DIY Pier

[masonic light]

Just thought I'd share my new build...4 bags of cement, 2 mild steel plates, and some plastic ducting later, and this is the finish pier, and is solid as a rock. 

[teifistar]

Saved about £75 not buying a pier adaptor.

looks really good, 4 bags of cement??

Peter.

[RWB]

Looks as if it can do the job  well done ! ! !

      Robin

[masonic light]

Well when I say for bags...It was more like for bags of 20Kg Postcrete 

[JemC]

Hi Masonic light

nice pier,

if you dont mind me asking,

how deep did you dig your hole for the pier,

what height is the pier above ground and how much did you sink into the ground, also what is the diameter of the pier,

reason i ask is i have just started digging hole for my pier and yours looks like really good and would be ideal for my 200p so will probably pinch your design if thats ok

regards

JemC

[masonic light]

No problem JemC, I'll post info tomorrow. This one was made for a 200mm as well.

[Carina Lass]

I did the same thing.

Though my top plates are a touch more substantial at 15mm steel.

I dug down about 800mm in what can be described as Devonian rock about 800mm and about 700 round and dropped a shopping basket (steel mesh with a hole in it onto some bricks laid in the bottom in the basket was a holewhic the plastic pipe entered into a short way.

Four reo bars were put in the tube and it also had 4x4 inch holes cross wise which had 600mmsteel through them which rested on the shopping basket.

Fill with concrete and place top plate with j bolts under draped into the concrete before it sets a few taps on the side to settle and allow to set.

It is totally vibration null. My deviation isn't measurable when I slap it.

I can adjust my focus in live view without the mask live view x10 (x400 in real life as the base magnification is 40) moving. All in all it's a very sound design.

[masonic light]

Hi JemC,

Mine was pretty much the same as Carina lass with the only exception of using 1500mm scaffold pole as a center core of the ducting instead of rebar's

ducting 150mm diameter x 1200mm

Mild steel plate 200mm x 3mm

 

Height of ducting from ground level to bottom plate 610mm

Hope Carina lass and my post help with your build.  

[Carina Lass]

My mains pipe is 250mm dia

[keithatrochdale]

Don't forget this easy and cheap way of making a pier

[JemC]

Breeze Blocks

is that really solid/rigid enough to do the job? if so that as got to be quite a cheap way of doing it

[Roy Challen]

I was thinking of digging up 1 cubic metre and filling with concrete just for visual with my Tal and Skytee. Overkill?

[Zakalwe]

Breeze Blocks

is that really solid/rigid enough to do the job? if so that as got to be quite a cheap way of doing it

Ever tried twisting a concrete breeze block???

[gooseholla]

I was going to make a pier once for my EQ mounted telescope out of an old metal pole that held a big washing line up and some concrete into a really large tub we had. That way I could remove it more easily when we moved. I purchased a Dob a week later and that was the end of the EQ. I do like the breeze block idea though. Seems even more simple. At Cambridge they have mounts on brick walls, so I don't see why it wouldn't be up to scratch.

John

[trogre]

They build walls out of breeze blocks and inner shell of houses ,well they used to, so I would of thought no problem holding weight.

[richyrich_one]

Don't forget this easy and cheap way of making a pier

This is exactly what I plan to do for my pier. Easy to bolt on another block if you need it a higher too. 

Easy to bolt the mount on using the existing top from the tripod as well with the easy access from underneath. 

Did I mention it was easy