Posts Made By: dan baldwin

Hi --
Thanks to all for the compliments ! They are much appreciated. The observatory dimensions are 10'x12'3" (the 3" was a screw up ). The scope is a C14 on an older Losmandy GM200. Its so nice to just pop open the roof and get down to business !!

Dan

Thanks for the ideas--cant get propane in there now because its a half mile hike through the snow to get there. roof rake is a good idea, but right now i'm afraid that there is condiderable ice under the snow. I forgot that I do have a 3500 watt generator up there--has anyone ever used the heating wire that is used to prevent gutter ice damns ? I would think that with the metal roof that might be a viable solution...once the current snow/ice is gone. What do you think ??

Thanks,
Dan

Thank you all very much for your suggestions. I was concerned about this problem before I purchased the pier, but my research did not turn up any problems. Unfortunantly, the 7" diameter is dictated by the GM200 mount base. I suppose that it might have been possible to use a larger diameter pier and try to rig some custom mounting plate.
I dont believe the problem is the motor, unless it has recently failed. Stuart--my dec motor grinds a lot also at 32x !! My gut feeling is that the problem is due to the way that the pier "floats" above the concrete. Also, what defines hf vs lf vibrations ? I would assume that if the drive itself is exciting the vibrations, that they would be hf ???
Since I have no wedge, I have no way of leveling the system other than the pier. I did pour the concrete very,very level and it is possible that just bolting the pier base to the concrete might be level enough, so I'll probably try that first. If not, I'll go to the wedges or some way of making that gap more ridgid.

Thanks again,
Dan