Construction and Assembly of the English Cradle Mount
| The Cradle begins as a twin ladder structure of 5x5 cm steel tube which will have an axle at each end. These axles will mount in the North and South Piers. The North Pier will be about 11 feet tall, while the south pier will be about one inch tall. Hardly worthy of the name "pier". | |
 Sept. 7, 2000 |  Sept. 7, 2000 |
 Sept. 9, 2000. Adding some steel supports adds needed rigidity. A third (lighter) member stiffens the sides of the cradle. Silva used a box structure made of oak, while the current project will use steel to better ward off deterioration caused by the elements. |  Sept. 21, 2000 |
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| The North pier will be a simple tripod of height ~3 meters (11 feet). A second tripod will serve as a hoisting frame to lift the cradle frame onto the tripod. The south pier will be very short, only a few centimeters tall. The top of the telescope is visible behind Lew in one of the pictures. It is out of service awaiting this remount. The current mount is a fork-on-disk mount which never performed smoothly. | |
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| The cradle is beginning to rise. | A "Come-along" borrowed from Jerry Hudson lifts the cradle. Thanks, Jerry! |
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The cradle is almost at the top of the tripod (left) and is installed on the tripod.
Next, the cradle will be mated to the yoke currently attached to the telescope.
This cradle mount differs from most cradle mounts in that it will have no portion of the sky which is unobservable due to the presence of the pier or limitations due to the shortness of the cradle. While there is a partial obstruction looking at the North pole due to the various steel structure members, there will be approximately 50% of the aperture free for imaging at the pole. There will be no mechanical limitation from swinging the telescope to the pole. The cradle is long enough to accommodate the entire tube inside. | |
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| The telescope in its old configuration. | The North end of the cradle began as a box structure with a square 5 cm I.D. tube into which is pressed a 5 cm solid steel rod which is the axle. It fits into a 5 cm bearing which wiill be mounted on the tripod top. The south axle will be welded to the bottom of the existing fork and will be of similar construction, but longer. |
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| The North Bearing is installed on the shaft. | |
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| September 24, 2000: The Fork is removed from the disk and the supports and South Axle are installed. | |
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| The pleasures of working in the backyard in the morning. | |