Roll off roof shed, advice please

[jaspalchadha]

Hello people I am finally getting the idea of building a mini observatory. I am a little nervous but excited at the same time. Me and my old man shall put this one together.

I have brought a Yardmaster metal 6x6 shed for £199, that will house the Meade 10inch lx200 GPS ACF scope, I have thought about housing it to the tripod only as eventually I will be moving houses and didn't want to make an pier. 4x2 timber At least the shed can be dismantled and moved over.

As the garden is not all even I shall make up a bottom base, digging around 2.5cm of turf and soil and laying pavement slabs to cover a 6x6 square.

Although what I am stuck on now is materials and design of the sliding roll off roof...

I have seen a few sites however don't really give any measurements away in terms of timber wood sizes other part required.

Please any advice would be great.

[The Sailor]

Sorry but can't read that

Jim

[cgarry]

The default font and colour work well and are readable!

Chris

[The Sailor]

Hello people I am finally getting the idea of building a mini observatory. I am a little nervous but excited at the same time. Me and my old man shall put this one together.

I have brought a Yardmaster metal 6x6 shed for £199, that will house the Meade 10inch lx200 GPS ACF scope, I have thought about housing it to the tripod only as eventually I will be moving houses and didn't want to make an pier. 4x2 timber At least the shed can be dismantled and moved over.

As the garden is not all even I shall make up a bottom base, digging around 2.5cm of turf and soil and laying pavement slabs to cover a 6x6 square.

Although what I am stuck on now is materials and design of the sliding roll off roof...

I have seen a few sites however don't really give any measurements away in terms of timber wood sizes other part required.

Please any advice would be great.

Okay, fixed.

Here is a link to the DIY observatories, plenty of info from all around the forum to be found:

http://stargazerslounge.com/forum/61-diy-observatories/

Jim

[jaspalchadha]

Sorry Jim

[The Sailor]

Sorry Jim

Not a problem, am sure a few old fogies on here can't see type that small, myself included, without a telescope to see through

I would suggest you take a look at that part of the forum in the link to get an idea of what other people have done. I myself started out that way, RoRo but changed it to centre opening and then a dome so quite a few ideas floating around. I will tell you now that I have a 200p and I used it in a 7x8 shed and I used the end of the tube to paint the walls when slewing so not much room for you to move about.

Jim

[jaspalchadha]

I would like more space but I can only settle for 6x6 I got a good view of West and North, then houses and street lights flood in. I am hoping to keep to around 5 foot in so a foot will block of any stray light. But never fear I have my trusty dew shield

[Bizibilder]

Have a look at my Blog (Link in my signature) and it shows you how I made my own 6x6 yardmaster conversion (go back to about Aug/Sept 2009 - menu on the right). It is quite easy to do. If you want specific timber sizes then ask here an I can tell you. I have also just made some drawings of the frame (for a slightly larger version) and have attached them to this post. As you can see the internal wooden frame is quite simple and relies on the metal shed skin for strength. The roof just needs a simple square, braced, frame:

[The Sailor]

Thanks Roger, I was looking for your drawnings to link

Jim

[Steep]

You will need to brace the walls and roof sections when you turn the shed into a ro-ro, they are normally meant to screw together and strengthen each other. My own obs is a shed conversion and you can see it here -

[Vic&Al]

I have to agree, the sheds design draws strength from the roof so once you change the structure you need to make sure the walls are properly braced. I learnt the hard way and had to retro fit my shed with wire turn-buckles and braces to stop the whole structure swaying from side to side when opening and closing the roof.

As for the concrete pier a single pour would be ideal but if you need to make the pier higher later make sure you have re-bar (or even threaded bar will do) at least half in and half sticking out he top. Its better to go overkill at this stage than to struggle later on.

For my own obsy project I dismantled my tripod to sit atop my pier and it works well for me, but remember measure twice cut once!

[jaspalchadha]

Thanks guys

Bizibilder as I have uneven grass I am going to use a lot of compost to level it out and stick slabs on.

In relation to timber sized what would be advisable to use the shed dimensions are A. Width: 2.02m (6ft8)B. Depth: 1.97m (6ft6)C. Height: 1.89m (6ft2

[Bizibilder]

First I wouldn't put compost under the observatory! It will grow! much better to put stones or hardcore - maybe you have something in the garden suitable? At least put down a membrane to stop the weeds or, maybe better, a thin layer (50mm) of concrete beneath the slabs.

For the timber I used 75mm x 25mm for the roof frame and the runners. The shed frame was 50mm x x50mm, the corner posts and runner supports 75mm x 75mm. The weatherboards were 150mm x 25mm. Don't forget that these timber sizes are nominal and the actual size you will get are smaller by upto 5mm on any dimension.

[jaspalchadha]

I was thinking of putting plastic sheeting then compost, what about bark? Small pebbles could be an option..

[Bizibilder]

Bark or pebbles sound better than compost.

[jaspalchadha]

Thanking you. Will keep an up to date post

[jaspalchadha]

Something on my mind. Because I am not creating a pier and using a tripod. Vibration maybe an issue?

[ollypenrice]

The disadvantage of tripods is their potential for rotation near the top and for your tripping over them or having the OTA collide once past the meridian.

There are vibration prone sites, sure, but the need for gazillion-tonne piers embedded half way to Ayers Rock is a bit of internet madness best taken with a cold shower!

Yves 14 inch ODK/Mesu just stands on a concrete floor on its proprietory feet, not even bolted down, and hasn't been touched for a year, during which time it's been taking 30 minute subs at 2.4 metres of FL.

Olly

[fwm891]

Something on my mind. Because I am not creating a pier and using a tripod. Vibration maybe an issue?

If you are going to walk around the scope when using it then vibrations will be an issue. If you suspend the floor to the shed walls i.e. over the area the scope sits on then most of the vibrations will be lost when walking around the scope. Ideally work remotely and you can get away with a much lighter base for the scope.

[ollypenrice]

I do discourage shadow boxing in clogs but, honestly, I don't see the guide traces flinch if guests or I move discretely around the scopes. However, it ceraitnly is better not have any potential trips or snags because one day... etc!

Olly

[Davey-T]

I would like more space but I can only settle for 6x6 I got a good view of West and North, then houses and street lights flood in. I am hoping to keep to around 5 foot in so a foot will block of any stray light. But never fear I have my trusty dew shield

I have my 10" Meade in a 6X6 Keter plastic shed with ROR and it fits and slews all over no prob's,with dew shield fitted.

Decided on plastic as less condensation, also before I made it ROR i could actually lift the roof of manually as it is very light.

I found it a bit low on the tripod to see over the sides (lower elevation in larger shed) so I made a steel telescopic pier most off which can be removed if I move house.

Dave

[jaspalchadha]

Many thanks for your input. Did you feel that you had enought room to move around and space for a laptop whist on a tripod? Could you share your plans of roll off roof

[Davey-T]

Here's a pic, laptop etc on shelf at rear, pier is offset slightly towards the front off the shed.

Did trip over tripod legs a few times, but had room to work around them if I rememberd they were there.

Don't know if my ROR system would be any use as it's specific to this shed.

Dave

[Vic&Al]

If you mount your tripod on a wooden floor you will get vibration issues when walking around, concrete wether a 1m3 block or simple laid flags would be

a lot more forgiving

[jaspalchadha]

I was gonna install 400x400 slab stones then I got some meade vibration pads added.