Kai's Pier Project Phase 2

[Kai]

But now i have made a start on my pier.

The Pier head adaptor is all sorted as is the 7ft section of Gas pipe.Its just the 2x2x3ft hole i have to dig .The first foot was okay but now i am through the topsoil and into a mixture of builders rubble and Clay.

All i can say is i am doing 6 inches at a time :shock:

And i can deffinatly say i am not going to be hand mixing the concrete later on but hiring a mixer ,i recon the £15 to hire a mixer will be the best £15 i am going to spend

Anyhoo back to another 6 inches........I may be some time !!

[Ant]

If it gets too bad you could look at hiring a kango. This would make easy work of the harder stuff you have to dig through.

I thought that the recomended minimum was 3' x 3' x 3' ?

Good Luck

Ant

[Kai]

I thought that the recomended minimum was 3' x 3' x 3' ?

Dont tell me that now

I recon that 9 inches of concrete either side of the pipe 36 inches down and the pipe filled with concrete should be stable enough for a 4 foot pier.

Tell me now if i am wrong please :?

[Ant]

I thought that the recomended minimum was 3' x 3' x 3' ?

Dont tell me that now

I recon that 9 inches of concrete either side of the pipe 36 inches down and the pipe filled with concrete should be stable enough for a 4 foot pier.

Tell me now if i am wrong please :?

In all the holes that I've read about for a pier have always been 3 x 3 x 3. This may well be over board, I don't know - I've never built one.

But that's what I've heard.

Sorry Ant

[Grant]

Ours is 2x2x2 and isn't going anywhere! We used quite a strong concrete mix too (apparently?) so maybe that helps?

We had the same problems, after about a foot and a half, our garden turns to clay...

Best of luck mate! Remember to take lots of piccies

[Kai]

Cheers for the advice Grant,

You have a Heq6 Pro dont you ?.how high a pier is yours ?

[Ant]

Grants is the EQ6, so I would imagine if the 2 x 2 x 2 is ok for a EQ6 then it should be fine for the HEQ5.

Ant

[Grant]

hmmmm, not sure exactly but around 5 foot in order to clear the sides of the shed, its an rsj though so I'm a bit concerned about vibration but we have a few plan B's if thats an issue

[Kai]

Cheers ,I have 1 ft to go now and the hard work is done.

Piccies will come later

[Greg]

Steve,

I Have a kango if you want to borrow it..Pick it up Friday and drop it back at the kelling Sp..In September..

Could end up being the Stargazers Pier making Kango thing..

[Kai]

If i could get out of this hole i might of taken you up on it Greg

I am calling it a day at 2ft 6 deep i recon a concrete plug this big will be perfectly adequate (i will just cut 6 inches off the pipe)

I am please of a mornings work as i have the easy bit to do now.

The only problem is all the soil i have created,i recon i am going to have to recreate the scene from the Great Escape around my friends and family

You dont fancy some do you Greg

[Kai]

Some piccies

First the Pier insitue

(click to enlarge)

Next the hole awaiting concrete

(click to enlarge)

And finally the Pier head adaptor waiting to be concreted into the tube

(click to enlarge)

[Greg]

I have a couple of acres you could hide it in....

Or failing that you could always bury it....

[Kai]

Or failing that you could always bury it....

Righto im off to dig another hole to bury the dirt from the first hole into

[anthony]

Hire the cement mixer - you'll be soooooooo glad.

[Grant]

That looks the business!!

That pier head looks awesome, how does the mount physically attach to it? Obviously it sits in the big hole, but how is it held down?

For mine, we've had to craft an elaborate block that bolts to the mount head (with recessed holes at different widths to account for the steps on the mount and a bolt to go through the center) and to the pier...

[Kai]

On the bottom plate there is a M10 hole and i will pass a bolt though the bottom plate and up into the mount,a bit like a normal tripod fitting.If that makes sense.

[Grant]

Nice! Is it for a HEQ5? Because my EQ6 is an M12 bolt... I'll take a picture of what we've got at some point, its completely DIY so looks a bit dodgy but should work, its also made out of a big chunk of wood for the time-being, but will eventually get machined from aluminum

[Kai]

Yup the Heq5

[Grant]

Heres a few pictures of my pier head adaptor thingy - as I said, it looks a bit rough But it works!

(click to enlarge)

Top View, recessed holes for bolts to go in, locking the wood to the top of the pier, you can also see the locating stud for the mount as well as the various different holes so the mount sits snugly...

(click to enlarge)

Bottom View, recessed hole in the center for the mount bolt to go through, this ties the mount to the wood then the wood is bolted to the pier.

(click to enlarge)

Side View, with bolt to show how it connects to the pier.

Hopefully the wood will get replaced with aluminum at some stage but for the time being, it'll work and the wood might even help supress any vibrations on the RSJ...

[Whippy]

That's some great hand modelling in the bottom pic mate. Something to think about if your web design work goes west... (touch wood that it doesn't of course!)...

Tony..

[Grant]

It looks kinda like a dolphin? With the bolts for eyes?

[Whippy]

Oh Yeah!!!

There you go, you could do those shadow hand puppet plays as another career. Mr Versatility!!!

Tony..

[centroid]

Don't get paranoid over the size of the concrete base. IMO, 3'x3'x3' is 'overkill' for the majority of amateur set-ups.

My pier base is an 18" cube, with a 12" cube at the bottom (all 'cast' as one of course). This supports a 6" dia (1/4" Wall) steel tube, 10mm top and bottom plates (welded), another 10mm top-plate (for adjustment), a Meade Superwedge (much modified), a 10" LX200GPS with 'piggy-backed' ED80, and 7kg of counter-balance weights.

No vibration or resonance problems, apart from still having some very minor flexure in the wedge, and been in use for 6 years.

[jcm]

I did a pier for my HEQ5 Pro a while ago. Your hole is about the same size as mine. Two extra things I did 1. Filled the pipe with concrete ( not quite to the top) 2. Using some wood made a box shape 20 cm X 20cm and length just short of the pier top ( my pipe is slightly smaller dia) put this over the pipe and filled it with concrete - when dry - removed wood. This reduced "ringing" to about zero.

John