monolith testing

Monolith Testing

We performed a few informal test of the Monolith to demonstrate the stability and the rigidity of the Monolith system.
Due to high compression, the video is not the best quality but clear enough to see the results

The setup was comprised of:

The Monolith 10" x 36" proto-type setup on concrete floor
AP 1200 GTO mount
A 6' long, 67 pound aluminum bar (to simulate a long and heavy refractor)
Approximately 40 pounds of counter weight to balance the bar (we did not have enough counter weighs at the time of testing so we duct taped a make shift weight to the CW bar)

All testing was done with the slewing speed set at 1200x
The dial indicators used had an accuracy of 0.0001"

I like to stress, this is a very informal test and was performed as requested by one of our customers. It is intended to be informational only

Compression testing

A dial indicator was attached to the bottom segment of the Monolith to measure compression and shift in center of balance when the simulated telescope was slewed at 1200x in both axis.

No movement registered

comp. video

Torsion Test

The dial indicator was positioned to make contact with the upper tube section just below the mount and above the legs (where most prone to torsion forces) to demonstrate the torsion present in the Monolith

None registered

torsion video

Rap Test

Part 1: The dial indicator still contacting the upper tube section and below the mount. One leg is struck to measure vibration transmitted to the base of the mount

Vibration dampened < 1 second

Part 2: The Monolith was setup with AP 1200 GTO carrying a heavily loaded C11 (FL = 2700mm). A webcam was used to record the dampening time of an artificial star. The test was performed by hitting the top tube section of the Monolith three times.

Vibration dampened < 1 second

part 1 video

part 2 video

If you are having problems playing the video, please right click on the video and save locally then play.

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