Mounting my MESU 200 on my pier

[astrocatinfo 31]

On 31/1/2017 at 13:04, kirkster501 said:

Thanks Ian.  Yes it is rock solid.  That said, I  wish I would have built the pier out of a 12 inch piece of pipe now!  I will remember that for next time!

The lesson is that whenever you build a pier, build it as thick as you can!

 

 

I also recieve my Mesu in the following weeks and I will design and get build a new pier. My other pier for the Neq6 was sold with the mount.

 

Any recommendations on the pier?

[kirkster501 3,070]

26 minutes ago, astrocatinfo said:

I also recieve my Mesu in the following weeks and I will design and get build a new pier. My other pier for the Neq6 was sold with the mount.

 

Any recommendations on the pier?

Build it 260mm in diameter.  The MESU top plate is 260mm in diameter if you are going to buy one of those.   Make sure the pier has four pieces of rebar in a square pattern with the rebar from the top of the pier and through the concrete foundations and deep into the ground below the foundations.  The rebar I used is 10 feet long.  Hammered into the clay ground six feet below ground level and three feet deeper than the bottom of the peer foundation.  It costs peanuts - a few quid from a builders merchant - and strengthens the pier massively. I also used some strips of rebar in the concrete mass of the foundation as well.

Pour the concrete for the foundation and the concrete that fills the pipe (and thus surrounding the vertical rebar strips) at the same time (or withing your abilities to mix the concrete).  I mixed by hand about 3/4 a ton of concrete with a shovel and poured it all within 90 minutes.  It all set in one mass of concrete and then I had to make sure the pier pipe was dead vertical.  I then inserted my pre made pier head with 12inch fencing bolts and pressed it into the concrete at the top of the pier pipe, all the while checking that I did not disturb the vertical pier.

It is as solid as Mount Everest.  That said, woudl rather it had been wider still.  Belt and braces if you like! You cannot have a pier that is too solid

Edited February 7, 2017 by kirkster501

[astrocatinfo 31]

17 minutes ago, kirkster501 said:

Build it 260mm in diameter.  The MESU top plate is 260mm in diameter if you are going to buy one of those.   Make sure the pier has four pieces of rebar in a square pattern with the rebar from the top of the pier and through the concrete foundations and deep into the ground below the foundations.  The rebar I used is 10 feet long.  Hammered into the clay ground six feet below ground level and three feet deeper than the bottom of the peer foundation.  It costs peanuts - a few quid from a builders merchant - and strengthens the pier massively. I also used some strips of rebar in the concrete mass of the foundation as well.

Pour the concrete for the foundation and the concrete that fills the pipe (and thus surrounding the vertical rebar strips) at the same time (or withing your abilities to mix the concrete).  I mixed by hand about 3/4 a ton of concrete with a shovel and poured it all within 90 minutes.  It all set in one mass of concrete and then I had to make sure the pier pipe was dead vertical.  I then inserted my pre made pier head with 12inch fencing bolts and pressed it into the concrete at the top of the pier pipe, all the while checking that I did not disturb the vertical pier.

It is as solid as Mount Everest.  That said, woudl rather it had been wider still.  Belt and braces if you like! You cannot have a pier that is too solid

Thanks so much!

I already have the concrete base that is very solid and weights more than 200kg. My question is about the pier design. Some images of It with the sold pier. The base remains the same

 

 

[Alan White 3,767]

Those Mesu mounts are an engineering beauty in my book.