The End of the Pier Show (Act Three)

The Pier has finally been installed in Bizibilder’s Observatory!!
The EQ5 mount bolted in place – everything straight and level – Bizibilder now only has to wait for a clear night so that the mount can be aligned with the North Celestial Pole (which is close to the star Polaris).
To help him find Polaris at night Bizibilder has used the last drops of the Hammerite paint that he used on the pier to clearly mark the sky so that alignment at night would be that much easier.

Goin’ Nuts!!

These are all the parts of the top of Bizibilders pier – As you can see mainly nuts, washers and studs – All will become clear soon…
The assembled Pier head.  The reason that it has two plates is so that Bizibilder has access to the bolt under the upper plate – this will eventually hold the telescope mounting proper to the head of the pier.
Another view of the whole assembly.  The “silver” parts are only BZP (Bright Zinc Plated) and are NOT rustproof!!  Bizibilder intends to paint everything once it is set up in the observatory.  If this doesn’t work, he will have to invest in some stainless steel parts (which are ridiculously expensive!!).

Bizibilder's Hacksaw Machine

Bizibilder found it very dull watching his homemade hacksaw machine cutting the studding for his pier head - So he decided to interest himself by videoing the process! Now you're bored as well!!

I bet you watched it more than once!! Mesmerising isn't it?

A Lick of Paint

The pier has now had a couple of coats of Hammerite and is beginning to look smart!  Bizibilder will leave well alone until the weekend to ensure that the paint is fully dry before assembling the pier in the Observatory at the weekend.  Advice from the good folk at “Stargazers Lounge” (Forum) is to fill the pier with dry sand to eliminate any “ringing” vibrations.

The End of the Pier show (Act Two)

The pier for Bizibilders Observatory has returned from the welder and appears to be a pretty impressive (and heavy!) beast.  Including the upper fittings (not in the photo) it weighs just over 90 pounds!
The welder has done an excellent job it seems!  This close up shows his work off rather well. The next job is to check that the beastie still fits on the prepared bolts set into the concrete base and then a lick of paint to make it look pretty (and keep rust at bay)

The last post!

All the bits for the mount adaptor – Bizibilder finally got around to turning the azimuth pin (the half square, half round bit on the right).
The pin in situ on the adaptor – now all i have to do is wait for the pier to arrive, paint it and assemble everything!!

I need Professional help!!

Bizibilder has finally had to call in the professionals again!  After being snowed in for almost four weeks(!!) he has finally been able to take the parts of the telescope pier to the steel fabricators for welding.  It should be completed sometime this week.

We are all eagerly awaiting a picture of the finished article!!!

I don’t know what all the fuss was about…….

This is what all of Bizibilders hard work has been for!!  Finally a clear night and he was able to get the telescope out and do some proper observing.  The drawing here is of an area of the Moon with a couple of craters named.  North is at the BOTTOM – as all astronomical telescopes give an inverted image. (Gassendi is about 67miles across.)
Went out later on and drew another Lunar feature, this time a crater called Schiller.  It was below zero!  Bizibilder’s telescope had ice all over it by the time he had finished this drawing.  Brrrrrrrrrr……..

Once I couldn’t spell injinear, Now I is one!

A few shots here to show progress on Bizibilders pier adaptor.  Firstly using a rotary table to get all the ‘oles in the right places.  Three to be tapped for bolts and one, slightly larger, for the “azimuth pin”.
	A useful tapping guide – just an odd end that has been faced both ends and drilled just clearance on the tap – keeps everything straight and true, which is important.
The finished adaptor resting on the upper plate.

If you knows of a better ‘ole!

Roughing out the hole for the EQ5 mount.  60mm diameter and 20mm deep.
The almost finished adaptor sitting on the pier – just the mount bolt holes to drill and a post for the azimuth alignment screws to push against.

The start of the end of the pier show!

The top of the pier has now had its corners rounded and has been drilled and bored with the necessary holes.  There is a second top plate that is identical except that the central hole is 10mm clear for the telescope attachment bolt. (Unfortunately that plate is a little camera shy!) All the shaping work on the top and bottom plates was done with a hacksaw and files – not too difficult really.  The holes with a drill press.
Bizibilders pier – waiting for the snow to clear so that it can be taken for welding – (there are some bracing plates that are not shown). 1m tall x5” diameter. Starting on the pier adaptor – a billet of 4” steel 1” thick – First operation - drilling the central 10mm clearance hole. Second operation – facing both faces of the billet.