Steve's Obsy Build 2013

[stem1989]

Plans for the build are on an earlier thread.

But here is progress after this weekend, managed to get the conrete in and the rods. Also managed to take the wall down which opens up the south sky.

Here is the pier site

We dug a foundation 75cm wide and 130cm down but as the house slopes down a hill we had a very high water table and had to pump out the water

Finally pumped out we positioned the 160mm pipe and filled with concrete.

Finally levelled everything up and set the rods in on an MDF template of the top plate.

So a very productive weekend. Weather permitting we are starting the shed build next weekend.

Will post any updates in this thread

[r3i]

A great start and good luck with the rest of the build.

[upahill]

Looks good, will have to follow this thread.

[Gina]

Nice progress

[stem1989]

This weekend managed to lay the base out only for my next door neighbour who happens to be a joiner to tell me I was doing it wrong, I had the timber flat instead of on its side and was losing strength apparently so we had to pull up the whole apart and start again. So here is what I managed to do this weekend.

The base level and studded out square, tried to get as tight as possible to my pipe.

Then we screwed some 18mm plywood for the flooring and its very good. Was worried it may be springy but its absolutly fine.

Also managed to stud out and put cladding on one wall and hope to get the 3 remaining walls done within the next week or so.

Will post and updates

[laser_jock99]

Looks like a good start- keep us posted/

[scoobee]

Cracking on?!

[The Sailor]

Looking good Steve, well done .

Jim

[Gina]

Good start

[r3i]

Looking great Steve. Having a joiner next door sounds handy, even if his involvement is only pointing you in the right direction - that kind of knowledge will be worth its weight in gold.

[stem1989]

Managed to miss the snow this weekend thankfully although it was very cold and windy so had to get a little help from the brothers.

Managed to stud out all the walls and lay down a vapour membrane (very tricky in the wind). Having the joiner next door he has helped me change the design slightly so now I have a water tight roof which pops onto the u channels when unlocked at one end, allowing me to make it as moisture tight as possible, basically like a giant sun roof - same mechanism, and then rolls off, so hopefully in practice this will work. He has told me to nip round if I get stuck making it .

After laying down the membrane I sorted the cladding out, pretty simple just time consuming and then paid my brother to paint it all while I cut the timber for the roof.

All in all, a very productive weekend! Im off all next week so hoping to get the walls up weather permitting.

Thanks for looking.

Some images...

[Gina]

Looks like you are mking great progress Good luck

[ThatDave]

Wow, this is looking great!

Going to follow this thread.

[stem1989]

A very busy long weekend.

Managed to get the walls up on friday and stud the roof out.

Got a vapour sheet and felt down. The whole mechanism is working very nicely. Some images attached.

Got a lot more to do but its weatherproof now so I can start taking my time with the inside.

Thanks for looking

[Gina]

Good progress Not surprised all your photos are lying down

[tony]

making good progress there steve i've got some way to go yet but no rush.

[nameunknown]

Brilliant - best of luck with the rest of the construction and "first light" always deserves a few bottles of champers (or Cava - if you want that new Barlow)

P

[r3i]

That's looking like a quality build Steve - keep up the good work

[stem1989]

Good Morning,

So I have finished the outside... for now, it needs a few aesthetic changes but on the whole very happy. Its very spacious inside and funny enough the apex on the roof rests about 2 inch under polaris from the polar scope unintentional but its a nice feature.

I cant wait to get the electric in this weekend and get the worktops in. Im having a 4ftx7ft warm room leaving a 8ftx7ft observatory room also hoping to get that done this afternoon when I finish work.

Here is some upright images of the roll off shed mechanism and a view from inside looking out.

I had to higher my wall by 6 inch due to a street lamp I didn't consider, I didn't want stray light bouncing in so Ive lost a little of the south sky but it would have been an 'unimagable' piece of sky.

[r3i]

Looking great Steve, that's a lot of progress you've made in the last month, you've flown through the build

[stem1989]

Looking great Steve, that's a lot of progress you've made in the last month, you've flown through the build

Ive had a week off over easter and spent every day on it luckily it didn't rain once over the week and now its water tight and all the woods treated. Had the weather on my side for once!

[stem1989]

Another busy weekend.

Wired up the shed with the help of my dad who knows a lot more about wiring than I do, once finished we are having one of his friends come and check it all over for the certificate for insurance purposes if anything happened.

So from garage we have a 45A isolator switch, then 6mm armoured cable (and set in a pipe) under the floor to feed the shed which housed a 2 way consumer unit with a 32A mains and 6A lighting MCB.

So out of garage

Into the shed

Into the 2 way consumer unit

And the mains & lighting

I have 2 double sockets which should be ample.

And 4 lights (2 white with one switch, 2 red with another switch) wonder how many times il hit the wrong one!

So heres the pier looking messy I have wired in the mains for the HEQ5, USB for QHY5, Canon & EQDIR. It wont be a big job to add more at a later date as I have only tie wrapped for now until I have the set up running.

[planetdnb]

very nicely done!

[r3i]

I have 2 double sockets which should be ample.

Not 100% sure that you'll find that 2 double sockets will be ample

I installed the same amount in mine and already they're oversubscribed! Fortunately I had factored in the purchase of an APC UPS as the mains often goes awol in these parts and this provides 8 sockets.

[Gina]

I have 3 double sockets in my obsy. Two in the warm room and 1 in the scope room. I also have a spike pretected tower of 10 sockets on the warm room bench to power all the electronics. It's quite amazing how many sockets you need!