Observatory Pier

[Scream]

I've considered the idea of making my own and I've considered the idea of buying one. I know this is a stupid confliction but the prices of the piers I have seen are what I personally consider very overpriced. The thing is I've spent quite a lot of money on equipment and I understand it doesn't make sense to then cheap out on the pier. The issue is I cannot seem to find a good DIY plan online or any worthwhile pros and cons to making your own. I'm not really sure what to do because I've read conflicting opinions and information on the subject. A load say to make your own as it's cheaper and just as good as any pier you can buy and I've seen others say not to make your own. I'm really not a DIY person. I have a mate whos a builder and said he'd help me but he knows nothing about astronomy so there's a bit of a block. I'm really conflicted and would appreciate some advice.

[JeremyS]

I’m not a diy person and that route usually ends up costing me more. Hence I bought a commercial pier. Mess it up and the rest of the set up is compromised, I reasoned. Was expensive but that was 17 years ago and per year cost very little.

[Tomatobro]

I would not recommend a pier as a DIY project if you don't have access to the equipment you will need.  Cutting, machining, drilling and tapping, welding and painting all required. I have access to all this yet mine still ended up costing around £200 in materials and paint.

[tomato]

There are a few alternatives to the traditional flanged steel tube with stabilising fins, such as plastic pipe filled with concrete, or even a brick built pier. My DIY skills in those areas aren’t up to it and one advantage of the steel pier is it can be unbolted and moved, which I had to do when my cable ducts below it flooded.
Fortunately when I purchased my second hand dome it came with a substantial Altair steel pier. 
It may be a simple device compared to other Astro kit, but the pier does need to be right, fit and forget is what you want.
 

 

[malc-c]

I went through the same process when I was researching options for my observatory back in 2011.  Some of the commercial piers were £700 for a few sections of 6mm steel welded and powder coated, which seemed rather over priced for what it was.   

There are two basic approached to piers.  At one end of the scale you have the fabricated pier made form steel that is then bolted to a foundation, which are typically a steel tube with a hole at the top to aid securing the mount, and a square plate at the bottom to bolt to the foundation.   These were examples I found at the time of some DIY bolt down piers

At the other end of the scale you have a length of pipe, typically 6" plastic drain pipe, or AC ducting,  that can be filled with rebar and concrete, which itself is sunk into a foundation, typically 1m cube concrete.  An adapter from two plates (have seen this done with car disk brakes) is then set into the top of the concrete filled tube and everything is left to cure.   This was how I made my pier when building the observatory some 10 years back.  I had a local company machine the aluminium adapter for around £50.  This method is well within the DIY capabilities of the average person as other than digging a hole and mixing concrete you don't need to have any other DIY skills.