Start Of My Observe-a-shed

[Dippus]

Managed to blag a couple of weeks off work , so to fit in with stripping the house of its wallpaper etc, thought it would be a good time to start a little shed project.So got on this morning with digging the hole for my pier base. My back knows about it now.

The Hole For The Base 18 inches x 18 inches x 3 1/2 feet deep.

The Pier Base Is Constructed from :

Top Plate- 12 inch x 12 inch 1/4 inch gauge steel.

M20 :shock: Threaded bar.

Stabilizing bars made from 50 x 50mm Box section.

Tomorrow Hiring a concrete mixer to bed it all in , in readyness for mounting the pier. Now that's a monster.

More backache

Regards

Mark

[lunator]

Hi Dippus

Good start

Keep us posted

Cheers

ian

[George]

Yes we expect plenty of piccys

[centroid]

Nice one!!.

Having a obsy, is the biggest boost to the enjoyment of the hobby, you can have.

As has been said, a photographic record of the obsy's contsruction, is always of interest.

Dave

[saturn5]

I'm at the planning stage of mine,roll off type but i dont want the ends of the shed moving with the roof,so have been busy figuring out the best way to do it and also an easy way of clamping down the roof to the shed,lots of wind up here,real wind!!.Think i've got it sussed so when i get started i'll go down the photo route to unless it's a piggin disaster,have the rollers made for the roof to run on and father in law is going to router out a grove for them on the 2x2 beams i will put along the inside of the shed,better get the shed first i suppose ,btw thats one sturdy pier Mark. :thumbup:

[Dippus]

Well Got the base set in Friday and finished off the rest of the concrete today. Not that bad really , apart from

the rain. Dragged the pier into the garden to set onto the pier base tomorrow. Gonna get the scope mounted Sunday so i can get an approximate height measurement so i'll have an idea how high to build the shed base.

Materials used. 24 25kg bags of concrete (ready made mix just add water).

Mini Mixer £20 hire for the weekend.

Pic 1. Fridays effort. Pier set in.

Pic 2. Finished off the ground work.

Pic 3. The pier and telescope wedge mounting plate. Bottle of HP sauce to scale

Materials used for the pier.

8 inch steam pipe.

2 x 8 inch internal diameter slip flanges.

1 x 8 inch blank flange.

Pier and base construction cost only a couple of Saturdays at work. I work as a maintainence engineer so all the pipe ,flanges , welding kit are in the workshop. Result.

On with the pics:

Mark

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I work as a maintainence engineer so all the pipe ,flanges , welding kit are in the workshop.

Mark

You mean they were in the workshop.

Looking a bit heavy duty that pier. It should withstand anything you want to put on it. An EQ6, a house etc.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[Jeff RV]

Hi, its looking good especially the pier Mark, i just constructed one out of 6" steel tube with a 400mm square base but the vibration is to much so i filled it with concrete, its a bit of an improvement but still lacking so I'm going to weld four side gusset's on an try that, if not I'll have to file it under R an start again

Jeff.

[SteelRat]

That's a pier that is 8) Good work Mark. Keep the pics coming

[gary1968]

Oh, if only I had the horizon view, (inclinataion), to build something like that.

I did suggest to 'she who must be obeyed' that we should move to a 'dark sky' area but that met with all sorts of of hostile responces that I dont think I'll be mentioing that again for a while.....

Keep the pics coming.........................

Clear skies,

Gary

[lunator]

Mark

Good progress

Gary I'm in the same boat with my missus. She likes living in London

Cheers

ian

[Andrew*]

Gary I'm in the same boat with my missus. She likes living in London

It's the shoes, isn't it?

Looking like a lovely pier Mark!

Andrew

[barkis]

You have made very good progress Mark, and it's looking very professional. I would concur with JeffRV about deadening the steel tube with concrete. It will ring like a bell if you don't.

Ron.

[Dippus]

Concrete it is , thanks Ron

Mark

[jonifive]

Solid looking pier that one......did you get it from a nuclear submarine?

JV

[Dippus]

Thanks for the positive comments guys. Jeff , nuclear submarine? well we have a big fat boiler at work which needs big fat pipes and big fat flanges , just miscalculate various jobs at work and end up with more 8 inch pipe and flanges than i need .

Busy day today , finally got all the scope and bits mounted for an accurate height measurement for the shed.

Hernia lugging the pier and another one mounting the scope. 1 week left to build the shed and figure a roll off mechanism. Power and small power will have to be sorted at a later time.

'Hmmm that panel i'm building at work , i'm sure it needs a 240v a.c to 12v d.c PSU'

Mark.

[Dippus]

Monday's efforts.

Knocked the shed up. Really happy that i got the height about right. Tomorrow time to figure a rolley roof.

Shed 6x4 £125.00 from Wickes. Only a small one because the garden is a bit teeny.

Mark.

[Rob]

Looks just the job!.. nice

[Jaffa007]

Build's coming along well, keep up the good work

James

[lunator]

Mark

Looking good.

6x4 is small but if it's just you & the scope it's managable.

Cheers

Ian