Building observatory with dome in southern Sweden

[olawelin]

Hello, just wanted to share the progress of my observatory construction, have been working on it for 7 weeks and hope to be finished in a few beacuase this takes a lot of my free time.

[Gina]

Very nice indeed

[airbaltic]

Very nice build:)

[BlueAstra]

That must be close to a world record for pier height!

[JamesF]

Very pretty. Did you design the dome structure yourself?

James

[Tinker1947]

Very nice indeed.....

[roberted]

A gorgeous building!! Clear Skies, to you, my friend!!!!

[MikeP]

That is an extremely impressive build, I take my hat off to you.

Do you build things for a living or is this just a do-it-yourself project?

Good to see you posting, look forward to seeing more.

Mike

[olawelin]

Thank you for the comments, I made the pier yesterday and its about 700 kg of concrete 3.30 meters high.

I got some inspiration for the dome of the web but I guess its mostly my own design, but there are similar domes out there.

Im not a proffesional builder but I have been building some things in my back yard, this is my second observatory, first was a small roll off roof.

More pictures are coming soon.

//Ola

[sologuitarist61]

Now that is what I call an observatory - very good indeed - and a door into it from the inside as well, you don't even have to dress up to go out there, wonderful :)

[laser_jock99]

Stunning build- hope you got your calculations right on the pier stability!

[nightvision]

Hi Ola, that's very impressive! Did you use a tube for your pier, if so what diameter? I am about to put my mount 2.5m above the ground so I am interested in how you constructed your pier.

Tony.

[Davie]

I'm lost for words .....

That's just...... Still lost for words

Mrs says its like R2-D2

Sent from somewhere using something.

[olawelin]

Hello, I have used a tube for the pier, diameter is 30cm and I hope tha stability will be good, but if Im not satisfied I will add extra support to the pier from the walls at 2.40 meters.

I will tell you how it goes when I put the scope up.

//Ola

[teleskopjo]

How did you finish the dome surface panels? Did you fiberglass all over the bent plywood gores?

Well done and thanks for sharing with us

[JamesF]

I look forward to seeing more pictures. I think it looks great. How much of your house have you modelled in sketchup?

James

[olawelin]

Hi, for now the dome is just painted with high resistant paint but I might put on epoxy fiberglass later.

I´ve modelled all of my house in sketchup but only the exterior and it´s quite roughly made.

//Ola

[JamesF]

I meant to ask, I can see the wheels supporting the dome section appear to be attached to the top of the walls and the dome runs freely on top of them. What stops the dome sliding sideways? Is there just a channel in the wood on the bottom face of the dome bearing timber?

James

[olawelin]

Hello, I have another set of wheels pointing out to a strip of plywood holding the dome in place, I can get a picture of it later.

//Ola

[olawelin]

Hello, here is the latest update. I'm happy with how the pier came out, it's really stable and I think the stairs mounted to the pier on the first floor gives it a little extra stability.

Telescope is mounted and there is a picture of one of the wheels holding the dome in place.

//Ola

[yesyes]

That looks lovely. Let's hope nobody walks up or down the stairs while you're imaging.

Do I see this right? Did you make a pier adapter of concrete? That's an excellent idea!!

[olawelin]

Hello, the pier adapter i made of concrete, works fine i think.

The plan is to control the camera from downstairs when taking pictures so vibration from the stairs won't be a problem:)

[nightvision]

Superb approach, showed my wife and she liked it but would never let me do anything so bold.

Did you pour concrete into a tall (plastic?) pipe all the way to the top in one go?

[olawelin]

Hello, I had a 3m papertube that i filled in one go and did the last 0,5m with a slightly smaller tube the day after.

The papertuba was specially made for concrete work with a plastic layer inside so it would be easy to remove.

//Ola

[Gina]

Wow! That's a superb build - looks lovely