michaelmorris

Vapour barrier stapled to studwork on the two outward facing walls.  Next will be the larch cladding on these two walls.

Final wall frame and door frame finished 😁

Run off rails installed. 🙂

Next is the door frame, door and the final wall. After that, it's floor joists and internal cladding on walls.

Latest progress with the observatory.  Both metal clad walls that abutt the fence line now installed.  Next will be the run off rails across the top.

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

... really like the mirrored door effect on the fence, nice visual trick to extend the garden.

It helps when your partner is an (excellent) Architect 😁

Drawing of what the finished observatory will look like. 😁

Back wall now covered with metal cladding with vapour barrier underneath.  This is now fixed in place and covered with tarpaulin.  There will be a translucent polycarbonate window between the top of this wall and the underside of the run-off rail.  This will bring sunlight into the observatory if working in there during the day.  There will be a blackout board across this when observing. 

The left hand wall will be similarly clad in metal as it won't be visible.  The exception will be a small flap down panel at the top, which will be clap of Larch shadow board as it will be visible.  The other two walls will be visible and will be clad in Larch shadow board.  

After another hiatus, work recommences.  Sole plates for the walls are down and first wall nearly finished. 😁

On 02/04/2012 at 09:55, s2moran said:

For double stars a good book to get hold of is Double Stars for Small Telescopes By Sissy Haas ,and the next one is the Cambridge Double Star Atlas,have found them very usefull.

This is now out of print 😞

Ian's book looks to fill a very similar niche 🙂

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/costers-catalogue-of-2000-visual-double-stars.html

Pier temporarily installed 😁😁😁

Welcome to SGL.  I too am a fan of lunar observing and double stars.  

Your problem of looking at the same few objects is very common.  

Have you considered setting yourself some observing goals?

For lunar observing you can't go far wrong with the Lunar 100.

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/the-lunar-100/

For Double Stars, your Bible is going to be Sissy Haas's Double Stars for small telescopes.  Unfortunately it is now out of print, so goes for  a premium price

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Double-Stars-Small-Telescopes-100-Stellar/31466919747/bd

However, there are other almanacs of double stars that make nice observing challenges.

List of Easy Double Stars for Winter and Spring https://cdn.website-editor.net/f4f41486dda946fca6b252365cd24eb1/files/uploaded/List%20of%20Easy%20Double%20Stars%20for%20Winter%20and%20Spring.pdf

I'm presently working on the detailed design for my roll off roof observatory.  I'd like to have the facility to monitor the scope remotely during imaging sessions.  

To this end I'm after a budget video camera that works well in very low light conditions, but doesn't rely on IR led lights to achieve this.

Any suggestions very gratefully received.

I'm about to install the pier that will be used in my ROR observatory.  It's an Altair Astro metal pier which requires 4 x M12 bolts to secure it.  I have already put on a 1 tonne concrete block to bolt the pier to.  My plan is to drill 4 holes in this block and glue in 4 x lengths of stainless steel rod.  What resin/glue would people recommend for doing this?

Cheers 

No negotiation 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

12 hours ago, Spile said:

I was thinking Bromsgrove.

I'm near Pershore.

On 12/04/2023 at 23:28, Spile said:

Is that St John’s Church I see in the background?

No I moved out of Worcester 4 years ago.

Landscaping on back garden now nearing completion. 😁

I'm now thinking using a custom-made fibreglass roof instead of a metal one.

A bit of a hiatus whilst I do other landscaping work done in both the front and back gardens.  The uprights for the run off rails of the adjacent pergola are now in. 

I'm in the final planning stages for a new roll off roof observatory in my new house.  It's going to be a completely self-built structure with oak uprights and top rails for the roof support pergola.  As on my old observatory, the plan is to have a lightweight roof opening and closing by hand and simply running on rubber wheels on the horizontal rails with rubber wheels retained by a simple outer retaining batten on the outer portion of each horizontal rail.

I used this arrangement very successfully for the metal shed-based roll off roof observatory I had up until 4 years ago.  This time instead of a thin metal roof, I was thinking of using a custom-built lightweight curved fibreglass roof ( like a shepherds hut) with wooden strengthening.  These appear to be remarkably cheap to have made (around £400).

So here is my question - has anyone else used such a roof for a roll of roof observatory roof? 

What (if any), problems did you encounter?

Thanks

3 minutes ago, fwm891 said:

Lets hope you always have the same co-operative neighbours when you want access to remove the fence panels for replacement or painting....

It's their fence, so I can't see it being an issue.  Anyway, space is very much at a premium in my small garden and I have to weigh up easy of access with the impact that moving the structure out an extra 20cm would have.  

The fence panels will get a good coat of preservative before the observatory goes up and hopefully the use of larch cladding will negate the need for frequent access for applying preservative to the observatory walls.  

Next job is to finalise the design of the observatory itself, then start building (probably in May). 😁😁😁

Next a layer of sharp sand and some old 450cm X 450cm slabs as a base.

Next 60cm X 60cm X 80cm deep hole dug for pier base and filled with 3/4 tonne of concrete.