just curious. Thank you.
Mohamed, Hi. I’ve never tried it that low, it will be pretty close, I’ll try it next time I’m doing a PA. maybe someone else can comment on their pier? A smaller diameter support would help a bit.
It's an interesting question. The thermal cycling probably means Polar alignment needs to be checked regularly. I will be keeping a close eye on it, but I have also adopted several layers of protection: firstly I have used ACF50 to coat and protect the exposed parts likely to rust. This is a great product! Then a towel is draped over the mount, to help reduce dew and moisture, and avoid 'chaffing' on the outer layers. Second layer is a plastic bag cover, waterproofing, and then the green cover you see in the video, protecting from the elements inc sun. So even if there is a leak in the outer cover the inner one should still protect it.. I will let you know in the spring if there was any issue! Thanks for watching
+ Mikey I'm very interested in how your mount fared outside, 9 months on. My AZEQ6 arrived yesterday (your review helped sway me to buy it), and I absolutely love it so far. But hell, it's a beast to hump around, mount on the tripod, and align, BUT I'm really quite anxious about leaving such costly kit outside. How do you apply that ACF50, ands where?
@@HelmutBemboka Hi, everything is working fine. I have stripped and cleaned/ regreased the mount once, and replaced the covers because of wear. I now use a double layer with an old towel between (the mount and the cover), and some of that non slip rubber Mat between the two covers, as the first cover wore thin at the top, and started to let water in during heavy rains. This double cover is working fine for 1 yr already :-)
Could you provide the pans you used for the adapater plate? I'm trying to accomplish the same thing, but I need the plans for the adapter to take a machine shop. Thanks!
Hi Robert, I looked at that originally also. If you were only a visual astronomer, mount will take it, but for imaging, then the weight and also the moment from the extra length of the scope makes it less than ideal
@MikeyJ so would I be OK with a 10" like yours on the same mount az-eq6 pro gt thanks for you help I'm really trying to get this right I have a celestron nextstar evolution 8" and a sky max 127mm but I just want a newtonian telescope 10"or 12" and a pier like yours I can have an observatory in the garden or just a pier in the garden
@MikeyJ thanks for your help I really really need help I just want to use it for the moon and planet's and the sun I'm just a beginner could I use starsense outo aline on the mount
I'm liking this pier design - I've been thinking that putting a conduit either in the pier or next to it to run data/power/etc would be a good idea so you aren't stepping on wires when working around the scope...
@@Afterburner true, power to the scope would have been good, but i just run an extension cable to my DIY powerbox, and its done, so compared to the extra trenches, protection and cost, im OK with the 'dumb pier' approach
Your mount is only as solid as your 3 threaded rods. Not very !! I don't understand why people build piers this way. You'd be way better off bolting the mount directly to the concrete face. But then you ask " how do make my mount level?" It doesn't really need to be level.
