Monthly Archive: June 2010

Jun 29 2010

Concrete Pier for CGEM

Categories:

News

by

June 29, 2010

After several months of delay I am now in process of gathering final materials for the pouring of the concrete pier for the CGEM this week.  I expect by the end of this week the concrete pier will be poured and in place.  I will begin digging the pier hole during early evening hours after work this week.  The pier will be poured sometime between upcoming Thursday and Saturday.   I ordered up four  3/4 inch L style anchor bolts 12 inches long from McMaster Carr and expect their arrival Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.     See picture below for location of observatory.  The southern, most of eastern, and northern skies will be visible.  The western sky will not be visible which is ok considering a lightdome from nearby city exists to the West.  Check back later this week for pictures and progress.

                                                                             

Interior of observatory when located in Long Lake, NY. Courtesy of Steve Durham

 

 

 

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/concrete-pier-for-cgem.html

Jun 23 2010

Machining of CGEM Pier for Dome Observatory

Categories:

News

by

June 23, 2010

The finish work is now being done on the pier for my CGEM mount and Edge HD ota.  I made some last minute changes to the steel beam and replaced this with a “ballistic armor” steel pipe which I was fortunate enough to find.  Yes,  the pier is bullet proof, quite literally.   The armored or ballistic steel is great in that it does not rust as easily as regular steel pipe. 

I have a friend with machine shop who is working on final details of the pier.  This will allow my concrete pier to be much shorter and save me the hassle of hours spent mixing concrete for the pour.  The pier was dropped off today at his shop for the final welding and fitting of steel plate and gussets.

The concrete pier will be poured at 12 inch diameter to a depth of 5 feet.  The pier will be reinforced with 1/2″ rebar horizontally on footing and also vertically.  The footing will be a wedge shape footing with a 28 inch by 28 inch base which will rest on tamped stone of a depth of 4″   Three or four 3/4″ L-bolts will be embedded into the form with a 4 inch radius.  I will be sure to use a template when embedding and leveling the base bolts within the form. 

Upon completion of the concrete pier, the dome observatory construction will quickly follow,  the CGEM and Edge HD will have a new permanent home.  The dome diameter is 8 feet and will be resting on a 10 ft diameter building.  Final interior details will come a few weeks later.

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/final-machining-of-cgem-pier-for-dome-observatory.html

Jun 12 2010

Final Preparation for Observatory Construction

Categories:

News

by

June 12, 2010

I have been a bit swamped between work and bad weather this Spring.  The final pieces for my pier are here and I will have some time to begin the final machining of the pier plates and welding the unit together.  Once this is complete the concrete pier will be poured and ground breaking on the new observatory will finally take place delayed by two months.

I was able to get a 4 by4 stainless steel beam with 1/2″ thick wall for construction of the steel portion of the pier.  This unit is 52 inches long and weighs between  70-90lbs.  I ordered two 12 inch pieces of steel plate which I will machine and weld to the stainless steel pier.  Welding to stainless is a bit tricky but can be accomplished.  The fumes are highly toxic and one must protect themselves when welding stainless.

My schedule is freeing up a bit, I look forward to commencing with the construction soon.  I have most of July free to work on the Observatory and will also be visiting with Ray Shore of Astrophotography Tonight, who is flying up to the northeast for a week long visit.  If things work out,  Ray and myself will have time to throw together some instructional videos on the CGEM and some miscellaneous topics during his visit. 

I will be sure to take some photos and videos of the observatory construction once ground breaking starts and will post them to DaltonSkyGazer blog.  I look forward to hopping back into astrophotography and processing images once the observatory is back up.  Once this task is accomplished, I will focus once again, on providing a variety of articles and reviews for the CGEM,  LX-200 Gps , along with my Celestron Edge 800HD.

Leave comment

Permanent link to this article: http://www.daltonskygazer.com/final-preparation-for-observatory-construction.html

Newsletter plugin provided by casinoonline.se.com