Gina's Observatory

[Gina]

Just checked your webcam for the first time in a while. Good to see some vertical construction starting to happen, though your weather looks pretty lousy today.

Kevin

Managed a small amount of progress, if not a lot. The weather has been awful! Cleared up a bit this evening and I've replaced the bags covering the newly sawn post tops and tied them on - some of them blew off in the strong wind! I've also drilled the last fixing hole and put the bolt in (with washer and nut). So all 4 posts are now bolted to the floor beams.

I've also cleared a large enough area of our big shed (with the help of a couple of neighbours) for the timber that's coming on Monday.

[Gina]

Oooh, it looks even more horrible than it is here

James

It was certainly horrible this morning Rainy and foggy with a strong wind!

[Gina]

The moon's looking quite pretty in the webcam images ATM

[Gina]

Counting down to my timber delivery... Just over 12 hours now (if they're on time) All set ready for it - shed cleared to take the timber and electric mitre saw/bench moved into the shed near where the timber's going, to reduce the distance I need to move the full length timbers. First job will be cutting the joists to length. They are the biggest and heaviest timbers in the construction and will take some humping onto the saw bench. I'll need to be careful

I'm hoping to get the joists installed tomorrow, weather permitting. Then on to the floorboards. I'll report progress tomorrow but everyone interested should be ready to watch the webcam

[Gina]

My timber has arrived :) Delivered part way into the shed. Now to move it right inside and start cutting it to size

[Freff]

Good news.. don't you just love making sawdust.

[yesyes]

That's good news.... ;-)

We want to see pictures of the delivery...

[Gina]

The chances of getting my "shed" built before 1000 posts in this thread is about NIL

But serious progress is about to begin - I've now humped all the floorboards and all the joists from the pile in the shed doorway, to well inside the shed. Not that it would matter all that much if it stayed outside as it's already well and truly wet Still it stands a chance of drying when inside. I'm just wondering how much it will interfere with the sawing. The blade is 10" diameter with a coarse pitch though so may be OK but I'll take it carefully. At least the saw bench has clamps to secure the timber.

STOP PRESS :- The polystyrene insulation has just arrived

All systems GO!

[Helen]

Way to go Gina

On wheels, just be aware that the rubber tyres can flatten under the weight of the roof when stationary which can make them difficult to get moving, they also have more friction when moving. I'm about to rebuild my roof to make it lighter and roll better and will be using solid wheels this time.

Helen

[malc-c]

The chances of getting my "shed" built before 1000 posts in this thread is about NIL

Seeing we're at post #984 and you have just started I have to agree

Maybe you should start a new build thread concentrating on just the construction (with images) and keep this one going for discussing options, design changes etc.... ??

[Gina]

Way to go Gina

On wheels, just be aware that the rubber tyres can flatten under the weight of the roof when stationary which can make them difficult to get moving, they also have more friction when moving. I'm about to rebuild my roof to make it lighter and roll better and will be using solid wheels this time.

Helen

Good point Helen. Particularly about flats when parked for a long time and always parked in the same place. I'll give that some thought. Maybe think up some way of taking the weight off the wheels when the roof is closed - nothing too complicated though

I'll see how much rolling resistance there is and change over to solid nylon wheels if needed. Either 100mm or 125mm.

[Gina]

Seeing we're at post #984 and you have just started I have to agree

That's what I thought.

Maybe you should start a new build thread concentrating on just the construction (with images) and keep this one going for discussing options, design changes etc.... ??

I think that's a good idea Keep the design and build separate and also make it easier for readers to "see the wood for the trees"

[Gina]

Good news.. don't you just love making sawdust.

OOohhh absolutely

[Gina]

That's good news.... ;-)

We want to see pictures of the delivery...

Sorry, I don't have any - didn't think of it. I did wonder if I could set up a webcam in the shed though for when I'm working indoors Don't want to delay the actual build though! I have a low res (640x480) webcam or two I could use. I only have two HD webcams and one of those I've modified for telescope use, the other is the one I'm using to show the actual "shed".

Well... break over - back to it

[Gina]

I've finished cutting the joists and our neighbour took more than half of them down to the site for me - I had taken 3 down, 2 short and one long. All ready to be screwed down to the beams. I've still got to sort out the noggins but the main lengths are done.

Not sure if I'll do any more this evening - been pretty busy today. It's amazing how long it takes to get all the gear ready before you can start the actual job. Of course, moving 40-50 4.8m lengths of timber took quite a while. Plus 4 sheets of 8x4 OSB and 12 sheets of 8x4 polystyrene.

I'll see if I can sort out some photos of the earlier stages of the build and create a new thread this evening. I don't want posts out of order so I'm continuing in this thread pro tem.

[laser_jock99]

Way to go Gina

On wheels, just be aware that the rubber tyres can flatten under the weight of the roof when stationary which can make them difficult to get moving,

Helen

Another good reason to have lots of wheels to spread the load. It's also probably good practice to give rubber tyres a random turn now & again to stop 'park position flats' occuring. I can imagine this would be more of a problem in warmer climates?

[Astrokev]

Pics, pics, pics please?!

[Gina]

Another good reason to have lots of wheels to spread the load. It's also probably good practice to give rubber tyres a random turn now & again to stop 'park position flats' occuring. I can imagine this would be more of a problem in warmer climates?

I may go for 5 wheels a side since I have 10 coming (no real need for spares). I agree about turning the wheels, good idea. We do that with farm equipment that's left to stand over the winter, if it's impractical to chock up the wheels off the ground.

[Gina]

Pics, pics, pics please?!

OK, will do. The webcam is live though.

The view that the design often has to change as the build progresses has been borne out with the joists. The timber I've just bought is a bit more flexible than the second hand stuff of the same dimensions that I used for testing. So I've moved one of the joists that was over the pier base block to clear the block and inserted an extra joist from near to the block to the end of the warm room, with a cross piece (noggin) at the block end. This in turn reduces the separation under the warm room and outside of the block in the main standing area of the obsy.

Also, the floorboards that were supposed to be 25mm (1") thick, aren't. I guess 25mm was the sawn size and the planed size is a bit less. Floorboards are PTG - planed, tongued and grooved. So closer joists are wanted to get the same flexure. Timber sizes tend to be approximate anyway - I allowed for this by increasing the number of lengths I ordered above the calculated minimum. Better one too many than one too few.

[Ptarmigan]

Hi Gina, very interesting thread.

I've not read through all the posts yet - has anyone suggested that this would be a good candidate for a time lapse video ?

Any way you could program your webcam to store pics say 10am and 5pm every day ?!

Malcolm.

[yesyes]

has anyone suggested that this would be a good candidate for a time lapse video ?

I did, a couple of hundred pages back ..

It has become a rather lengthy thread and it is good to finally see some real building progress happening now.

[Gina]

Hi Gina, very interesting thread.

Thank you

I've not read through all the posts yet - has anyone suggested that this would be a good candidate for a time lapse video ?

Any way you could program your webcam to store pics say 10am and 5pm every day ?!

Malcolm.

Yes and yes I am saving all the images from the webcam during daylight hours - 3 images a minute roughly. I intend to make them into a video later when I find out how to do it I'll edit out the frames when nothing's happening. I want to sort this out so that I can make time lapse videos for my weather website.

I have now placed all the joists as close as I can in their final positions (between showers!) and cut top and bottom rails of the east obsy wall. The top rail is currently marking the position of the partition wall.

It's amazing how long all these little jobs take. But I want to make sure everything is right. At least my saw allows me to cut the wood to better than a millimetre, so fitting pieces exactly into gaps is not a problem. Accurate plans to start with is also a big help.

[Gina]

It has become a rather lengthy thread and it is good to finally see some real building progress happening now.

Isn't it just!!

As for the inordinate length of this thread, I'm taking up the suggestion of starting a new thread specifically devoted to the actual build and leave this thread for design aspects. I was hoping to do it last night but I was too tired and had an early night instead Maybe tonight...

[Ptarmigan]

Thank you

Yes and yes I am saving all the images from the webcam during daylight hours - 3 images a minute roughly.

,,,,

It's amazing how long all these little jobs take.

Gosh, that sounds like a big HD !

Still, you will need something to keep you busy during all the forthcoming cloudy winter's nights and frosty days ! lol!

,,

not to mention answering duplicate suggestions on the forum heheee!

I think you are going to need a secretary, an official photographer, a sub-editor and a biographer at least

I was about to say "and a project manager", but that would have been an insult 'cos you seem to have that well in hand

Oh not to mention also the other task -> repairing your north facing webcam so that we

( the ones with a hill to the north of us )

can watch your cam for auroras . Am I being too cheeky !

[yesyes]

Isn't it just!!

As for the inordinate length of this thread, I'm taking up the suggestion of starting a new thread specifically devoted to the actual build and leave this thread for design aspects. I was hoping to do it last night but I was too tired and had an early night instead Maybe tonight...

It was a pleasure to follow this thread. But I can imagine it being a bit intimidating for anyone wanting to catch up and read from the start.

I think it is a good idea to start a new thread about the actual build. That could then be linked to in the sticky in this section.

Oh, and I see I have the honour of posting the 1000th post in this thread..