Considering building a concrete pier to hold an astronomy telescope about 1M out of the ground and a foot or so diameter. Most folk pour concrete into some Sonotube former with rebar support rods in the concrete.
Question is, could I walk into a builders merchants and get rebar and sonotube of the shelf so to speak...
Thanks
Some bendy MDF to form a circular post to the size you want, then a few metal rods, that have been prepared to prevent rust, would do this job. I've just finished something similar in the garden to fit a statue on top. (don't ask).
The method I used is simple and has turned out very strong indeed.
Dig hole in ground to form solid footing when back filled. This will depend on the height of the structure you want.
Cut rigid ends off two small sheets of bendy MDF panels to form circular tower, leaving the cut outs on the inside to make pretty score pattern in the tower.
Wrapped the MDF and held it place with small pins in the ground, and tied with wire to keep circular shape.
Poured a little of the concrete mix in the form, and then hammered through the rods into the ground a little. Filled the form to the top with the rest of the mix.
Positioned the next sheet of MDF up to the next level, tying in a couple of places to keep the shape, and continued with the mix pour and tamping to remove the air bubbles. Whole thing damped down every two or three hours to prevent surface cracking and keep it nice and polished.
Placed carved stone top cap on it, then placed the small statue on top of that. Looks pretty. The MDF has left the surface fluted like a Greek column. :-) Simple and cheap method, but very strong.
It's a thing the missus picked up in a salvage yard. Yucky looking thing with a small basin in its hands that is to be used by the little birdies that visit us. :-) She wanted it high enough off the ground to stop the cats attacking, but it had to be strong enough to take the weight of the bloody statue. LOL
I'd have thought it would go soggy and fall apart.
LOL. I think maybe you're supposed to fill with concrete and then remove the MDF!
Christian.
In that case make sure you have the slitted side *outwards* or you'll have an interesting heatsink-like column!
Oh c'mon. you cant leave it like that, tell more......
Dave
I meant it might disintegrate before the concrete had set.
Probably not, unless it's a biggie, but you can order it and have it a couple of days later.
Don't do what a friend did and pressure wash the semi-cured concrete to expose the aggregate. It looks great, in a '60s brutalist kind of way, but it's not the sort of surface you want to be bumping around in the dark. Bit hard on the kneecaps and elbows.
I would never have guessed you thought so much of the IMM that you would place him in concrete.
Mmm lovely.
Did you inset colour-changing LED lights into the stone cap to illuminate the objet d'art and provide a night-time focal point?
Oh well, that's next weekend taken care of then. :-)
Owain
My house came with one of those ;-) (Took some taking down I can say!)
Looks like he started with a concrete (or possibly even asbestos) pipe section set on end into a hole in the floor slab which was then filled with concrete. It was then shuttered arround to give a square and slightly tapering cross section and the outside of the pipe filled with concrete.
Rebar, certainly. Sonotube maybe. Some form of pipe almost certainly.
You could call it a fluted column.
Christian.
I doubt that you could dissolve MDF that quickly. Even chipboard would probably last that long.
Christian.
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