Observatory Build Underway

[Bizibilder]

Use your walls! By that I mean put the scope at a height that is convenient to you - not forgetting that a Newt will almost always have a "high" eyepiece position - then set the wall height to eliminate any neighbours (and your own!) direct house/security/street lights and any other bad light pollution. The only view you really need is south. Don't forget that from the UK it is unlikely you will see much within 15° of the horizon in any direction - even if you have a clear "line of sight".

Obviously I don't know your site but use the walls to your advantage!

Edited May 16, 2011 by Bizibilder

[Macavity]

I went for 15-20 deg horizons in a southerly direction. Coincidental with (just above) local roof tops. If it doesn't interfere with the roof-rolling, you could try the "Alexander's solution" - A drop-down, hinged, wall section. Or include this in some sort of asymmetric roll off.

[noakesy]

u wont regret it bud i love my obsy

[JamesF]

The only thing to watch in that sort of design is water ingress at the join of the two halves.

I'd worry about that, too. Strong winds have no trouble driving rain up under gaps like that. I think you'd definitely need some sort of lip on the covered side of the ridge to stop that happening unless you were in a very sheltered area.

My favourite rotating roof design is this one:

http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-observatories/106749-rotating-roof-obsy-pics.html

James

[Digz]

Some good advice there. IIRC (and I can measure when I get home and look at my drawings) my walls are around 1200mm high and with a pier height of 1000mm or thereabouts and the design I have developed I think I get down to about 12deg off horizontal which I guess is sufficient.

[Gina]

That sounds reasonable I depends on how far the walls are from the pier/scope, of course. That rotating roof design needs a fairly tall and narrow obsy ie. the side wall where the roof rotates down to has to be as high as the width of the roof. OTOH a wide/low obsy helps viewing at a lower angle. That is why I'm looking at a split apex roof with each half rotating down to the side. It's also easier to build. That curved roof looks like it's made of fibreglass. I guess you could use a wood paneled roof covered in felt. Then again I'd like the obsy to look as ordinary as possible - like a garden shed or (in my case) an animal shelter.

[malc-c]

Update:

Not much going on building wise this weekend, but things are now falling into place. Mind you today I have been doing the really hard part - parting with cash !!

I've completed around 20 hrs research this week alone by scouring the net for material prices looking to get the cheapest deals etc. I've also booked three days holiday and tagged them onto next weeks bank holiday so have a long long weekend planed next week to do the next phase of the project. The mixer is booked for a weeks hire from Friday and I've ordered a ton of ballast, a ton of building sand, 10 bags of cement and 100 lengths of 2.4m studwork from Wickes. 350 bricks and 15 x 150mm x 50mm joists will also be arriving from a local builders merchant for delivery on Tuesday... wallet now just under £500 lighter

I plan on getting the dwarf wall, joists and flooring in place and then set the scope up on the tri-pod to get some idea of the maximum wall height but still have a comfortable viewing height. I'll then use these measurements to cut the pillar tube to length and concrete it in before the floor has been secured

One thing that I must stress to all those contemplating building their own observatory is that it pays to do your research. Thanks to Wayne and TJ for providing lots of info on their builds (always helpful to ask those who have already been through this process). Having said that you do hit a point where your head starts spinning and you feel that you wish you never started.... at that point, take a break and come back to it later.

Edited May 21, 2011 by malc-c

[malc-c]

OK can you guys spot the difference

I've left countless messages for the controller of the section at the council that deals with trees etc to contact me but never had a call back in two weeks, so I hired a guy to remove one of our conifers and do some selective pruning of "that" tree !

Picked up a mixer on a weeks hire, and tonight took advantage of the dry still evening to get the pillar in place.

Following tradition, some rebar hammered into the ground and then the drainage pipe placed over. Here the bottom of he hole was filled with rubble and then a bag of chippings, and then topped up with four mixer loads of concrete

Once the concrete had been tampered down the tube was squared up and left to set overnight. The tube is sticking out of the ground by some 2.5m and will be cut to length and filled with concrete once I've laid the floor and thus can set up the 200P to check the best height to be a compromise between viewing angle, clearance of the roof and not requiring a ladder to view at the zenith.

Due to a slight error on one corner of the footings where the level a a little out, my neighbor has offered to lay the 1st course of bricks for me to get me started.

Will post more pictures tomorrow and over the coming week. By this time next week I'm hoping to have the joists in, flooring done and hopefully most of the studwork done... weather permitting

Edited May 27, 2011 by malc-c

[Gina]

Nice progress Malcolm

[astroimpulse]

Yep...she's coming on great

Some fantastic projects going on at the moment.

[Astrokev]

Looking very good so far Malcolm. Watching this build with interest. I hope you get a run a decent weather for stage 2!

[malc-c]

Well between the showers and with the help of my next door neighbor I've laid the dwarf wall.

All I need to do is rake out the joints in the morning, clean the bricks and then fit a sole plate, joist hangers and around 13 x 150mm x 50mm joists, but that will have to wait a while... my back is killing me at the moment

Must admit that the bricky made it a simple job even for a noobie like me... up until today I've never laid a brick in my life !

Edited May 28, 2011 by malc-c

[Earl]

Looking great !

[msinclairinork]

Nice one Malcolm!

Looks very nice indeed!

Keep up the good work!

Michael

[Astrokev]

Looking good. What is the red bit of kit that's lying on the top course? Haven't seen or come across one of those. What is it for? (apologies if this is a daft question)!

cheers

Kevin

[malc-c]

What is the red bit of kit that's lying on the top course? Haven't seen or come across one of those. What is it for? (apologies if this is a daft question)!

cheers

Kevin

Kev, not a daft question at all. Its my Bricky. Rather than describe how it works have a look at this Bricky Tools

Mind you I'm not as quick as Nole is

[Gina]

Interesting He's so fast the picture blurs

[malc-c]

Haven't done much today - I've found muscles that I've not used for some time and they are complaining

The sole plate (100mm x 22mm) has been fitted to the top of the bricks and I've raked out the mortar and cleaned up the brick face... the other half commented that if it were leveled out in the middle and tiled it would make a nice paddling pool for the kids - Yeah Right !!

I've spend the evening drawing up design for the nested roof over the warm room. This gives me 1.5m wall height in the observatory, and 1.8m head height in the warm room - However this may change when I actually start framing the room out.

My neighbor suggested 6" x 3" joists to have no bounce in the floor, but personally I feel this is overkill - 6" x 2" will suffice I can't do much until Tuesday as the company I'm getting the joists from are closed tomorrow.

Weather and muscles permitting I might start on the studwork assembly now I have some idea of the wall height, but chances are I'll have to spend some time this weekend attending to family maters (the kids keep moaning that they want to go somewhere for a day out !! - strange how I keep comparing the cost of entry to theme parks to building materials )

[Digz]

Great sketch. I think 150 x 50 joists would be sufficient. Ive just used this size timber to frame out some oriel windows on a recent job and that was more than sufficient to cope with any flexure. Plus I plan on using this size timber in my design.

[Astrokev]

Kev, not a daft question at all. Its my Bricky. Rather than describe how it works have a look at this Bricky Tools

Mind you I'm not as quick as Nole is

Hey, how cool is that!

[Gina]

Whenever I've seen the floor joists in all the houses I've been in, they're 6x2.

[Astrokev]

I'll have to spend some time this weekend attending to family maters (the kids keep moaning that they want to go somewhere for a day out !! )

Any planetaria in the Herts area?

Back to your design - I like the sketch and looking good. In Gina's obs design running in parallel with your own, she is designing in guttering for the warm room section. I note you're not doing this.

Just wondering if you considered this and decided that it wasn't needed?

[malc-c]

I tried a simple test and used two lengths of studwork on end (63mm deep) with an off cut of 22mm sole plate - whilst it did flex it wasn't bad and that was without any bracing, so 6" x 2" should be solid enough.

[malc-c]

In Gina's obs design running in parallel with your own, she is designing in guttering for the warm room section. I note you're not doing this.

Just wondering if you considered this and decided that it wasn't needed?

I've been following Gina's thread on guttering but not really thought about it to that degree. Like I said, I think you can spend too much time trying to plan the design down to the nth degree, but find when you actually come to build it things change. Neither of our existing 7 x 5 pent sheds have guttering and I've never seen any problems of flooding or sinking bases.....

[Digz]

Just remember the maximum deflection along the length of a stud will be at the mid point of the span. This is where noggings should be placed.