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Micro budget observatory.


Ultrapenguin

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Hi all, 

THought I would share with you my micro observatory build, it's nothing like the ones normally on here to be honest its not much more than a shelter for the scope and a solid footing for the mount but it serves the purpose. No more will I struggle out of the patio doors with my mount and scope and spend ages aligning to find teh clound in the mean time has drifted in, now I can be ready in about 2 mins! 

Anyway first i laid a patio, on a foundation of sand (this allows settlement and means any imperfections can be fixed)

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Next I purchased a £159.99 metal shed from the Billy Oh range, I choose this type because the roof can be made in two separate and reasonably solid parts making it easy to remove. 
The build itself was easy and once together the shed is nice and solid, I screwed mine down to the patio slabs for stability and also we don't want it blowing away now.

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Once the bottom part was built I fixed spring clips to hold the roof sections on as seen below;

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Now I can remove either side of the roof or the entire roof if I desire

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The scope is still on its basic EQ3-2 mount which is aligned and placed inside but I have plans to remove a slab inside and build a concrete pier.

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Now shielded from wind and with a reasonable sweep of the sky I am as happy as an astronomer with a new observatory as they say and having spent just under £200 all in I am pretty chuffed and best of all as the slabs are laid on sand if I feel the need I can take the whole thing apart and move it!  

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Nice solution.

One thing though, to prevent what will certainly happen especially after a grassy surface, dry brush in a mix of sand/cement into the joins.

It will set with natural moisture, help prevent weed penetration, and still break away if you decide to move it all later.

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Nice low cost solution - this will really help you make the most of any viewing opportunities.  

Nice also to have the future option to install a pier - this will give you a lot more space inside.

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Good suggestion about potential grass and weed control I will look to do that, regarding condensation the truth is I do not know yet the observatory/shed is only a couple of days old and as such I have no infromation on which to base an opinion. Several other people have mentioned it as a potential problem and as such I will keep a close eye on the situation, it has been suggested to me that polystyrene sheets may resolve the problem if it occurs and my intention for fixing them would be hot melt glue gun but for the moment I will wait and see.

Thanks for the advice and clear skies to you all.  

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The roof sections are very light an easy lift for me and I am no athlete, condensation does not appear to be an issue at the moment and so far I have been able to make use of two 2-3 hour clear patches to do some AP which I would not even of contemplated before. I have also found the sides of the OBSY are shielding my scope from stray LP and have solved the issues with gradient I was having with earlier images. I have also added a cheap stool and small table to allow me to use a laptop to control my camera. So far I am very pleased. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have an update, after a couple of weeks of lifting the roof section off every night i realised that long term a more practical (and quick/quiet) solution was required. My neighbors did not thank me for the clangs and clattering as i replaced the roof sections and secured them. So I purchased 4 x heavy duty drawer runners (captive ball bearing type and I have fitted these after modifying them to remove the end stops, they give me the ability to open the roof to create 1200 cm opening enough to give a really good sweep of the sky. The nice part is they are totally silent in operation and require a mouse sized effort to slide the sections apart. Cost for all four was £18 not expensive but it took a good few hours to fit them. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really like the flower pot in front, it gives the observatory a welcoming vibe :)

Good job ! I can't wait to see the 2.0 version

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi all, Sorry about the delay replying I have been traveling around India, update on my update. I do not generally remove the roof sections completely when observing although I could quite easily as they just slide out of the runners. My prefered mode of operation is shown below, both roof sections withdrawn, they are balanced quite nicely although it may not look like it, they are extremely heavy at the point the two sections meet due to strengthening bars and this makes the centre of balance very close to the left hand side as seen below.

This is the link to the runners used http://www.screwfix.com/p/ball-bearing-drawer-runners-550mm/20420

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Below is a couple of close up shots of the runners. 

This one shows the strengthening bars quite nicely.

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This is a more wide angle view

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You may note the slight turn up of the edge of the roof overlap section that enables the roof overlap to slide over the other side roof section when closing.  

For security both roof sections are held down by clips outside but I additional put in two security bolts to hold the roof sections together when closed up, so far it has withstood 4very heavy rain and 60mph gales. 

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There are gaps where the two sections meet and also where the runner is not as long as the shed but to be honest I have found these not to be a problem, it has also been suggested to me that this may be the reason I do not get condensation. I used heavy duty pop rivets to secure the runners to the roof/shed as this gave a strong mechanical joint and also a low profile one essential if a ball bearing runner is sliding over it. 

Below are some images taken from this observatory so far in less than favorable conditions. I really can't wait for those dark winter nights. 

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Using my observatory is a hoot! ^^ get it...

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