My first venture into a permanent pier was in 2001 while living in South Grafton, Massachusetts. My scope at the time was an 8" LX200. I chose to use concrete for stability. The intent was for long term use, however we moved from South Grafton in 2003. When selling the house, my concern was what to do with a concrete pier sitting 30 feet behind the house, however the folks that bought the house had a telescope and actually asked that I leave the pier. While it was great to not have to remove the pier, I needed to also leave behind the custom aluminum pier top that a friend with a machine shop had made for me.

The pier was located 30 feet behind a walk out basement door in my back yard. Imaging was done with a computer located in the basement with powered USB extension cables running from the basement to the scope and camera. A USB to RS232 converted was used to interface to the LX200 port. The pier is set 4 feet into the ground with a top approximately 3 feet above the ground. For strength the concrete is reinforced with rebar. Three 5/8" steel rods were put into the top of the pier to interface to a custom aluminum plate in which the Meade wedge would mount.

		5/19/2001: The hole is finally dug around 30 feet behind the house. Control computer setup was located just inside first floor sliding door.
		Lots of rocks in a hole 4 feet deep in this area...
		Plenty of help mixing concrete.
		10" sonotube leveled and in the hole. The footing for the pier has just been poured. The paint line on the grass is North.
		The threaded rod has been bolted into the pier plate. The plate was aligned north with a paint mark on the grass done the previous night.
		The pier is done, waiting for the concrete to set.
		First light testing of the pier with the 8" LX200.
		The pier plate was modified to sink the adjustment bolts below the top surface to accommodate the Meade super wedge. A second set of mounting holes were added as well because the bolt pattern for the standard wedge and the super wedge are 180 degrees out of phase.
		First light testing of the pier with the 12" LX200.