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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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks Roger. Don't have a blow torch that I can remember, but will be trying to bend the ends to prevent risk of twisting if I apply excessive torque. I'm using M12 stainless rods, so not sure how easy this will be - it'll give my vice and lump hammer a good work-out

After rescuing a frog from the bottom of the hole, today I added some Wickes sub-base (thanks RayD) to try and firm up the clayey base to the pier hole. I think this has helped, but it's still pretty soft down there. I also found a length of aluminium frame from an old bed during a clear-out of the shed. Perfect to add a bit more strength and support to the pier tube, so bashed that into the bottom of the hole as well. I'm fairly confident now that the pier will be pretty solid . Next job is to order a delivery of ballast, but I'm not sure how much I'll need - see my other post on this! Other work focussed on the pier plate (no pics yet). I realised that I'll need to push the threaded bar that will attach the plate to the pier into the wet concrete after I've finished filling the pier tube, so started playing with the plate and fixings to help me make a form to hold this in place while the concrete goes off. A few images before and after adding sub-base...

This weekends update - Family matters didn't allow much time, but managed a bit of progress on the pier. I made the sheets to put on top of the pier block once it's filled with concrete, to stop the weight of the concrete in the tube pushing the concrete out of the hole (no image of this yet). More interestingly, I cut a few holes in the pier tube and installed plastic drain pipe to carry whatever cables I end up needing, to prevent them trailing all over the floor - well that's the theory. The bottom outlet in the images will be below floor level so will be hidden. A pipe from this outlet will go to the warm room. I cut the top outlet in the side of the pier instead of out of the top, because the top plate I will be using may make it difficult to access the pipe outlet if I put it in the top. I also made 2 small frames to put around the tube (at top and bottom). These will be held in position to keep the tube vertical by long supports fixed to the frames and hammered into the ground. Here are a few images.

Thanks Ray and Chefgage. I think I'll be following your suggestion there!

Hi Alan Thanks. As you've noticed, I've neglected my blog recently. The hobby has taken a back-seat for the last few years for various reasons. Now I'm back into it, I must start posting again! My current set-up is a 10" Newt on an NEQ6, though I'm seriously tempted to upgrade this - not sure what to as yet, but a frac is probably on the list for wider field imaging, in addition to a longer focal length scope for planetary and lunar work. cheers kev

Thanks Neil.

After a few wet weekends, it's great to have some reasonable weather for obsy building This afternoon I finished tying rebar to the pier strengthening rods, to provide a horizontal frame to support the tube at the correct height when I pour the concrete. At the moment the tube is resting loosely on the supports and is not yet vertical - I will build a wooden frame to hold it vertical. Once the rebar work was complete, I made a simple wooden frame to go round the hole, with some shuttering at the back where the hole was too wide from where I dug up the path. I want to make sure the pier block is isolated from the concrete path that some of the corner foundations are sitting on. Next job is to make the frame to hold the tube in position, and cut boarding to go across the hole to stop the concrete being pushed upwards by the weight of the concrete in the tube. One question I'd value advice on - the bottom of the hole is quite wet and clayey (is that a word??) and is fairly soft. Would it be OK to pour concrete straight on top of this, or should I put some broken up hard-core or shingle down before pouring the concrete? I'm worried that the concrete block may sink into the soft clay. Thanks in advance! Kev

Looking good. This design seems to defy the laws of physics!

Thanks Ray....but I wouldn't hold your breath . I'm hoping the end result will be half as good as your obsy - very impressive! Kev