Building a pier.

[simon84]

I'm thinking about building a pier in my garden and was quite interested in the guide in the Sky at Night magazine a couple of months ago. Has anyone else had a go at filling a pipe with concrete to make a pier? If so, how did you get on?

Its going to be taking my NEQ6 with my 80ED scope and camera for now but maybe () something bigger further down the road.

My wife wants to make a bit of a feature out of it, even though I'm the gardener, so I've found 150mm diameter clear plastic tube (PMMA) which she would like to fill with coloured aggregate, rather than have a tatty bit of orange waste pipe sprayed black.

I've found somewhere for the plate so just would like some feedback from others that have attempted their own pier.

I think if I manage it right I'll be able to get a small warm room, a 6x4 metal shed was suggested, out there with mains power.

Let me know what you think?

[TopHouse]

A clear acrylic, coloured aggregate filled pipe with an upside down plastic bin on the top would make a great garden feature

[simon84]

I would naturally paint the bin green or get some of those lovely leafy stickers that posh people put on their wheely bins to try and hide the fact that they produce rubbish

[simon84]

Is now hiding just in case any one on here has leafy stickers on their wheely bins.

[Dave Smith]

May be worth having a chat with Jim at the club. He has recently built an obs including a pier.

Dave

[simon84]

Excellent, cheers Dave, I wont be there tonight but will be back next Wednesday.

[simon84]

Well I've gawn out and got all the bits I need to build my pier.

I got 160mm soil pipe in the end and from the daftest place, ebay. Was half the price of any of the local merchants and its just as good. Only trouble was I could only have it in 3m lengths and I only want a meter. Still it'll come in handy as I can build a pier at my folks place aswell, lovely and dark where they are.

Got the 1/2" plate from a supplier my brother buys from at his engineering firm, 200mm diameter plasma cut for 8 quid, so that cant be bad.

Got to drill the holes myself though, 6 of them at 12.5mm so not looking forward to that, that'll test the old drill aswell as the driller, might let my boy have a go.

Got a length of M12 stainless studding, nuts and washers off my best mate who I used to do the shopfronts with, so that only cost me a beer so I'm doing really well so far.

All I need to do now is get digging, S at N magazine recommend 12" deep but I'm going to go a bit more and add some rebar into the base.

As soon as its done I'll get some pics up, but with regards to my wife wanting to make a feature of it now, she has asked for me to spray it black and the kids are going to stick shells, glass and whatever shiny stuff they can find from the beach on it.

[tooth_dr]

rather than have a tatty bit of .... pipe sprayed black

she has asked for me to spray it black

D'oh, there goes that original plan

A tatty bit of orange pipe sprayed black actually looks ok:

Good luck with the build.

[simon84]

Thanks. Looks great, the top of mine is going to be very similar to the one in the S at N magazine with just a single plate, I did think about using 2 plates and building something similar but I can always add that later if it needs it.

Did you machine the puck yourself or it in, I'm going to be sitting my mount on three 25x25x50mm blocks to support it, again very similar to the magazine.

Mine will be semi-permant as its not in an obsy. I'm hoping that once I've polar aligned it I will be able to lock off one of the azimuth bolts so that when I pop the mount back on the pier it will go back where it was with a just a small tweak to get it spot on.

[tooth_dr]

Thanks. Looks great, the top of mine is going to be very similar to the one in the S at N magazine with just a single plate, I did think about using 2 plates and building something similar but I can always add that later if it needs it.

Did you machine the puck yourself or it in, I'm going to be sitting my mount on three 25x25x50mm blocks to support it, again very similar to the magazine.

Mine will be semi-permant as its not in an obsy. I'm hoping that once I've polar aligned it I will be able to lock off one of the azimuth bolts so that when I pop the mount back on the pier it will go back where it was with a just a small tweak to get it spot on.

Two plates were, for me, a necessity due to width of pier vs eq6 adapter. One plate would be equally as good though.

I brought a block of steel to a guy who was handy with a lathe and drill, gave him the drawings I made up, and he made a great adapter for me. I then painted it black (think there is a theme here with the black ) and screwed it onto the top plate with the small vertical stopper pointing north.

There are a few threads where people have done similar to what you want with a semi-perm setup, taking it on and off. There are a few neat tricks to getting it close each time. Might be worth having a look through some old threads.

Good luck

Adam

[simon84]

Two plates and a puck does look the business, attempted to drill the holes for the m12 stud today in the 1/2" plate, gave up after a while, not the easiest of things to do freehand. Had a surprise this afternoon, my wife has treated me to one of those drill stands to turn a freehand drill into a pillar drill so that should make life alot easier.

I do love a good project.

[Bizibilder]

If you are using a mains drill on a stand then you are in for some fun drilling 12mm in half inch plate! May I suggest that you try the following approach? Assuming you have several drills (and that they are reasonably sharp!) start at around 5-6mm first and drill right through (don't forget to make a GOOD punch mark first to enable the drill to start!). Then go up in drill sizes taking many small steps to get to the final size. This will work and will make life easier for you. When drilling you should apply enough force for the drill to CUT and not RUB in the hole. If you can use a bit of lubricant - ordinary spit works very well!!

I hope the above helps and that you succeed!!

PS If you are already an engineer you will know the above anyway - so I hope I've not oversimplified things too much!

[simon84]

PS If you are already an engineer you will know the above anyway - so I hope I've not oversimplified things too much!

Done my apprentiship in milling, turning and sheet metal fabrication

I've not done it for years though as I'm a glazier now but since getting involved with making bits for my scopes its something I would love to do again. Would love my own little machine shop.

I started out using my centre punch and then moving on to a center drill and then built up from there, had the plate clamped to my bench but using a free hand drill at that height was a bit uncomfortable with my back and was worried the holes wouldnt remain straight so gave up for the day, and then got a nice surprise. Cant wait for it to arrive.

[tmarkuk]

It could be worse, I've just finished my new pier in the roll off roof shed and as I had some 20mm threaded rod sitting around from another project I decided to use that for supporting the top plate.

Eight 20mm holes through 10mm plate, or four holes through 20mm of plate as I actually ended up doing it was no fun at all with my hobby drill press. However my Dad's posh clutched SDS drill made reasonably short work of it. Slow speed and lots of cutting fluid and working in 5mm steps.

I always forget to take my camera along when I do these things but I'll post some pics of the finished article soon.

[simon84]

Well tomorrow will be plate drilling day, I've spent the last couple building my shed and warm room. My wife said if I spend any longer on it she would call it "Hubbys House" as she would be kicking me out.....

[laser_jock99]

Started fabricating my pier today. Could be engineering overkill - but I'm making it fairly err 'substanial' just in case I ever upgrade from 5" refractor on an EQ6 mount. The base is an 20" diameter steel block not far off an inch thick. I'm slowly drilling 6 holes through this for the M20 studding. Luckily I have access to 3-phase industrial pillar drill (22mm holes through 1" plate would kill off your average Black & Decker!!). The M20 studs are 1m long and will be set in the concrete block pier base. To the pier base plate will be welded an 8" dia, 1800mm long steel pipe (not sure whether to fill this with concrete or not?). One of my engineering suppliers will be turning me a free oversize 'puck' for the EQ6. Then (if I can lift it) down to the powder coaters to call in a few more favours!

[simon84]

Started fabricating my pier today. Could be engineering overkill - but I'm making it fairly err 'substanial' just in case I ever upgrade from 5" refractor on an EQ6 mount. The base is an 20" diameter steel block not far off an inch thick. I'm slowly drilling 6 holes through this for the M20 studding. Luckily I have access to 3-phase industrial pillar drill (22mm holes through 1" plate would kill off your average Black & Decker!!). The M20 studs are 1m long and will be set in the concrete block pier base. To the pier base plate will be welded an 8" dia, 1800mm long steel pipe (not sure whether to fill this with concrete or not?). One of my engineering suppliers will be turning me a free oversize 'puck' for the EQ6. Then (if I can lift it) down to the powder coaters to call in a few more favours!

I shant make any more complaints about drilling into 1/2 inch plate anymore.

I'd do away with the base plate and set your steel pipe into the concrete, and then fill the steel pipe to the same level, all depending on what the wall thickness the steel pipe is.

If that base plate is sitting on top of the concrete I dont see it doing anything.

[laser_jock99]

I shant make any more complaints about drilling into 1/2 inch plate anymore.

I'd do away with the base plate and set your steel pipe into the concrete, and then fill the steel pipe to the same level, all depending on what the wall thickness the steel pipe is.

If that base plate is sitting on top of the concrete I dont see it doing anything.

The base plate is designed so that it can be easily unbolted from the concrete base block. Important if I ever move house/lose interest etc. Extracting a concrete embedded 8" steel pipe from the middle of an otherwise usefull summerhouse/outbuilding would be a right PITA. But I guess it would stable though- if rather permanent! My wooden flooring will be raised above the base plate and concrete block so all you'll see is the steel pipe clearing a hole in the floor.

I'll try and load up some pictures as I go. Managed to hoof out the 6 stud holes (plus the cenntre power lead hole) to 15mm dia today. Waiting now for a 22mm morse taper drill bit to arrive so I can finish. The 8"pipe should be delivered on Monday I believe the wall thickness is 6mm. Got to drill the 'owls nest' and power supply outlet holes in that too. Using a 76mm hole saw so I can reach inside.

This is not turning into a cheap project though the 8" dia X 1800mm pipe cost over £100, tooling so far has been £30 in drill bits. I hoping to get the rest done for favours though. I'm also budgeting around £1.5K building the observatory & warm room (summer house & decking patio to the wife!!).

[simon84]

Sounds great, are you going to have some kind of adjustment at the top of the pier to get everything level or will it all be done on the base plate before you floor over it?

My pier has been relativley inexspensive at £14.99 for 4m of 160mm diameter and £8 for the plate, everything else I've managed to aquire at the cost of beer

My mate who has help me build my monument of a wooden structure cost me 2 packets of bacon and several cups of tea, the timber for said monument come in at £90 so I'm doing really well at the moment.

I'm almost sad that its nearly all done.

[laser_jock99]

Sounds great, are you going to have some kind of adjustment at the top of the pier to get everything level or will it all be done on the base plate before you floor over it?

.

Should be able to level the top nicely with the pier base nuts- hopefully a once off opperation?

[simon84]

I would opt for adjustment at the top. Just in case you get any kind of movement from your concrete block settling. You said your m20 studding is a meter long for setting into the block and a block that size will take months to dry properly.

Then saying that being level is only really critical for imaging purposes so if your purely visual then maybe setting it once will be enough but I'd have a look into it.

Cant wait to see some pictures though, its going to be a monument alright.

[simon84]

Well I finally got round to digging the hole for my pier, never realised how much clay there was in a 3'x3'x2' hole. All good fun though.

Had a result yesterday though, took some rubbish to the local tip and found a 2m steel lintel in the metal bin which they let me have to put down the center of the pier. Cut my soil pipe to 1700mm which gives me an overall height of 1100mm out of the ground which is nice working height.

Hopefully tomorrow I can go out and get the ballast and the cement and get it all filled up.

[simon84]

Plates all drilled now. Ended up doing it freehand instead of using the drill stand so that I could control the speed of the drill better.

I've got a bit of soil pipe left over if anyone needs some, its 160mm diameter and 1380mm in length.

[gary1968]

Keep up the good work Sly. Building a pier was the single best thing I have done for my hobby.

Looking forward to any pics you post.....

Gary

[beamish]

PICS Sly, pics !! we need pics