Pier Questions

[AndyThilo]

Hi

We're moving in a few weeks and I will 100% be putting in a pier. Currently it'll be for my HEQ5 but an upgrade to a EQ6R Pro might happen in the future. Because of surrounding obstacles I don't want the mount to be any lower than it is on the OEM tripod. What options are out there? 

Thanks

Andy

[Dr_Ju_ju]

The simplest would probably be a "Tod Morden Pier" which is comprised of blocks joined end to end, so can go as high as you like, failing that I've used AirCon ducting filled with concrete & sunk into the ground....

[AndyThilo]

Yeah that won't wash with the missus lol, it's got to be reasonable pretty, i.e no breezeblocks

[newbie alert]

Alan is selling his more or less new pulsar one in the for sale section 

[jiberjaber]

On 25/07/2020 at 09:11, AndyThilo said:

Yeah that won't wash with the missus lol, it's got to be reasonable pretty, i.e no breezeblocks

TBF, I am surprised how mine looks with a coat of paint.

  

 

During the day it is covered with a large black cover so just looks like some covered garden furniture. 

[jiberjaber]

Just to add - the bottom of the pier is not finished yet.

[inapottingshed]

@jiberjaber what is the height of that pier please?

[jiberjaber]

1 hour ago, inapottingshed said:

@jiberjaber what is the height of that pier please?

I tried to make it the same height as the tripod was but I think I added another 100mm in the end.  I'll try and remember to measure it when I take the cover off later. Each block is about 400mm from memory and the pier adaptor is circa 50mm.

[inapottingshed]

Thanks. No hurry. Just curious as it looks so monolith like from the photos 🙂

 

[jiberjaber]

Just measured whilst making a cuppa...  1.3m from the patio to the top of the blocks, then another 4cm or so to the base of the HEQ5 mount.  It's a little bit of a reach to cap the scope in parked position.

Perhaps another 10cm taller than the standard tripod? (I'll check that later when I pop down the shed... ) 

I went for a bit more height to give a bit more reach to the South over the roof.

[inapottingshed]

Thanks, I hope to be building a pier in the near-ish future and don't want to go short.

[jiberjaber]

I've measured my tripod and it is set at 1.14m so the pier is another 0.2m overall higher I think... 

[nfotis]

On 28/07/2020 at 19:58, jiberjaber said:

TBF, I am surprised how mine looks with a coat of paint.

  

 

During the day it is covered with a large black cover so just looks like some covered garden furniture. 

Nice work and idea. How did you keep the blocks from falling? (These look like concrete?)

I suppose that this is quite cheaper than a steel pier and easier to assemble?

N.F.

 

[jiberjaber]

4 minutes ago, nfotis said:

Nice work and idea. How did you keep the blocks from falling? (These look like concrete?)

I suppose that this is quite cheaper than a steel pier and easier to assemble?

N.F.

 

There's a few threads on here about the Todmorden Pier - it uses bolts and glue basically to hold it all together, it's pretty rock solid - the blocks are very heavy by themselves, so there is a surprising amount of weight in the structure. Mine is slightly different in the holding down arrangement is actually just the bottom block concreted into the hole - it would appear the usual approach is to concrete 'j-bolts' in to a base then bolt down on to that. 

I'm quite happy with it, not finished yet, need to run some conduit out to it and backfill around the base with some gravel or similar to level it off. One of those jobs I'll get round to eventually!

The good thing is if we move I can just knock it down.

If you go for it, don't forget to factor in a mount - pier adaptor of some description