@@alangriffiths1432 hi there! I didn't build it myself. I'm lacking the talent for that 😂. I went to a company and described what I wanted. They did a drawing for me to look at and then built it for me.

Hi there!. I'm still around and still astronomise but just don't have the time to do anything for YT. But I'm glad people like yourself are still finding it useful ☺️. So, the middle plate. I was very much thinking on my feet and thought the middle plate would add a bit of rigidity. I think after doing it this way, and seeing how others have used similar ideas, I could probably come up with some modifications. Now though, I have a permanent pier in an observatory. Kind of based on the wooden version in this video but made from steel. And as for the wooden pier itself, well it was a success while I used it. I since moved house and there was no way I was going to dig down and break the concrete to get it out the ground 😂. So, it became a garden birdbath for the next occupants of our old house. Of course, there was vibration, but providing it wasn't touched while imaging, for me it was pretty solid. And definitely good enough for visual. But the question is, would I do it again? Well, on a budget, yes. All the convenience of a permanent set up/location saves a huge amount of time. But by saving and waiting it out until I could afford a concrete base and steel pier, it is obviously the better option. I have also heard about other people using railway sleepers for piers, that it can also depend on your soil and proximity to main roads. If your soil is stoney, then apparently there is less dampening of vibrations from your surroundings. I've also read of people witnessing vibrations from passing HGVs etc. though that was never going to be a problem for me. I hope that at least partly answers your questions. 👍

@astromadness thanks for the fast answer. In that case, I think I will continue with a poured pier, as it will also be in an observatory I am hoping to build this summer. 61 deg North, so permafrost will be an issue...

I'm very jealous of your clear skies out there! That, and the weather 😄

Glad it was helpful! Hoping to do a bit more this winter. Just waiting for those clear skies 😂.

Thank you very much.

Hi Sebastiano, Thanks for your kind comments. For me, the size was spot on. Once I put the mount into the hole, there was no movement from side to side, but it was loose enough to rotate with relative ease for polar alignment. I don't know much about engineering tolerances but I guess either the disc or the mount only need to be a mm or so different for there to be a little bit of play. Best of luck with your project 👍 Tony

@@astromadness Hi Tony, thanks for the quick reply. I measured the hole diameter of the plate and the protrusion of the mount and they are both 65 mm spot on so maybe it is a mater of tapping and "force" the install. Probably both pieces are in their lower tolerance but i feel I can make it work with extra elbow grease work!

The wooden pillar for me was more affordable at the time and worked perfectly well. Since then, I have moved house. I now have a steel pillar on a concrete base in my observatory. All good and viable options to suit different needs and budgets 🙂👍

Hi Ben, Thanks for your comment and questions. I started talking to Neil at the Practical Astronomy Show 3 years ago. He went through the design and options with me there and then. In the weeks after the show, I received the full plans and renderings (after a deposit was paid) via email and we agreed what work I would be responsible for, and what I could expect from Outsideology. In my case, I did the footings for the 4 legs and the pier base. Neil would be responsible for the rest. I don't have mains power to the build, which kept it simple. Then it was just a case of waiting my turn. I got the impression Outsideology are always really busy, so I had to wait a little while for a firm build date. I don't remember quite how long , though it wasn't excessively long. We did agree one delay on the build date due to weather which was the right thing to do, and I would of happily done again if needed. Outsideology are based a good few hours away from where I live. They built the observatory in their workshop in sections. On the day of the build, the observatory sections arrived on a trailer with Neil and his brother. They then spent most of the day putting it all together, finishing as I recall not long before dark, and then they were off home. I think though, if they would have to of travelled much further, they might of needed to stay overnight somewhere which I expect would also of been added to the cost. Neil was always good a responsive to my emails and I paid the quoted price. I didn't deal with any of the other suppliers so can't compare to anyone else, although I did look around at a few, but Outsideology were the only one's I actually engaged with. I imagine currently, lead times might be a bit longer because of materials costs and supplies. It seems to be a common theme amongst many construction projects, but he will be able to fill you in on that. All in all, I'm very happy. The observatory is still solid and has been well used. Providing it is looked after (treating the wood with preservative etc.) I expect it to last for quite some time yet. If I ever come to move house, I would probably engage with Neil again with a view to either getting it dismantled and relocated, or, for a new build. I don't know anyone else personally who has one of their observatory builds, so who knows if my experience is typical - I'd like to think that it is though. Hope this helps, Good luck! Tony

@@astromadness sound very positive. Almost too good to be true lol. Were there really no bad points?

@@benjiwhittle Apart from the price! 🤣 To be honest, I'm quite easy going and happy in most situations to just go with the flow. I got what I asked for and what we agreed and I was happy to wait for it. I didn't have any deadlines and being involved in the astro hobby, am quite patient 🙂 Other customers might have had a different experience, but mine was very good. I did mean to catch up with Neil at this years practical astronomy show as he was there again. But, he always had someone at his stand and was really busy so I didn't get chance in the end. Perhaps have an ask around on a couple of forums like SGL or others. There are bound to be others out there who have used his services. More often than not, I find that if someone has a bad experience, they're all to ready to shout about it in a public forum. Not always the case for a positive experience though.

@@astromadness good to hear your story. Thanks for sharing

Hi Robert. To be honest, we don't get snow very often around here at all. The last time we had any significant snow around here was around 4 years ago, before I had the observatory. If it arrived in the forecast though, as a precaution I do think I would need to look at blocking off a few areas, especially if it gets windy. 🙂

Aren’t the tripod legs hollow? Do you have any pics or video you can share us. Thanks

Hi there!. Thanks for your comment and question. So, the bottom steel plate was just to be able to bolt down the metal work to the top of the wooden pier. (Since this video, I have moved house and have an observatory, so it is now welded to the top of my steel pier.) The middle plate has a small hole in the middle of it, large enough to take the bolt which screws up under the mount. The bolt head pushes against it as the threaded end of the bolt screws into the mount, securing it into place. And then the top plate is just used to bolt the adapted disc to. Hopefully that answers your question :-) Clear skies!

@@astromadness Ahh thanks for that explanation. So I take it that the centre bolt was too long so you needed the middle plate to secure it up to ?

@@julian489289 yep, that's it exactly 👍

Hi Mike. Thanks for your comment, and for taking the time to view the video. I made this pier a few years ago now. Since making this video, I have moved house and now have a permanent observatory with a steel pier bolted into a concrete 1m cubed base. I understand fully your thoughts on the wooden pier idea though. At that time, it was a case of making a pier to a budget for as little as possible, and to be honest, I think it totally worked. I never left my mount in situ, so when it come to polar alignment etc, then I always needed to re-polar align when I set up my kit anyway. Don't get me wrong, the wooden pier did have a little bit of movement, but it was functional. Originally, I used it with a lighter Celestron AVX mount and a SkyWatcher 150p reflector and to be honest, I did end up using it more for observing than for imaging. Again though, it served a purpose and I'm really glad I built it and got use out of it. In different climates, you're right, I think it could of given me a few more issues over time with hot and cold weather extremes. Generally though, in the UK, the weather is crap most of the time :-) so we don't have to worry about it too much. If I wanted a pier purely for visual, I would probably use wood again to be honest, but once I got my observatory, I was only ever going to build a steel pier. However, I have used the same brake disc idea for a pier adapter on the steel pier too. When we left our old place, I left the wooden pier in situ and I believe it is now enjoying it's new life as a bird bath now! :-) I wrote a blog post on building my pier. Link here www.astromadness.co.uk/2020/02/diy-steel-observatory-pier.html All the very best, and clear skies, Tony

Hi, thanks for leaving a comment. It's a great question, and one that I haven't really thought of to be honest. I just try to make it so I could have the mount and scope up as high as I could. I'm guessing though, somewhere around the 30 degrees mark all around. Any lower than that to the North, and I would be imaging the roof of my house, and to the South, I'd be birdwatching in the forest on the hill in the other direction ;-). Roughly to the East and West though, it's pretty good.

@@astromadness :D I would need to be over 40 degrees at my home! Not the best views...hopefully move in the next few years and an observatory will be first on the list.

Cheers Rach:-)

Hi there. The thought had crossed my mind, but I wanted to retain my tripod in one piece so I still have the option of taking my mount to star parties. 🙂

Yes you could tripod top to a plate, but where to you put the through bolt to firmly attach the mount to the plate. I solved this with a concrete pier and the top portion of my tripod with mount head set in the concrete at the top of the pier. I cut all 3 tripod legs leaving about 8 to 10 inches to set into the concrete pier as it dried. Now I had room to use the threaded rod up into the mount base.

Hi David. Glad it's helped you out 👍. Clear skies 🔭.

@@astromadness I was able to throw together a video of the shots I took during the building of the adapter. kzbin.info/www/bejne/laWcnJp5bd-olc0

You won't look back, and you'll wonder how you managed without!

Thanks for your comment, Trevor! I've got a long way to go before my KZbin vids get up to your standard though :-) I follow your journey and see you hauling your kit in and out for each session, and have always wondered why you have never taken the plunge yourself. You've either got rigging and de-rigging down to a fine art by now, or you're an incredibly patient man! I doth my cap to you, Sir!

how did trevor end up commenting here?

Hi, I'm really sorry for the late response, but I can't find the details of the order I placed, despite looking through all my emails. However, the way I did it was to search online for a brake disc catalogue. They have all the dimensions in there, including the hole diameter, the height of the disk etc. I measured the top of the tripod which came with the mount to get the dimensions, and then just searched for a brake disc of an appropriate size. That's what I would have to do again if I needed to repeat the process. Thanks. Tony

Hi Kevin. I can't remember off the top of my head. It might have been an Audi A2 or similar, possibly a VW golf, but I can't remember now. I have also searched my emails, but can't find the receipt for the original order now. Thanks. Tony

Thanks for your comments, Abdul. I've got a few more ideas for new videos. All I need to do is find the time to make them! And yes, the dog will probably get in on the act too!

Sounds like an awesome combo! Finger crossed for clear skies over Xmas and new year for you!

Ha ha! That's a very valid point :-) No accidents this time fortunately. That could have been a very different outcome to the video!

Hello again, Mark. When I use the AVX, I use the 2 star alignment plus add a single calibration star which works really well as you say. Remembering that the SkyWatcher uses a different controller, therefor different software and firmware, I am still getting to know all the different features the new controller brings. However, I haven't read the instructions for it and managed to get on with it quite easily. On the EQ6-R Pro, I now use the 3 star alignment feature, with no additional stars. (I can't even remember seeing an option to add extra stars to be honest, although it doesn't mean that the option isn't there somewhere!) I have an Altair 80 ED-R telescope (f/7) scope on the mount. www.altairastro.com/Starwave-80ED-R-V2-FPL53-Refractor-Telescope.html When carrying out alignment, I used a 10mm illuminated reticule which gives you a double set of red crosshairs at the eyepiece to line up on the stars you are using for alignment. I found that by using this method for centring the alignment stars, GOTO precision brought targets almost exactly to the centre of the eyepiece each time. Maybe, slightly out of centre, but certainly nothing you would worry about visually anyway. I would say that it I every bit as precise as using the AVX GOTO features. When I'm imaging though, before I start the imaging run, I always take a couple of test frames to get things as good as I can. I never need to tinker too much at all. Hope this helps, Tony

Astronomy According to Mountainmadman Hi Tony, thank you so much for the detailed reply. I am seriously considering getting the Eq6-R if it has the PRECISE GOTO feature on the hand controller. May I ask you to scroll down the hand controller menu to see if there is PRECISE GOTO? On Celestron hand controller there is a feature called PRECISE GOTO. I do not know if you have used it. I use it all the time. After alignment you scroll down the menu to PRECISE GOTO, press Enter. Then choose an object that we cannot see in the eyepiece or in the camera. The AVX hand controller will find a visible star very nearby to slew to. You center on the star, then Enter. The scope will slew to the object such as Ring Nebula right in the center. I love this feature so much that if Eq6-R does not have it I will not buy it. Thank you. Mark

Hi Mark, I now understand what you're referring to. I don't have the mounts to hand at the moment, but checking the synscan menu tree in the instructions for the Skywatcher handset on-line, there is no reference to PRECISE GOTO. I believe that this is a celestron specific offering. The manual for the Skywatcher hand controller is available to download from their website and shows the full menu tree. I suggest taking a look at that and familiarising yourself with the options before committing. Hope that helps, Tony