Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The Pier Top Plate has the same hole pattern as the heavy-duty tripod that Celestron ships with the Nexstar GPS or CPC series of telescopes. The Pier Top Plate even includes a stainless steel centering pin similar to the one on the Celestron heavy-duty tripod.
In Alt-Azimuth mode, the telescope is attached to the plate from the underside using the bolts supplied by Celestron. In Equatorial mode, the Celestron wedge is attached from above using the screws provided by Celestron with the wedge.
In some cases, the knob of the azimuth adjustment screw that comes with the latitude adjustment kit for the Celestron heavy duty wedge may interfere with the Pier Top Plate. A longer screw, knob and nylon spacers are included in the Pier Top Plate for Celestron Nexstar
Yes. The Pier Top Plate matches the hole pattern of the tripod that Meade ships with the LX-200 and LX-90 series of telescopes.
In Alt-Azimuth mode, the telescope is attached to the plate from the underside. In Equatorial mode, the Meade wedge is attached from above using the three screws provided by Meade with the wedge in addition to the optional center screw.
The Pier Top Plate for Meade telescopes also includes a stainless steel adapter plate that fits between the plate and the Meade Superwedge. It has a slot for the azimuth control arm that performs the same function as the tangent arm assembly that comes with the Meade Superwedge. The Deluxe Pier Top Plate doesn't use this adapter plate because the required 1/4" slot is built into the plate.
Yes. Many telescope types use similar 3-hole patterns as well as center hole attachment. This includes the Meade RCX including the Ultra Wedge. In addition, the Pier Top Plate is fabricated of aluminum which is easy to drill and tap if other holes are required.
A concrete pier is massive, stable and reduces vibrations to a minimum. It is also easy to build using common materials from any home construction center including the Sonotube which is a cardboard-like form used to build concrete columns. It is also economical to build especially if one is willing to provide the manual labor!
A concrete pier can be the center piece of an observatory or open to the sky in a garden setting. To reduce the wife-thinks-you're-a-nerd factor you could put a sundial, windsock or sculpture on the pier when not observing.
A single plate design only requires one set of adjustments for leveling. In addition, the use of three mounting bolts instead of four speeds up the leveling process without affecting stability.
The anchor bolts, nuts and washers required to mount the Pier Top Plate to the concrete pier are available from Dan's Pier Top Plates as well as hardware dealers such as McMaster Carr. This hardware should be stainless steel only as this will withstand the elements without rusting for many years. The parts needed are included in the assembly diagrams next to each product on the products pages.
Yes. In addition to the 8" or 12" Pier Top Plates, an AP-GEM adapter plate is also required (available on our product pages) as well as a Flat Surface Adapter available separately from Astro-Physics. Care should be taken to assure that there is clearance for the counterweight bar and weights as they could strike the pier top plate especially when using a setup at higher latitudes (steeper angle) and also with the smaller AP mounts.
Yes. The standard Pier Top Plate for Meade or Celestron works with the Standard Milburn Wedge.
Building an 8" pier for smaller telescopes
12" Pier Top Plate Questions
8" Pier Top Plate Questions
Yes. The adapter plates are meant to attach to either the 8" or the 12" pier top plates.
Yes. The 8" pier plates consist of stacked plates with fixed aluminum standoffs and fixed-length fasteners. Once the two plates are bolted together they act as a single plate with only one set of anchor bolt adjustments.
It depends on the height of the pier as well as the diameter. A 4' high pier will have less vibration than an 8' tall pier. In almost every case however, a well built concrete pier will perform better than the tripod that came with your telescope.
We recommend telescopes of up to 8" diameter optics for an 8" pier, but larger telescopes could certainly be used in alt-az mode or with fewer accessories. The pier plates and hardware will carry much more weight than you will likely be able to place on them, so the real limiting factor is vibration.
In addition, there is no reason why you couldn't mount an 8" pier top plate to a 10" or 12" concrete pier. Keep in mind however that the mounting hardware and spacing is different for the 8" pier plate and the 12" pier plates, so it wouldn't be possible to upgrade from one system to the other using the same anchor bolts.
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