Compact ROR observatory

[JAS]

I decided a couple of months ago to build an observatory, I had intended to make a new thread to follow my progress but kept getting carried away and forgetting to take pics.

I had to make it as small as reasonably possible, and as cheap as possible as my wife had recently been made redundant.

I did take a few pics so I thought I would share them.

This is the pier in place before starting.

I took up the decking and changed the frame around to fit the walls onto.

The walls are made from galvanised steel off cuts from work folded into 200mm wide panels and bolted together. I then folded long strips into top hat profiles and bolted them along the inside of the walls to stiffen them up.

I made a frame for the roof to roll on from some 70mm square alloy tubing I blagged from work.

I had 6 large rubber wheeled castors in the shed but they were the swivelling type, so I made some fixed brackets at work for them and bolted them to the roof frame. I ended up with 8 wheels in the end when the father in-law turned up with 2 more exactly the same as I already had.

The walls and floor were lined with breathable roofing felt that I was given by a mate, and the insulation is 25mm loft insulation that I had spare in the loft.

I had to buy the OSB board for the roof and to line the walls, and the 3x2 timber for the roof frame.

The floor was covered with 18mm ply that my dad had in his garage.

I covered the roof with 0.5mm galvanised off cuts from work.

I didn’t take any further pics of the build, so here are a couple of the almost finished items.

I may paint the outside at some point due to the differences in the shades of the steel, I will see what it looks like after the winter.

I still have to put the edging bricks around the outside, insulate the roof and sort out some guttering, but I am happy with the results especially as the grand total has come in at under £200! For reference the fence behind is 5ft tall.

I have used it a couple of times and it has made a world of diference, its so nice not to have to spend half an hour+ to setup only to have to packup an hour later when the clouds have rolled in .

Jason.

[Gina]

Looks good to me An obsy certainly makes a huge difference - enjoy

[Chris]

Fantastic build, I can't believe you've done such a professional job on 200 pounds!! it looks fantastic!, like Gina said enjoy!

[JamesF]

That looks very neat indeed. Well done.

James

[The Sailor]

Nice, neat layout, well done

Jim

[laser_jock99]

Super job- best £200 obsy I've seen!!!

[Kbramley]

Very nicely done

Keith

[Gra]

Looks great, enjoy!

[malc-c]

Very neat and professionally built - well done

[fwm891]

Very, VERY nice build - any vacancies at your place?

[JAS]

Thanks everyone, I plan to get a lot of use out of it this winter. I have just finished setting up twin monitors in my workshop so I can have full controll from a warm room.

If the weather plays ball I am hopeing to finish off most of the remaining jobs this weekend.

Francis, there is a vacancie if you are an ED80 .

Jason.

[RogerTheDodger]

Lovely obsy, i'm quite jealous

[MikeP]

Very neat and professional. I hope you get years of pleasure from it.

Mike

[JAS]

Thanks mike, that makes 2 of us!

Sent from my LT15i using Tapatalk 2

[g7vhj]

Fantastic obsy.

It's given me some thoughts of getting on a building one, much to the wifes dismay.

Regards pete

[Daniel-K]

have to say that its very good puts mine to shame lol

[JAS]

Thanks guys, I am very happy with it, there has been plenty of wind and rain over the past few weeks and I am relieved to say there have not been any leaks or missing roofs!

The wife has decided I will be making the frame the roof rolls onto into a run for the kids rabbits along with a new hutch. That will be a job for the spring, spending time in the obsy is far more important:D

Jason.

Sent from my LT15i using Tapatalk 2

[Astrokev]

Lovely job - well done. On an aesthetic note, I like the internal wall colour!

[JAS]

Thanks, I spent a fair amount of time looking for a dark blue paint, but could not find anything off the shelf. I ended up having to get it mixed in B&Q, it is Dulux Sapphire Springs 1 RB7.

I can't take credit tho I saw the colour used in another thread, don't recall who's.

Jason.

[allcart]

That is so neat and professional looking. Fantstic job.......and nice scope too.

[The Sailor]

Looking great Jason, have to admit yours makes mine look like a shambles .

Jim

[Astrokev]

Thanks, I spent a fair amount of time looking for a dark blue paint, but could not find anything off the shelf. I ended up having to get it mixed in B&Q, it is Dulux Sapphire Springs 1 RB7.

I can't take credit tho I saw the colour used in another thread, don't recall who's.

Jason.

Ah, I know the one you mean. It was a good build.

[stuartjones]

Hi there just being nosy hope you don't mind but what is the box under your laptop with all the plugs coming out?

[JAS]

Hi there just being nosy hope you don't mind but what is the box under your laptop with all the plugs coming out?

Hi,

Don't mind at all, it is a power and data hub, see here: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/140625-mount-hub/

Jason.

[stuartjones]

Hi there many thanks for getting back to me and the cool link you are a very cleaver person. cheers