Budget Pier and Equipment tour

[@SteveMillssparra1975]

I love it. I’ve been looking for ideas to build my own. This is perfect for my needs. Thank you for sharing. Clear skies.

[@TheFlyingAudiophile]

I just discovered your channel and am hugely impressed with your incredible astrophotography and your wonderful pier design! I've been looking to put a pier in myself but the commercial ones are ridiculously expensive and this looks fab and affordable. Well done!

[@MrBengourben]

Great job, looks very stable. I built a timber pier with skoda brake discs as the plate, for my heq5 pro. I actually just leave the mount on it all the time. It is protected with a cover from cygnus astro covers. I was I bit nervous leaving it out at first, but it's been out now for four years with no probs.

[@AstroFarsography]

Man I so want to do this myself sometime when I own my own house. It's good to see it up close like this, looks solid and really good all put together.

[@anthonyexmouth]

Something worth considering for people in rental properties is a lorry tire filled with concrete, saw one when i was in france. Lay a bit of polythene in the bottom so no concrete escapes, place the blocks inside and pour the concrete, makes a super stable and also removable pier.

[@OLD-AND-UGLEE]

Wow what a nice setup! I think it'd be more stable than a tripod in the breeze, solid, cost effective, and it looks great! Well done...you did that yourself too which is another big plus. Thanks for sharing Again, Clear Skies, God Bless

[@compubyte2010]

I gotta admit.. a LOT of work in a Temporary Pier.. You put so much into it. I think I'd have put it where I wanted it permanently and dug deep enough .. Might have all taken you an extra half day or so? .. But. it would have been done once and done !! Great Job!!

[@AstroStace]

It’s not actually temporary anymore, perfect position and it’s been in since 2019 with no problems or movement

[@stephenrichards5386]

Anchor set is a resin, I think. I've fixed my lampposts with. Even in soft ground it hardens very quickly and solidifies the soil around it. I love pier. Will have to make one when I come to live in the UK

[@nelsonrivera6575]

Its like you read my mind , i been playing with this idea for a while but don't have the first idea on how to start , thank you Stace yet again

[@steveg4iwr]

I have an 8 inch steel tube set on a 1 metre cube of concrete with an NEQ6 on the top and that works great. Been in use now for 5 years with no vibration problems so your 40inch cube will be great.

[@GaryMCurran]

Stace, I've seen you mentioned by other astrophotographers, so I checked out your iPolar video, and then saw this. This is pure genius! I love it. At the club I used to belong to, we had four pads on the ground, leveled, and inscribed with a compass rose, but this concept, provided you had the proper adapter for the mount, would really be great. I will most certainly keep this in mind when I get my life put back together! Cheers!

[@AstroStace]

Hi Gary!! Hehe hope it was all good things you heard 😁 glad the video gave you some ideas and very grateful of the great feedback. Always happy to help if you do decide to build a block pier. All the best, Stacey :)

[@GaryMCurran]

@@AstroStace Unfortunately, at the moment I am homeless and unemployed. I have an AVX mount, when I was evicted, I lost much of my astronomy /astrophotography gear. I still have my WO ZenithStar 71 and my GSO 6" RC, but I have to replace my hands controller for the mount, all my eyepieces, guide scope and camera, diagonal, and other accessories. When I get my legal issues straightened out, I hope to get a better mount, another telescope (Explore Scientific CF ED somewhere between 127 and 152mm). Dreams right now. One day.

[@AstroStace]

"Just keep swimming" Gary. You will get there and when you do it will be better than before. Keep smiling!

[@slzckboy]

the inbuilt shelving is a massive win! :)

[@joeyoliver579]

Nicely done! And you have a N A S A shirt on! Its been more than 3 years, but I hope your knee is doing well.

[@AstroStace]

Thank you ! Weight loss has helped the knee, but now I have a neck injury instead. I am just a broken human 😅

[@stephennield29]

These are great piers! Originaly made and popularised by Peter Drew of The Astronomy Centre, Todmorden! An easy and cheap set up! Nice job you've made of it Stacey!

[@LAshotts]

Very nice stace. Looks awesome in the garden and solid. Nice job done 👍

[@robgatehouse1651]

Beautiful.

[@gettingpast4391]

oh wow hello! I was just getting ready to do something similar. i love your little astronaut.

[@laserguide]

That's an excellent setup. Well done.

[@MrEzPc]

this is awesome.. I've been wanting to have something a lot sturdier than a tripod. I'm only going to put a Sky Guider Pro on it, but this is a brilliant idea. Currently Googling where I can buy these in my city hahah.. 👍👍👍

[@jefflucas_life]

Nice project, I am going to try this. Thank You!

[@Tim_the_Astronurd]

great job, cant wait to see the results

[@paulfish9626]

Fantastic idea wish Id thought to do it before paying out for one

[@Kyle_Hubbard]

I'm considering this but I'm really not DIY minded. I've made my own 3 x 3ft concrete foundation and I looked at piers you could buy but they just seem too expensive for what is just a steel pipe. Firstly I was wondering how this held up in terms of vibrations? I've heard people say the the movement of the gears can make your images worse which is why apparently you see these wings on piers. Secondly I was wondering if you know how much such a pier could hold? I have two damaged knees from accidents as a kid and bending up and down and having to lift 50KG worth of equipment every night was getting old. That said I was wondering if you had the time if you could explain how I could replicate the design, I know you've said some things in the video above but I feel like there is probably details left out like one asked below in regards to pointing north etc. Would really appreciate the information, cheers.

[@pim1234]

Clever pier !

[@AmritP]

awesome, i've been inspired. you probably get this question all the time, how stable has this proven to be for you over the years? and how often do you have to polar align again? i'd be intending to leave my mount on this full time so that i just hve to bring the scope on and off i go. would be perfect as we also have horrible cloudy nights in new zealand and sometimes atleast on those cloudy nights if i stay out with my longer focal length scope i can get enough of a gap for some quick planetar imaging. would be far less of a chore for that 'small chance of clear patch' if i had a pier thats for sure.

[@AstroStace]

I usually do a polar alignment every 6 months or so or if I take the mount off for any reason . It’s been up a couple of years now without issue :) if you go for it I wouldn’t go more than a couple of blocks high, use marine grade steel rods, and dig the concrete base deep enough to handle your equipment :) . All obvious stuff so apologies for that, but so many folks get angry when they see this block pier 😅

[@AstroStace]

Also make sure you find concrete blocks, not cinder blocks. There is a difference. These are concrete blocks and thus a lot stronger :)

[@AmritP]

@@AstroStace thank you, that's very appealing and exactly what i was looking for. the price of steel piers has been putting me off and doing a full concrete pier also seems a bit time consuming and expensive. i really like this as a somewhere in between and seems to be very stable given your statement of not really needing regular PA. i also really like how it looks. can't beleive how angry folks get at this haha.. though there are some really crazy people with tendencies to overengineer things i've seen the threads on CN/SGL of people talking about 6ft deep holes and such. insane! i'll just be having a 100mm refractor, eq6 and the rest of the usual imaging train so probably in line with your setup. looking forward to that, we are in summer now so perfect time to get some concrete in the ground. to be on the safe side but not ridiculous, i'll probably do a 600mm x 600 x 600 sized hole, that should be more than stable enough. i also like that idea i saw of putting a bike chain around the handle. though in my case the eq6 doesnt have the handle so looking in to alternative creative ways to make it less easy for the opportunistic theif to grab.

[@AmritP]

@@AstroStace thanks again for this recommendation. right near the end of my christmas time off i've finally managed to finish the job on this. just waiting for the paint to set and a clear night to polar align but over the moon with the prospect of having this now. my back is also very happy :) cant wait to use more of our intermittent clear nights now that setup will not be such a massive activity.

[@cigarnationwarriors]

You have really nice toys😁🔭

[@ajaymandke]

Hi, That's looks to be great and strong pier. Do you have the dimensions and the CAD drawing for the Altair Astro pier adapter?

[@LeePulitzerPullen]

This is a really useful video, thanks for making it! I'd be interested to hear more details about the base / foundations. Is the pier attached to a paving slab under the ground?

[@condensermike]

This is really cool. Did you orient the pier adapter North before you bolted it down or is this adjustable too?

[@AstroStace]

Thank you! I orientated it north before I bolted it down :) but the way I bolted it down it’s slightly adjustable so that I can adjust it for tilt etc

[@CarolinaSkyAstronomy]

That is a really cool pier, great job

[@rewjack]

Do you have a parts list? Looking specifically for the M6 to M8 anchor bolts you mentioned. Also curious to know about how far you drilled into the concrete to install.

[@AstroStace]

I'll find them for you. Also I drilled pretty much as far as I could go without coming out the other side. Just so I could resin them in solidly :)

[@AstroStace]

www.orbitalfasteners.co.uk/products/m6-concrete-anchor-ankerbolt-socket-bolt-m8-thread

[@Bigwhite200]

Hi, nice job! Can you provide a link to the m6-m8 anchor bolts you refer to. I haven’t been able to find anything the same. Thank you.

[@AstroStace]

Thank you :) have a look at this website :) www.orbitalfasteners.co.uk/products/m6-concrete-anchor-ankerbolt-socket-bolt-m8-thread

[@Bigwhite200]

Thanks very much

[@jonchapman4072]

Nice setup

[@gazza9839]

Nice job 👍good luck with the knee

[@theQuickRundown]

Hey, when did you switch from the Skywatcher 80ED and why?

[@AstroStace]

Back in August last year I think it was :) this scope has a few extra features that I wanted such as a camera rotator and better focuser :) really I just wanted to treat myself.

[@markstanford2315]

Brilliant!

[@ebiker75]

Hi Stacey, the pier looks really good and something I’m considering building. Had a question about your measurements for the buried concrete pad...when you say “40x40x40” at 2:47 I’m interpreting that as 40cm x 40cm by 40mm (15-3/4” x 15-3/4” x 1-1/2”) correct? Thanks!

[@AstroStace]

Ah no, it was 40cm depth too :) I wouldn’t trust 4cm (40mm ) depth with my gear

[@ebiker75]

Thanks, that makes sense.

[@davepastern]

where did you get the pier plate from?

[@davepastern]

never mind, question answered lol. Would be great if you put links to the gear in the video description!

[@tomwright4060]

Well done ...excellent job :)

[@matthilton8959]

I’m currently looking at getting a guidescope set for autoguiding. Whist is the one you have here? Looks ideal.

[@AstroStace]

It's a primaluce 60mm with helical focuser, Altair also do a similar one of you prefer to buy all from the same place. My guide camera is an Altair GPCam 290c (went for colour as it doubles up in duty as a planetary camera for me )

[@matthilton8959]

AstroStace where did you purchase from? I’m uk also.

[@AstroStace]

@@matthilton8959 I buy all my stuff from Altair usually! Apart from the primaluce guidescope...that came from 365 Astronomy

[@matthilton8959]

AstroStace AstroStace would you recommend that guidescope? Seen mixed reviews about the focusing aspect. Fear not I’m not seeking your final say. Just quite new to all this. I currently have an Altair scope that I bought second hand. So getting kit together. No mount yet either.

[@AstroStace]

@@matthilton8959 have you got a link to the guidescope you're looking at? I've had no issues with this one :)

[@astrojourneyuk]

40cm x 40cm x 40cm isn't enough?!?!? What is? I'm going to do this when the weather gets a bit better, this will save me so much time! Although, with the trees I have I think I might need a winter pier and a summer one. :)

[@deetee-uk]

What's the guidescope?

[@AstroStace]

A primaluce 60mm

[@woody5109]

People over build their piers, great job lady.

[@AstroStace]

Thank you 😊

[@I_Spaced_Out]

Would you like to come to my house and build one for me? I've got the deck all built! At some point I do need to actually put up an observatory, too... This hobby costs too much money :(

[@BrokenPik]

Is that SW EQ6 R had i waited 7 minutes i would have seen the name.... Sheeeesh !!!

[@AstroStace]

Heq5 pro :)

[@BrokenPik]

@@AstroStace Oh very nice ! :-)

[@AstroStace]

Hehe :) it's a good mount. Might be tempted to get its big brother one day though!

[@BrokenPik]

@@AstroStace "If it aint broke dont fix it" as we say in Canada...

[@BrokenPik]

@@AstroStace Hey Stacey , do that same balance again , this time put the counter weight horizontal on the RA and then loosen the clutch on the DEC. just want to see what will happen.

[@jonchapman4072]

Your beautiful

[@astrospace7284]

Amazing Video 😊