Pier - oak beam in concrete with diy eq6rpro adapter - PLUS OBSY BUILD

[Demon]

I'm helping a friend and fellow astro society member with a permenant observatory and the following is phase one - I got and prepared the oak beam and made the eq6rpro adapter.

This is a nice dry oak beam offcut I got from a local sawmill I use. 

Planed

Routed top flat

Routed top corners off

Oiled

Got some bar stock

Turned, drilled, tapped and bolted. 

Added some studding to help bond to concrete. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Demon

[Demon]

My friend dug a 1.2m deep hole. 

Trial fitted it after aligning it. 

Concreted it in. 

Admittedly it's not much to show for all the work. 

However he's had first light imaging and says its rock solid.

 

He's pleased and next the mini roll off roof obsy over the top. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by Demon

[RaDec]

Excellent job - very impressive.

will it be covered with a shed?

[Demon]

Thanks, Yep just finishing the plans off now and shortly buying timber. It can't roll off as there's a rose in the way so it's going forward rolling and tilting from horizontal to vertical using counterweights, like a garage door 2mx2m. Fingers crossed it works as planned then fit the motors... 

[RaDec]

This is an impressive project 👍

Innovative ideas to resolve particular issues.

I'm following this with interest

[TerryMcK]

Interesting to see how the oak holds up over time. My experience in woodworking finds that oak moves dependent upon the relative humidity - I have made many outdoor oak gates from kiln dried stock that have expanded quite a bit in width requiring further work to trim off excess to fit the gap. American white oak is the worst. European oak twists and cracks - especially green oak.

Kiln dried stuff is better but it is very difficult to dry thick beams that's why timber is converted into boards or planks up to 3" or 4" thick maximum prior to drying.

All wood is always trying to get to equilibrium absorbing moisture or loosing moisture dependent on atmospheric conditions. It expands/contracts about its width. Even so it might not affect polar alignment one bit so as I say interested to see the developments. 

[Demon]

Thanks gents, Yep I've had fun with oak over the years including making furniture and the like. The oak is from a great local sawmill that gets it from France. This beam offcut had been played down for years. It will move but not over course of a night or likely many months. If it does shrink slightly the bolted studding is set nicely into the concrete however my friend is pleased it's solid without being much of an obstruction at the base. Was thinking all concrete at one point but glad we did not so far... Tbd

Edited July 13, 2023 by Demon

[Demon]

We've started on the bottom frame

In theory the pyramid roof will open as followssadly it cant simply role onto upper level as there are plants with sentimental value - fingers crossed the counterweight system and mechanism works...

Edited July 21, 2023 by Demon

[Demon]

My friend is getting on with it nicely...

[RaDec]

Coming along nicely. Impressive design, keep the pictures coming. 

[Demon]

Its moving along nicely...

[Demon]

On hols in Spain but friend getting on. 

[Demon]

P.s. It's got an eq6rpro and 190mn in it comfortably. He's been getting amazing images with it before this, so talked him into an obsy as I know he'll get even more now. He started with a star adventurer and 72ed and got images that most would envy even with far better gear.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Demon

[RaDec]

Your friend is doing a brilliant job there. Coming on really well now. 

[Demon]

The obsy build took a turn for the more sensible thankfully, we didn't do the angled roof in the end and the sentimental rose that was blocking the best slide off path for the roof has been moved (thankfully looks to have survived the move). So my friend has albeit finished it and already reported he's extremely pleased it rolls of perfectly and his tracking with the oak pier has improved significantly to 0.35 arcsec on his EQ6RPRO with 190MN on. However hes amazed at just being able to roll it off and be running in no time at all, compared to the usual time and uncertainty over whether to set up or not.

We're motorising it next but that will be easy with its current design, main thing is its now in use and it has not led to a divorce.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Demon

[RaDec]

That is the absolute business!

Very professionally finished, no divorce and already showing benefits. 
Super impressive effort. Well done