TheSkySearchers-Welcome!

finally got my mount pillar done and i'm at the testing stage, just waiting for the paint to dry in the bore of my counterweights as i had to drill them out to 41 mm and since the cw bar is made of stainless and the weights are mild steel i don't want any contamination.

The refractor does not hit the pillar anywhere ,easy pickings for other scopes,meridian flips are a thing of the past !!!,i'm surprised at my design , very hard to tip over as well.

i'm adding a bubble level as shown on the back of the pillar, i need to make some feet adjustment knobs later, i can manage without in the mean time.

contemplating on getting a medium priced laptop , or a mini pc to run it and the electronics,i still plan on using my eq8 which i already have a laptop for, the thing is ,i never have success with computers on different mounts, especially if they all run on eqmod,the profiles seem to conflict and ruin each other or i forget to do something. ie loading the correct profile, usually involves me doing another star align every time.

edit:i forgot to mention .the mount is little taller than my eq8 setup,but legs are pretty solid and spaced apart so heavy load shouldn't tip in strong winds, the top of the refractor in park position is the same high as me (6ft 1, or 184cm) and the top of the dec is at my chest height,a tade little higher then what i wanted but it will do. it's a monster of a mount, the dec and ra are 300 mm diameter and the pillar is 200 mm diameter

Very nice and it looks great.
I understand you live in Australia but having to mount your telescope upside down?
I hope it works great for you.

you havent consider to galvanize this build?

Micke187 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:01 pm you havent consider to galvanize this build?

my boss offered to put it through powder coating, but i'm short on time as holidays are coming in a few days, powder coating is pretty good , the only reason one should do galv is if there is a lot of rubbing or rain,powder coating is enough for u/v and a bit of moisture.

i used epoxy enamel , i should of cooked it on with the oxy acetylene and use the orbital sander. the paint job is ok, but definitely will need a recoat in a few years,

Lady Fraktor wrote: ↑Fri Dec 13, 2019 6:58 pm Very nice and it looks great.
I understand you live in Australia but having to mount your telescope upside down?
I hope it works great for you.

haaha, funny !

I have my electronics and cable harness sorted out. Nice and Discreet, I just need a way too boot the pc without opening the access panel, if anyone has an idea that would be great, maybe I could wire a external power button for it. I don't think I can do wake on command/wake on lan, I use blue tooth for keyboard, and use WiFi, I think it only works on cable lan.

yobbo89 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:30 pm I have my electronics and cable harness sorted out. Nice and Discreet, I just need a way too boot the pc without opening the access panel, if anyone has an idea that would be great, maybe I could wire a external power button for it. I don't think I can do wake on command/wake on lan, I use blue tooth for keyboard, and use WiFi, I think it only works on cable lan.

Yobbo,

Even if you can wake via lan, sometimes you need a hard reboot. How does bluetooth and wifi go penetrating that steel tube? I'm surprised it works.

In the good old days, the power switch was a discreet switch with trailing wires that could be extended. But in those days, you would never have fitted it inside a pier. These days, in these compact boxes, it is probably a PCB direct mounted switch on the board or regulated power supply so extending a switch out will be more difficult.

You could also consider the use of a mechanical linkage, think something like an old fashioned mechanical cable release to physically press the button??

Joe

maybe i could extend the wireless antenna and have it poking out of the metal pier , i'll check the performance first with the access panel closed .

https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/wifi-ant ... lsrc=aw.ds



wireless boot , all though standard sockets seem to be non existent in these micro computers i'm sure i could wire up the usb 2.0 internally and place the dongle elsewhere.

I assume you don't need the steel cover for strength. Is the pier ventilated? All that electronics might get quite hot esp in Brisvegas.

You could replace it with a fitted piece of black, white or clear acrylic. The blue tooth and wifi signals should then pass without issue. That acrylic hatch could be hinged rather than screw down, thus solving the reset button issue and have ventilation holes drilled in it to let heat escape. You could even have a couple of small 12v fans to keep it all cool.

Cheers

Joe