Despite losing a full night of observing, the quadrant was an easy fix.
First, we popped of the top and removed the axle.
Looking inside, it’s clear to see what the problem was: The plywood simply cracked. To fix this, we built an internal support out of walnut which was inserted into the center column.
This support had a 1″ hole that the pipe could easily fit through, but now, when the caps were tightened down, they wouldn’t be crushing a hollow column. Instead, the washer will distribute the weight onto the supports. This was pushed all the way in.
With a little glue and some shims to keep things spaced correctly, we were ready to pop the cap back on. However, we’d destroyed the original one taking it off, so we had to make a new one quickly. We didn’t want to wait to stain it, so it doesn’t match, but it will work for now.
Next up, we’re looking at putting together a different base to take to foreign wars so we don’t have to lug around the one we’re currently using with a week’s worth of camping supplies. After all, Gulf Wars is barely over a month away!