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Posted

I must admit the felt I've used has held up, just my ignorance in thinking the way I folded and overlapped the felt at the edge of the boards would be enough.  If I had used this flashing material with a belt and braces approach then the OSB may have been fine.  If I ever need to re-felt the roof again, I may look at using the MDPM rubber.

Maybe for those who are at the design stage should take on board the true amount of pitch required to ensure proper water run off.  The fall on my roof was at the calculated minimum, but having it dropped by 2" wouldn't have caused me much of a problem in reality as I'm not a tall person.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

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

Edited by Astrokev
Posted
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

Posted

Yes, I'm still here but not very active. I replied here in response to an email notification as I subscribed to this thread back then. ;-)

My obsy doesn't get used much for astronomy recently, mostly because of the neighbours' trees that have grown so much that I only have a small strip of sky left to see. The warm room does get used a lot as my man cave though. ;-)

 

  • 2 years later...
Posted (edited)

Well it's that time of year for the observatory's annual maintenance, a lick of preservative :)

There was the odd lose board that needed a screw to secure it back in place, and the winter storms produced a small leak where the felt wraps over the wood section that prevents the roof falling off the warm room, which in hindsight could have been a tad thicker to reduce the angle the felt needed to be folded, but it's done now, and to resolve that means rebuilding the entire warm room roof and that ain't gonna happen ! - Especially as its a very small leak, and I have an idea how to fix it without too much work.

I've attached an image showing the difference in four years, and other than the above, this thing has lasted well (faired better than the patio chair that is now falling apart !) considering it's now 8 years since construction commenced.  The conifer tree that we thought was going to die off has made a recovery which is a good thing on one hand, but on the other it now needs 4' lopped off the top as it's obscuring a good chunk of the Western sky.  The hedge is now a lot lower, and the tree behind the observatory has been pruned back considerably.

The warm room now doubles as a workshop with a bench and my late father-in-laws pillar drill, but other than that nothing else has changed since the last image in 2016.  Its rewarding to see that after 8 years of winter storms, with winds of 60+mph, 2' of snow, -11c in winter and +35c in summer, that the design and build has stood up to it all, and for the cost of £8 for a gallon of preservative and a few screws each year :)

 

 

then and now.png

Edited by malc-c
spelling
  • Like 3
Posted

Looking as good as the day you finished it Malcolm.

I must post my latest images of the obsy.

  • Like 1
  • 1 year later...
Posted

Wow, I have just been reading this and I must say the observatory is magnificent I mean, I am not very experienced in the more serious astronomy and I have only seen people with the observatories which are spherical and often pre-assembled so yours really blows me away. Unfortunately I can’t access some of the images but from what I can see, it is incredible. I really wouldn’t mind spending a few clear nights in a place like that with my telescope. Just want to say that it’s a really impressive job. Great work👌

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Thanks you.

Yes sorry some of the images are missing.  They were hosted on my own website which is no longer live.

The observatory is still used, and it's nice that when the whim takes me I can be up and imaging in minutes.  In hindsight I would have done a few things differently, like increasing the fall on the warm room roof as I've had some puddling and water ingress recently, but this is now a decade since it was built so can't really grumble.  I also tend to remote into the scope, so the warm room is now a small workshop, and store.  Remoting in to the observatory PC also means no need for the microwave to warm up the pies at 2am in November :)

 

  • Like 3
Posted
19 hours ago, malc-c said:

Thanks you.

Yes sorry some of the images are missing.  They were hosted on my own website which is no longer live.

The observatory is still used, and it's nice that when the whim takes me I can be up and imaging in minutes.  In hindsight I would have done a few things differently, like increasing the fall on the warm room roof as I've had some puddling and water ingress recently, but this is now a decade since it was built so can't really grumble.  I also tend to remote into the scope, so the warm room is now a small workshop, and store.  Remoting in to the observatory PC also means no need for the microwave to warm up the pies at 2am in November :)

 

Sounds great, I just wish I have the space for something like that, my grandparents use to own a farm in North Wales and it was massive, barely any light pollution, it is just a shame I don’t have access to that space anymore. Must be great to just have a shed were you can work away whilst imaging at the same time without a having to worry too much about waking up your family. My biggest problem right now is just staying out really late, partly because it is cold but it just gets a bit tiring after a while. I guess that’s the problem with Summer observing: really short nights. Can’t wait till Winter. I am glad that you still have use out of your observatory, it’s a really great build. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Posted

I've found the old website archive with the images, however due to the timespan I can't edit the posts, so I've added them to a PDF with the page and image reference so you (or anyone else reading the thread) can cross reference them

 

Images.pdf

  • 1 year later...
Posted

Well I thought that I would conclude this thread with a couple more images... Sadly, due to a change in my personal life, and our fixed rate mortgage deal coming to an end in July I am having to sell up and move home.  Having cleared our local ASDA out of their 32litre under bed storage boxes I've been systematically packing away my electronics, model railway stock, books, etc, and today it was time to decommission the telescope.  It took a good hour to pull all the cables and adaptors back through the ducting, coil them up and stow them neatly in the tub.  All that's left is to de-mount the scope and pier adaptor on the day of the move

As for the observatory, well the warm room that became a workshop still has a little leak in the roof which needs repair, but that will be down to the new owners.  They then have the choice to either remove the wheels and fix the roof permanently in place, rebuild the roof completely, or take the whole thing apart and scrap it... would love to be around when they try and remove the pier, which is 6' of pipe filled with rebar and concrete, itself in a 1cu metre block of re-enforced concrete.... 

Not sure of the scopes future... I was going to sell it (even listed it on here, but had no interest) but then seeing the prices of everything I'll probably end up keeping it and either look at sinking a new pipe in the ground at the new house, or look at a smaller MKII version of the observatory if funds and space permits.  It also depends on where I actually end up and how dark the skies are.

P1019822.JPG.1db5e3c9ec1cfb8c2bd4d54f27046816.JPGP1019824.JPG.612808d86f65d2c08ff0eae4b7573fd9.JPG

It doesn't get used much these days.  Prolapsed discs and damage to the Femoral nerve means the roof is a lot harder to open and close these days.  Last time I had to rest up for a week after causing it to flare up trying to close it after a short session.  Any future observatory will have to be a lot smaller and lighter.  

  • Sad 4
Posted

Malc, sad to see the conclusion to your observatory journey.
I wish you well with the changes in your location.

Concluding the thread with an end is agood idea for those who follow and read your build story.

Take care with the packing and move with that back condition.

Posted

Many thanks for the kind words.  There's a lot going on in my life at the moment, and I'm trying not to make decisions that I will regret later on, so for now the scope will be coming with me.

Yes it is sad that all the effort and money that went into this project would now seem wasted. At the time I thought I would be using it well into my retirement which is still a good few years off. But I learnt a lot building this observatory, and it certainly done the job well.  The convenience of being up and imaging in less than half an hour made the whole thing worth while and it has served me well.  I've always been proud of what I built and how it functioned.

As things stand I could find myself 150 mile away form Stevenage depending on what we get for our current house and whats left after settling the mortgage etc...  That brings Cleethorpes and surrounding villages into the frame, which seems as good a place as any (I also have a friend living up that way).  So maybe whilst this is closure on this thread there could well be another observatory build thread looming round the corner 🤔😉

  • Like 4
Posted
13 hours ago, malc-c said:

Many thanks for the kind words.  There's a lot going on in my life at the moment, and I'm trying not to make decisions that I will regret later on, so for now the scope will be coming with me.

Yes it is sad that all the effort and money that went into this project would now seem wasted. At the time I thought I would be using it well into my retirement which is still a good few years off. But I learnt a lot building this observatory, and it certainly done the job well.  The convenience of being up and imaging in less than half an hour made the whole thing worth while and it has served me well.  I've always been proud of what I built and how it functioned.

As things stand I could find myself 150 mile away form Stevenage depending on what we get for our current house and whats left after settling the mortgage etc...  That brings Cleethorpes and surrounding villages into the frame, which seems as good a place as any (I also have a friend living up that way).  So maybe whilst this is closure on this thread there could well be another observatory build thread looming round the corner 🤔😉

Malc, sad that this part of your journey ends as it does but, as your forward thinking suggests- this cloud may well have a silver lining.

Good luck!

Posted

Many thanks for the well wishes...  Even if I end up not doing anything with the scope I'll still be on the forum at least once a day... 

  • Like 1
Posted

Sorry to hear a move has been imposed on you. 

I'm new to your Observatory Build thread and I have greatly enjoyed reading through it. My build is at the stage of realising I've omitted to put air bricks in the base section. So your thread resurrection has come at the right time for me!

I look forward to your next build thread.

All the best for the future.

Regards

Graeme

 

Posted

Many thanks Graeme, and glad to hear my build has helped.  Adding air bricks is easy enough, even after the walls have been built !

Posted

Sorry to hear this Malcolm.   Your obsy was a major inspiration for me when I was researching ideas for mine.  Your black and purple pier* swung it for my other half which enabled me to go ahead with the build. 👍

* even though my pier didn't end up quite the same.

Best wishes for the future and I hope that includes a new obsy.

 

 

Posted
15 hours ago, LongJohn54 said:

Sorry to hear this Malcolm.   Your obsy was a major inspiration for me when I was researching ideas for mine.  Your black and purple pier* swung it for my other half which enabled me to go ahead with the build. 👍

* even though my pier didn't end up quite the same.

Best wishes for the future and I hope that includes a new obsy.

 

 

Thanks for the kind words... glad the anodising of the pier head helped... must be her favourite colour ?

  • 1 year later...
Posted
On 07/04/2023 at 10:26, malc-c said:

Thanks for the kind words... glad the anodising of the pier head helped... must be her favourite colour ?

Malc,

I have just gone through this thread for interest as you commented on my earlier post although I certainly won't be building my own obsy at the age of 75! I hope that you are now settled into a new location and are able to get back to astronomy (and model railways), meanwhie I shall approach L&DAS once August comes with a view to learning more about how to use my assorted kit.

Thanks again,

Tony

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