Z-Brace - a stiffer Hill Mount for the Hadley Telescope

Did you build the Hill Mount for Hadley and still have the remaining 2 feet of pipe laying around? Print a few more parts and further stiffen your telescope mount. Are you planning to build a Hill Mount and like it to be even sturdier without virtually any more purchased materials? Consider adding this remix/addition to your build plan. The original Hill Mount for the Hadley Telescope is a great design that is already quite stable & sturdy. But it is somewhat flexible laterally on the back side, and as a result it is flexible around the Azimuth axis. This remix/addition adds a Z-Brace to create a stiff back plane which stiffens the Azimuth axis of the mount. It significantly reduced the stabilization time of my Hadley telescope to virtually nothing (and also improved wind stability). In a top view picture: the stiffer back plane reduces lateral motion in the back, which results in observably less twist of the top part. 📷 Image redacted — claim this model to add your own media Instructions For a new build: follow the general instructions and print all but one of the parts of the Hill Mount for Hadley . Do not print the original Right Base part. For modifying an existing Hill Mount: Disassemble the mount. Remove the original Right Base part and take out the nuts & screws out of it. Added hardware 2 ft ½" Electric Metallic Tube (EMT), the remaining amount from the original 10 ft :-). 4x #10 nuts 4x #10 x ½" machine screws Printing Instructions Print all three parts of this design: Stiffened Right Base Middle Left Middle Right Printed in PLA at default settings: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height and 15% infill. The new parts are designed to print without supports in this orientation, the slicer will warn of overhangs but the parts came out fine on a Prusa Mk4: 📷 Image redacted — claim this model to add your own media Pipe Cutting Instructions The original instructions called for 10 ft of EMT tubing, leaving 2 ft. Cut the 2 ft piece in two: 14.33" / 364 mm (Diagional Pipe) 9.67" / 246 mm (Horizontal pipe) Note: If the length of the 2 ft portion is a little short keep the diagonal pipe the same length and cut the horizontal pipe short. Modified Assembly Instructions Like the original Hill Mount, the assembly sequence is important: Pre-assemble all the nuts & screws, but do not tighten them (leave the visible gap in the parts) Build the base triangle and leave the screws loose Add the Middle Left part and new diagonal pipe, hold it up Put in the Back Left vertical pipe through the Middle Left part and into the Left Base part Put in the Back Right vertical pipe Add the Middle Right part and new horizontal pipe Put in the other four vertical pipes Add & seat the top part (twisting the pipes helps seating the part) Tighten the Base triangle screws Tighten the Top part screws Tighten the Middle Parts screws Note: make sure the base triangle stays together during assembly (a strap band or some extra hands help) Acknowledgements This is a remixed design of the well designed Hill Mount for Hadley ; I like the use of low cost tubing and the taller, more ergonomic design without much of a stiffness trade-off. It itself is inspired by the Ivan's “Strurdy mount for Hadley telescope” . The stiffening concept in this remix will also benefit that mount, though the specific parts will not fit (12 mm tube vs 1/2 " EMT, about 18 mm). Anyone feel free to remix that one. This design is in support of the very nice Hadley telescope itself; it connected me to astronomy & telescopes and it is good fun to bring out camping in the mountains. Creator's Note Hadley is a fun thing to design for, check out my other designs in Redlow's Hadley Add-Ons Collection