Permanent pier decision ....... bolt down or concrete in?

[Nugs]

Hi all,

Having decided to put in a permanent pier, i'd like to seek opinions of the greater good on the two following options for the location i have chosen.

150mm reinforced drainage pipe concreted in and back filled...... or...... Flanged pier bolted into concrete pad.

The area is a corner of the drive out of sight, and with uninterrupted low horizon views to the east and south. We're here to stay for a while so im not too precious about being able to remove, and BIL owns an engineering firm, so a properly constructed flanged pier is readily available. (and cheap)

Anybody with any pros, cons, do's and dont's, please feel free to comment away.

TIA, Dave

[iapa]

What sort of mount are you planning to support?

I had the latter (rat cage) with CGX-L, usually with a 10" newtonian, once balanced and polar aligned it did not need touched ( I checked PA at the start of each session).

There is a Pulsar pier waiting to be installed (one day) which some say is more stable as there isn't the flu of the mount supporting bolts

 

[Anthonyexmouth]

I went with a poured concrete block underground 900x900x900 and a 300mm duct for the pier with a hockey stick conduit set in it for routing cables. All done in one pour, a lot of mixing but worth it. 

[Nugs]

2 hours ago, iapa said:

What sort of mount are you planning to support?

I had the latter (rat cage) with CGX-L, usually with a 10" newtonian, once balanced and polar aligned it did not need touched ( I checked PA at the start of each session).

There is a Pulsar pier waiting to be installed (one day) which some say is more stable as there isn't the flu of the mount supporting bolts

 

Forgot to add the mount, at present i'm using a CEM25p, and can't really see myself going much bigger than a CEM40/HEM27 in the future. My refractors are sub 3"..... no plans for any larger newts for the moment.

[Nugs]

2 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

I went with a poured concrete block underground 900x900x900 and a 300mm duct for the pier with a hockey stick conduit set in it for routing cables. All done in one pour, a lot of mixing but worth it. 

Kudos to you sir, best part of 2 tonnes of concrete....... hope you had a mixer. 🥴

[M40]

I went with a slab and then flanged steel pier bolted on top. An absolute doddle to level and once level not needed to touch it again. I also like the look of it so my next step is a semi-see through enclosure of sorts.

One thing, I used individual 20Kgs bags and hand mixed and poured each in turn, it was far easier than I expected. For my build I used 200Kgs in the pier base at about 500mm deep.

Keep us up to speed

[callisto]

Watching with interest as I'm doing something similar this week 

[Anthonyexmouth]

9 hours ago, Nugs said:

Kudos to you sir, best part of 2 tonnes of concrete....... hope you had a mixer. 🥴

It doesn't move, thats for sure. I check PA every 6 months or so but rarely needs adjusting. 

[Alan White]

The advantage of the flanged pier is that it’s easily removed, 
Hobbies change, folks move etc.

I have had 2 flanged piers as it’s not the forever house, so it can move with me, 
glad I did a pier 1 was removed in fit of change and then replace with pier 2 that’s actually taller.
Both worked well and no regrets.

[Starflyer]

My advice is to bolt down your pier, my (now quite old) build thread is here.

I never intended to move house but did so last year, the pier base was poured six inches below the lawn level, so I unbolted it, cut the bolts off, backfilled it and re-turfed the area.

I've since had it in two areas temporarily in my new garden, both fairly deep concrete shed bases, and it's been solid enough, it'll be moved again when I get my obsy built next year.

My point is that a bolt down pier gives you options to move it relatively quickly. I love my pier and it still looks as good as it did then.

[david_taurus83]

Another vote for flanged pier. You'll never know if you ever need to move or remove it, even temporarily. Can't be done with an insitu pier.

[900SL]

If you go with a concrete pier and decide to move house later, you can always paint it brown and glue a few twigs on it. 

Voila! A tree

 

[Anthonyexmouth]

2 hours ago, 900SL said:

If you go with a concrete pier and decide to move house later, you can always paint it brown and glue a few twigs on it. 

Voila! A tree

 

If I ever quit the hobby or move I'll just take the rig off and stick a bird bath on top