Some major changes...

[ollypenrice]

Hi All,

In the brief interval between being very busy and winter making construction impossible I'm cracking on with some alterations. One of the present imaging rigs with its own full roll-off will be moving to a new site and the concrete base on which it stood will be extended to accommodate a big 14inch ODK/Mesu Friction Drive belonging to another SGL member. (Exciting? Just a bit!!!)

The observatory will have a small warm room with optional bed and a walled area attached for the scope. The scope part will be on the left of the first picture and it's roof will roll back over the warm room which will be where the roll off is in the view you see. I don't know why I put the pier where I did first time around becasue rolling the shed off to the northwest of the pier would have been a lot smarter than rolling it off the southeast where it gets in the way of the Helix and Sombrero!

Unfortunately I had to extend one corner of the present three tonne slab in order for the warm room to be wide enough for a bed, but I really do want to catch some sleep while babysitting the autoguiders.

I'm not too sure about my bricklaying 'skills' so I will have to see how high I can go in blockwork before deformities oblige me to continue in wood...

The walled scope area won't have very high walls like the Alexander sheds because we have good horizons, so the welded steel rolling roof will have partial sides as well.

The other complication is the need to remain operational for as long as possible before removing the existing roll-off. I'm a quarter of the way into a big picture project and can't face losing the dark time!

All good fun, and now back to the mixer...

Olly

[fwm891]

So its not a posh portaloo

[pete_l]

I'm not too sure about my bricklaying 'skills' so I will have to see how high I can go in blockwork before deformities oblige me to continue in wood...

it's been my experience that a lot of block-laying "sins" can be covered over very effectively with a thick enough coating of render. And imperfections in the render work can be concealed with paint.

(Still working on how to "save" sloppy painting, though)

So its not a posh portaloo

Or a sauna?

[ollypenrice]

OK, rain today so I set about welding up the steel rolling roof. I only have a small welder and my two pals with bigger ones have both gone on extended holidays so I needed a redesign! It tuned out to be easy.

The roof span is 2.6 metres so I have made up little girders using 20mm square section tube paired one above the other and separated by offcuts of the same tube. This gives an effective section of 60mm in depth, more than adequate for the span. I'm always tickled by the effectiveness of box sections. These are really strong and the entry level welder penetrated perfectly.

The French can be great at just getting on with it; at the steelyard they just wink and let you use their big radial arm grinder to cut steel from stock. This saves an age and gives nice square cuts. I don't do any cutting at home, I come back with pre-cut lengths ready to weld together. Bliss! The whole 2.6 metre square rolling chassis will come to about 100 euros without the wheels, which will add about 25.

Olly