RAR_MI_USA

I have never seen such a puzzle-like assembled shed like that before. What an idea! Great work . Ray

May I ask what are you using to control forward and reverse of the motor? Do you have a variable switch (for variable speed)? Make you own, or find something on Amazon as well? Curious to give it a try myself.

Great progress Dave. This subject and the nice work you have done has gotten me to thinking about building another small garden house/shed myself, not to be used as an observatory (I do not have a good vantage point for a fixed scope/obsy due to sky obstructions of neighboring trees), but rather one to store my telescopes inside of year round so I don't have to carry them out of the basement, up stairs, thru doors, then down deck stairs and into the backyard every time I want to observe or image. Naturally, I would have to insulate it fully to protect my equipment as I am a stickler for that. The winters here are hell regarding the cold and snow.

Cool. Development and city/township rules, they vary so much everywhere and some I have heard about are downright inhibiting. The city where I live has its rules like all do, but as far as sheds/buildings/observatory, etc. go, the limiting factor is size, not height, and is fairly generous. There are actual dimensional restrictions (floor square feet) but rule of thumb is you can build anything without a permit as long as it not large enough to accommodate an automobile, which would then classify it as a garage. That gives a fairly wide latitude considering the size of the average auto here in the USA. As always, nice work Dave. I will be returning every so often to see it progress.

Nice going Dave and looking good. Hey regarding your hold downs, those top blocks of wood you have the hold down screwed onto.... well, they may not hold up under any stress from wind lifting on the roof. One should never drive screws "inline or with" the grain, but rather, perpendicular or against. I fear you may find those wood blocks will split easily. That should be an easy fix for you. As to your roof frame, from what I gather, it is much too light to hold up very long. And additionally, not sure if you experience snowfall where you are, but here, that roof would fold under it's weight. I suggest full 2x4 framing for the roof. And I hope you don't mind my suggestions, because that is all they are, and I want to see you get years of enjoyment from your observatory after all that hard work you have put in! Ray

Anxiously following. It has been awhile. Glad to see your progressing.

I am glad to see you have been doing some more work on the observatory. Been checking in now and again. Was getting worried. Spring has sprung I see. Ray

Too far...more like the bathtub fills to quickly and starts overflowing.

I would say, of course depending on how much you would use and enjoy it, to build one if you believe it will be of use. The best and cheaper method would be to use mostly re-purposed wood, but I am not sure what is available or feasible over there in the UK. Here in the states, decent used wood is plentiful at times, although one must do a little work to get it and then make it usable. All one needs to do is scope out the back lots of local businesses, later bring their trailer, dismantle large crates and other wooden partitions (no skids), and load up. When you get it home, you must further tear it down to separate the usable pieces, and discard the rest. With a little time, one can accumulate enough material to either get a good start and even finish the project at home within a few months or sooner, depending on their enthusiasm. Of course, one must be competent and have all the proper tools to build too. I did this myself a few years back and managed to built two completely finished units, a garden house and a storage shed, and my entire cost was the price of screws and nails.

I have an EXT 80-AT, and my Autostar 494 controller does not even give me the option to choose a model (as it should), but instead asks for the focal length only. And consequently, will not align properly. Even though my correct city/state, date, time and time zone are all entered correctly (42.5 North Lat/USA Eastern time/Daylight Savings, AM/PM correct, etc), the scope attempts to align below the horizon when I choose stars that are overhead. I will be curious to hear from others with any ideas on that as well. Ray

Awww.....disappointing, but completely understandable. Look forward to seeing further progress when our upside down world rightens itself again. Ray

I notice a lot of people on this site incorporate the horizontal braces in their framework when building their OBS. I have never seen that done or done it myself, except in places for windows or door frames. Probably because we use more vertical studs, one every 16 inches and the caps (top studs) are always doubled up. Your construction looks sturdy enough to weather any wind at any rate. I would be more worried about having electronics installed without the walls or roof complete, because of the dampness in the air. I have replaced many radios inside my unheated garage over the years due to humidity and temperature fluctuations throughout the year. In my experience, anyway, it seems to destroy electronics. Looking good. Keep up the good work.

The references indeed, did not make sense to me. With over 240 TV channels to choose from at home, not much British TV is available to us. We do have BBC America, but that is mostly American geared programming (with an accent) and other documentaries. YouTube is the choice place to watch British programming for me. I have seen every back episode of The Sky At Night and always look forward to the new monthly episode. (One program a month is not enough, I think, but I suppose is a BBC recipe that has worked for decades, so who am I to say?) However, in the time of the Internet, I was quickly able to get your point. I understand it to mean your yard looks half like a botanical garden and half an archeological dig site. Haha. Mine once resembled the same after I took large pool out, that was destroyed by the winter of 2013-14, and the hole sat unfilled for a few years until I got around to filling it in. Here's hoping the forecast is correct and better weather is coming so that you are able to get some more work done on your project. I look forward to it! Ray

At least the sun was shining when you took those last pictures. Hopefully a sign of better days ahead. Looking forward to your progress!