Astrokev

No work on the observatory today other than taking a few photo's. Hoping to get out there tomorrow if it stays dry.

Here's a better internal view, plus an attractive photo of my tarp!

The diagram is a view of my SketchUp model - this shows the next stage in the build, making the fixed roof over the warm room (at least that's the plan!)

13 hours ago, valefor said:

That is alot of thought and planning going into this. Its looking amazing. My ror is just a converted shed which i reinforced with fence posts and interior walls. My pier is a 150mm pipe sunk 70cm under and 1.3m above ground with a steel rod sunk a further 50cm under in the centre of the concrete. The only adivce id leave here is make sure you run your power and network cables early in the build. Its not easy getting them to where you want them when there is a whole building in the way. 

Dave

Thanks Dave - very kind of you.

My build is rather over-engineered in some respects; far more so than is actually needed. I've thrown myself into this project, partly as a way of keeping focussed after a very traumatic time over the past 18 months. I'm also interested in seeing just how good a job I can do, plus it's fun!

At the end of the day, I guess it's whatever works for you and, as they say, the best observatory is the one that gets used! I'm certainly hoping mine will get used!!

Good advice about the cabling. That's the one bit I've given very little thought to so far!

Thanks for checking out the thread

Kev

12 hours ago, Mick J said:

Looking really good Kev, nice to be working in the sunshine.  

Thanks Mick, kind of you to say. Absolutely great to be working in the sunshine!

Yesterday I was working with the sun beating down and a Spitfire flying around overhead. (I live near an historic aerodrome at Old Warden, Bedfordshire, so am lucky enough to see vintage planes flying over almost daily)

It don't get much better than that :-)

Finally opted for Creocote as a preserver, so treated the outward facing wood frame and base (that will be in contact with moisture barrier membrane).

Completed the small wall to the right of the main door, so all the wall frames are finished. Yay!

I started on the fixed roof, but no images taken - I'll take some tomorrow. I also put up the lower strip of breathable membrane this evening. It was dark by the time I'd finished - not easy putting this stuff up with an iPhone held between your teeth to provide the light! Needless to say it took longer than expected (no surprise really) so couldn't get the upper layer on. Then grappled with my enormous tarp to cover the build for the overnight rain that's been forecast.

When inside, this gave my first impression of what it'll be like inside the obsy with the roof shut, so had to take a picture!

No action on the obsy build today, as it was house-cleaning day to make it half-decent for my daughters friends who'd been invited for a BBQ.

But, I did manage a few hours yesterday, which I forgot to post - so here's a quick update.

Outer wall frames are just about finished. Just a few studs to put up to mark-out the main entrance door, which I hope to finish tomorrow. This feels like a mini-milestone .

Next job is to put the roof joists over the warm-room and then start on the sliding roof rails. Exciting to be moving on to another part of the build instead of walls!

I may also Creocote the outer parts of the base to help weather-proof it before I install vapour barrier. I'm hoping to complete this before the rains return later in the week, but suspect I may not finish this in time, since everything seems to take twice as long as I think!

Anyway, here's the current state of the build....

Bit more work on the obsy today.

Completed the internal wall which will separate the scope room and warm room. In the image you can make out the frame of a small window in the middle of the internal wall, and the door frame giving access to the scope room.

Also started on the outside walls of the warm room. It took ages to get the top rail lined up with the rail on the scope room!  The plan is to get the rest of the walls completed this weekend.

Now that the scope room wall frames are up, I'm getting nervous about the height. Although my SketchUp plans suggested they would be OK, I'm a bit concerned that I won't be able to view lower altitudes to the East and South (West and North are pretty well obscured by hedging so I'm less worried about these directions).

An option I'm thinking about is to add a pier extension. This would help, and would also give a better eyepiece height, since the pier was designed for a Newtonian reflector and I've now got a refractor (and am considering getting an SCT)!

Another option is to add a hinged flap in the South wall - must think more on that before I clad the walls!

Sun was shining this afternoon. Started sawing and got 2 pieces of studding added to the build before the clouds blew in and it started chucking it down  :-(

Nice Summer we had - looks like we're back to Winter.

Taking advantage of the dry weather I managed a few more hours today on the build.

Finished off the 3 outer walls to the scope room by adding corner bracing and noggins. Just started to build the inner wall which will separate the scope and warm rooms, but only managed to fix the top piece before the showers came, so back on went the tarp!

I hope to order the rolling-roof wheels and rails next. Not sure on delivery time but it would be nice to have them ready and waiting for when I've finished the warm room, and am ready to start on the rolling roof. F.H. Brundle seems to be the recommended supplier so will probably use them.

If anyone has any recommendations regarding the type of wheels that would work best I'd be very grateful (I think they do "V"  and "round" section designs. Is one better than the other?).

Thanks

Second wall frame finished. :-)

Hi Chris

Thanks for the advice  - I'll take that on board.

Today I finally managed to get the tarp off. First time I'd seen the timber since November and the tarp seems to have done it's job.

So, off to the store and bought a load more timber studding and posts, and started building the side wall. Will finish this tomorrow.

Hopefully the build will now continue at a quicker pace. I've recently finished work which means I'm not restricted to wet weekends!

Thanks for checking out my thread

Kev

On ‎21‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 19:57, yesyes said:

I have one of these "puddles" on my warm room roof too where the roof sagged a tiny bit and the water doesn't completely run off any more. I'm glad I used rubber sheet for the roof so I don't need to worry about the water there as it has no way in.

Hey, good to see you still on the forum Chris.

Your build was my main inspiration and is closest to my own design, which finally got started last year. After a winter and spring under wraps, the covers are now off and the build will be continuing from this week. I'll be documenting it all on my resurrected build thread!

My design uses rubber sheet and following Malc's experience will definitely now go for ply on the roof and not OSB!

Kev

Pleased you got it sorted Malc. I followed your build with great interest back in the day, and it's great to see your thread still live and being followed.

You inspired me loads, along with Chris's (YesYes) build. After lots of false starts I eventually started my build last year, but put it under wraps for the winter. Will be picking it up again this week and continuing to post on my build thread.

Kev

On ‎27‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 15:05, RayD said:

Looking really good, I feel your excitement 

Thanks Ray.  Feels great to be adding some height now that I've finished the base. Just hope I haven't made the walls too high!

Kev

On ‎27‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 15:16, smudgeball said:

We're all rooting for you to get it finished !

Thanks smudgeball. So long as you don't hold your breath at the same time!

Kev

5 hours ago, Adam J said:

You are a braver man than me taking this on over winter, i think I would have stopped and be waiting for warmer weather at this point. My 6x6 took me 4 months to finish and its tiny. 

Braver?  Not sure about that. More stupid perhaps ;-)

As you'll see from the first post, I started back in the summer, but the weather's been dreadful for most of the year after the mini-heatwave back in July/August. If I waited for warmer / drier weather I don't think I'd ever get it done. So, doing little bits as the weather allows. I don't mind the cold, it's the wet that I hate.

Thanks for following my thread

Kev

First chance for a while to work on the observatory. Today I started on the walls.

I decided to change the design and use fence posts for the corner posts. These were positioned vertically using temporary 45' bracing, and then built the wall frame between the posts. This is starting to look more and more like YesYes's fabulous build of a few years ago!

I had to pack up before completing the end wall as it was getting too dark to continue. Next job will be to insert noggins and corner bracing, so I can remove the temporary 45' bracing.

It took longer than expected but I managed to finish the joists and noggins this afternoon .  Just need to douse them with preserver the next chance I get (I put preserver on the undersides before I installed the joists, so just the top and sides to do).

Didn't have enough time to check the wall heights, but I did manage to get the EQ6 onto the pier. Pleasing to find that I got the dimensions of the pier bolts correct! After dark I attached the Esprit 100 and enjoyed "First Light" through the new scope. This was Capella, then M31 and the Pleiades. The mount wasn't aligned so had to content myself with undriven views. Sky was rather washed out by the Moon, but the stars were pin-sharp. I think I'm going to like this scope!

The fourth joist from the left is double - this will support the dividing wall separating the warm room and scope room.

Roger - I haven't checked the levels yet. it was getting dark by the time I'd finished the noggins (and I was cream-crackered). I'll do this next weekend.

Managed to make a start on the floor today. I used double joists around the edge - partly for extra strength since these will be load-bearing, and also to provide a wider base to support the floor panels. The double joists were simply bolted together. Corners were braced with 90' brackets, and the joists were screwed to the brackets I inserted into the corner blocks to stop the whole obsy shifting - or worse still - blowing over should we have a hurricane!

The joists were insulated using squares of rubber pond-liner and strips of plastic DPC laid onto the concrete blocks (bit overkill there I think, as usual!).

Rest of the joist-work will hopefully be completed tomorrow, weather permitting. May even try and put the mount and scope on the pier to check the planned height of the walls. I'm wondering whether I need to make the South wall with a drop-flap to give easier access to lower altitudes. My SketchUp drawings tell me I don't need to, but I'm nervous and want to check this out before I commit to making the walls.

A while since I've posted - mainly because work on the observatory has essentially stopped of late, due to family commitments, a short holiday, and a delay while I ordered and awaited delivery of my first batch of timber.

So, to restart things, I did manage to tidy up the site during a break in the horrid weather we've been having lately.

The floor joists arrived the other day, so praying for some dry weather this weekend to make a start on the main building!

Lovely observatory Dave. Great build photos - quality job! Hope it gets lots of use.

Kev

Had a great time at Kelling. On returning home I couldn't resist taking down the props and removing the block cover. Amazed to find that the pier didn't fall over! Actually, it's absolutely rock solid. Probably way over-engineered, but that's the way I tend to do things. Top of the pier needs a little tidying up once it's completely dried, so will worry about that later.

Next job is ordering the wood and building the floor.

A few more pics....

Big weekend - despite having to dodge several torrential downpours, I managed to finish my pier. Hooray!

36 bags of ballast. Thank heavens for the electric mixer, which made light work of it.

I supported the air-con tubing with stud-work attached to pegs driven into the ground. After filling the hole, I screwed MDF sheets to the frame around the hole to prevent the concrete being forced out by the weight of the concrete in the tube. It was really satisfying reaching the top of the pier tube and "topping-out"!

The pier top-plate is 16mm aluminium. I attached this to a temporary piece of MDF to act as a spacer and to cover the entire top of the tube to keep the concrete level, using stainless steel threaded rods. This went into the concrete easier than I expected, requiring only light  taps with a lump hammer to get it to touch the top of the tube. The white tape at the top of the tube has a reference line which I matched with a similar line on the MDF, to indicate approximate true north. I'll leave this a couple of weeks to go off. Next week I'm at Kelling so won't be tempted to remove the supports and MDF prematurely!

Glad the concrete work is finished. More enjoyable woodwork from now on .

Concrete mixer being delivered tomorrow . The plan is to install the air duct tube and make the supports to hold it in place tomorrow, then mix all the concrete for the block and pier on Sunday.

Praying for dry weather

18 hours ago, RayD said:

Looking really good Kev.  Once you've got the base and pier done the rest is really enjoyable.  This, fortunately, is the hard bit.

Thanks Ray. Yes, really looking forward to getting the pier finished. I'm on much more familiar territory working with wood!

Kev