More Progress on Telescope Pier
I've had a couple of busy days.
I started off yesterday by doing some woodworking. I needed to make the wood top to the telescope pier. This wood top will then be topped with an all metal universal adapter which still needs some machining. Yesterday was all woodworking though.
I started working in the kitchen on the kitchen table since the drill press was already inside the house and I didn't want to risk inflaming my spinal injuries by carrying the heavy drill press outside if I didn't need to do so. The kitchen table is a nice height for working so I placed some newspaper down on the table to protect it and then placed the drill press on top of the table. This project quickly proved to be too messy to continue in the kitchen so I reluctantly moved everything out to the backyard.
I had a series of holes to drill in two pre-cut pieces of poplar. In the end, I needed four slots in each board... larger slots in one, smaller slots in the other. First, I had to drill the holes...
You can faintly see the lines between the holes showing where I needed to cut with my jigsaw...
First, I tackled the board with the larger slots. This came out nicely. The board with the smaller holes is placed under the board with the larger holes and subsequent slot.
Then I tackled the smaller slots in the second board. In this photo, below, the board with the smaller slots is underneath the board with the larger slots. I used a rasp and a file to clean up the slots...
With a bolt and washer placed into the slot, it is easier to see the purpose of these slots. I need this wood pier top to rotate a few degrees in each direction so I can keep the mount/pier aligned perfectly to true north. Over time, I expect the pier to settle a little bit and this will allow me to adjust for the settling.
In this last photo, I placed the metal adapter that I am in the process of making on top of this wooden part I just made. I still have a little bit of machining to do on this metal adapter then I can paint it white like my telescope mounts. The wood will be stained to match the pier.
When I completed cutting and assembling this wooden part, I then started preparing for stain. I was trying to work on two projects at once, as usual, so I started sanding our decks and timber steps outdoors. The stain I use on this pier is the same stain as I will use on all the wood decks and steps outdoors so I combined the two projects. Before opening the stain, I sanded the pier top and then used my belt sander on the decks and steps. Once everything was sanded, I stained everything a single coat.
Today, I applied a second coat of stain to everything.
Things are slowly coming along.
I started off yesterday by doing some woodworking. I needed to make the wood top to the telescope pier. This wood top will then be topped with an all metal universal adapter which still needs some machining. Yesterday was all woodworking though.
I started working in the kitchen on the kitchen table since the drill press was already inside the house and I didn't want to risk inflaming my spinal injuries by carrying the heavy drill press outside if I didn't need to do so. The kitchen table is a nice height for working so I placed some newspaper down on the table to protect it and then placed the drill press on top of the table. This project quickly proved to be too messy to continue in the kitchen so I reluctantly moved everything out to the backyard.
I had a series of holes to drill in two pre-cut pieces of poplar. In the end, I needed four slots in each board... larger slots in one, smaller slots in the other. First, I had to drill the holes...
You can faintly see the lines between the holes showing where I needed to cut with my jigsaw...
First, I tackled the board with the larger slots. This came out nicely. The board with the smaller holes is placed under the board with the larger holes and subsequent slot.
Then I tackled the smaller slots in the second board. In this photo, below, the board with the smaller slots is underneath the board with the larger slots. I used a rasp and a file to clean up the slots...
With a bolt and washer placed into the slot, it is easier to see the purpose of these slots. I need this wood pier top to rotate a few degrees in each direction so I can keep the mount/pier aligned perfectly to true north. Over time, I expect the pier to settle a little bit and this will allow me to adjust for the settling.
In this last photo, I placed the metal adapter that I am in the process of making on top of this wooden part I just made. I still have a little bit of machining to do on this metal adapter then I can paint it white like my telescope mounts. The wood will be stained to match the pier.
When I completed cutting and assembling this wooden part, I then started preparing for stain. I was trying to work on two projects at once, as usual, so I started sanding our decks and timber steps outdoors. The stain I use on this pier is the same stain as I will use on all the wood decks and steps outdoors so I combined the two projects. Before opening the stain, I sanded the pier top and then used my belt sander on the decks and steps. Once everything was sanded, I stained everything a single coat.
Today, I applied a second coat of stain to everything.
Things are slowly coming along.
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