Observatory? .... maybe!

[Davie]

Well now,

I am rapidly approaching 40 and everybody seems to be making a fuss about this apart from me. A few weeks back the boss (wife) asked if there was anything I fancied for my birthday and I had to honestly say that I hadn't really thought on it and no I couldn't think on anything off the top of my head.

Move forward 10 or so days

Had any thoughts she asked? and suddenly the idea of a little observatory leaped into my head so I told her this and to my surprise a "maybe" jumped forth. At the moment we are converting half of the integrated garage into a play room for the kids and will therefore need a shed to store some stuff that's been displaced from the now play room, all this needs to be done first, but then .........

anyhoo just a couple of quick questions

I have a 200pds on a HEQ5, now theres plenty of posts about piers but what I'd like to ask is, the observatory will likely be restricted to around about 5' wide and somewhere between 5' and 7' long. I've seen some really neat little observatories but would like to hear from anybody with a 8" reflector and how they are in their observatories and how space is.

Not really bothered about a warm room as I dont mind the cold and as long as im wrapped up with a big mug of coffee I'm happy but I was considering that I could maybe run some cables to the shed that would be used for storage and camp out in there if really need be.

anyway I hope that makes sense as im writing this at tea break and basically I'm never any good at writing stuff down without having a good think first

cheers in advance

Davie

[Bizibilder]

I would suggest an absolute minimum of 6 feet by 6 feet if you can - you can swing the scope in slightly less space but the problem comes when you want to get past it! diving under a scope at night with trailing wires and weights etc is not easy. My own Observatory is made from a nominal 6'6" by 6'6" metal shed and is only just big enough. I do have a 200P and have used it in there on some occasions but it is a tight fit. i now generally use a 120mm refractor but even so getting past it can be fun!

If you go for 5' wide then make sure you use the full 7' to give yourself enough space. You will need some sort of table or your coffee (and other less important stuff ) - I use one of those small kitchen units on wheels that I move around as needed.

[Gina]

Yes, you do need space! My scope room is only barely big enough for my MN190 and that's 7'6" square inside. I've banged my head a couple of times on the weights

[Davie]

You will need some sort of table or your coffee (and other less important stuff )

Indeed wasted coffee is verging on being as bad as clouds

I reckon I could just about get away with 5' x 7' but only just. What we have at the minute is a raised bed where the new storage shed will go, the raised bed will be moved down the garden a bit and the rolling roof of the observatory will open over the top of the raised bed.

[laser_jock99]

7' x 7' is the recomended minimum if you expect to be in there at the same time as your scope!

Try marking out a 7x7 square on the floor, plonk your scope in the middle and see how tight the space is? Going 'large' allows room for different configurations and potential upgrades.

[yesyes]

... and to my surprise a "maybe" jumped forth.

At almost 40 you should know that a "maybe" from the wife is far from a yes. It means the current situation requires her not to say no at this time yet.

Good luck getting that final yes! It took me ages.. :-)

[JamesF]

If 5'x5' is all that's really feasible, perhaps a roll-off shed would be a better bet?

James

[fwm891]

At almost 40 you should know that a "maybe" from the wife is far from a yes. It means the current situation requires her not to say no at this time yet.

Good luck getting that final yes! It took me ages.. :-)

Same goes for over 60, don't count chickens until you see their beaks :rolleyes:

[Gina]

You poor chaps do have it rough at times Glad I don't have that problem though I did talk to my OH

[Phil Fargaze]

My roll off roof obsy is 8x6 feet and two foot of that is taken up for bike storage! I`ve had my 10" dob waving about upon my HEQ5 before in there. Admittedly a little bit of yoga and the odd duck was needed to avoid getting knocked out by the scope tube. These days my C9.25 scope is mounted in there, which is a lot better.

This is it, joined onto the back of the garage.

[Gina]

That looks nice Curtains even I make do with a roller blind

[fwm891]

If 5'x5' is all that's really feasible, perhaps a roll-off shed would be a better bet?

James

I thought about a roll off shed when designing mine, trouble is it takes as much room as a roll off roof (it has to roll somewhere). It does however have the advantage of using ground tracks rather than high level rails, which may be an advantage when the obsy is not in use?

[Phil Fargaze]

That looks nice Curtains even I make do with a roller blind

I must get a roller blind fitted, keep that stray light out!

What I have done with my roof is to have it roll off in two sections, so it only needs half the space to roll into, if that makes sense. To the left of the obsy is a summer house so I had to find a solution. The tracks for the roll off roof rest on the roof of the summer house.

[Gina]

That sounds very ingenious

[Davie]

At almost 40 you should know that a "maybe" from the wife is far from a yes. It means the current situation requires her not to say no at this time yet.

Good luck getting that final yes! It took me ages.. :-)

Aye I agree but if everybody wants to make a deal about me hitting 40 tomorrow then I'll just niggle her untill she relents, no doubt she will have her revenge next year when she also hits 40 (dont tell her i told you that!!)

If 5'x5' is all that's really feasible, perhaps a roll-off shed would be a better bet?

James

I did consider this but it would take up too much room. When I move the raised bed to plunk down the storage shed im going to have to put it further down the same edge of the garden and because the roof will only need a couple of posts to suppoet it i can put them at the edges of the raised bed and then say that we are not loosing any space due to the roof ...... I've convinced myself and that was easy lets hope the boss isnt too hard

[Astrokev]

I must get a roller blind fitted, keep that stray light out!

What I have done with my roof is to have it roll off in two sections, so it only needs half the space to roll into, if that makes sense. To the left of the obsy is a summer house so I had to find a solution. The tracks for the roll off roof rest on the roof of the summer house.

Clever idea!

[nytecam]

I downsized from 16'x8' 'garage' + 10ft dome for my big Newt to a 6ft cylinder + mini dome for my fork mounted 12" SCT - it's strickly a one man obsy but works fine for my AP. I work seated below scope via laptop on small shelf and only need to stand to give dome a shove - small is beautiful - build pics @ http://home.freeuk.com/m.gavin/mydome.htm

[Helen]

Obs are brilliant and will increase your enjoyment no end :-) and if you make it a bit bigger you can store stuff in there instead of in the house (this was the argument that convinced my husband!!). Can you put the obs next to the storage shed and get the roof to roll off over the storage shed?

Helen

[todd8137]

Yes, you do need space! My scope room is only barely big enough for my MN190 and that's 7'6" square inside. I've banged my head a couple of times on the weights

i have a 8x7 custom made shed and i have banged my head loads atimes i even spray painted them white hung things of them but wtill banng my head

[malc-c]

Even in an 8 x 8 scope room I've still managed to suffer concussion by clonking my head on the HEQ5 counter weights !

Personally, I wouldn't go smaller than a 7 x 7 arrangement, unless you are thinking of using it as a remote controlled scope controlled from your living room, but even then 5 x 5 is a bit optimistic

[Astrokev]

Even in an 8 x 8 scope room I've still managed to suffer concussion by clonking my head on the HEQ5 counter weights !

Personally, I wouldn't go smaller than a 7 x 7 arrangement, unless you are thinking of using it as a remote controlled scope controlled from your living room, but even then 5 x 5 is a bit optimistic

Hi Malcolm

I thought I'd seen you state your internal scope room dimensions in one of your posts as 1.7 x 2.2 m. Is this not right?

[malc-c]

Kev, you got me worried there.... so I've just been up and checked.

The internal floor area is 1.96m x 2.40m - the warm room is a tad smaller. I must of mistyped the measurements originally posted - my bad

[ian_bird]

Anyone got any experience of a roll-off shed (the whole shed - not just the roof) in the UK?

I am thinking of damp getting in at the bottom of the shed. Pretty hard to seal there.

Come to that - anyone used a cover (Telegizmo etc.) covering the whole mount and leaving their imaging train and electronics box on in the UK?

Any advice really welcome.

Cheers

Ian

PS - Good luck Davie. I feel your pain - being in a very similar position.

[Astrokev]

Kev, you got me worried there.... so I've just been up and checked.

The internal floor area is 1.96m x 2.40m - the warm room is a tad smaller. I must of mistyped the measurements originally posted - my bad

No worries Malcolm! It's just that I'm gathering data on internal dimensions from different builders to help me decide how big to make my own (in my own build thread, so must be careful not to hijack this thread!), and was a little confused there

[r3i]

No worries Malcolm! It's just that I'm gathering data on internal dimensions from different builders to help me decide how big to make my own (in my own build thread, so must be careful not to hijack this thread!), and was a little confused there

I went for the common 2.4m*4.8m design and it was split 50-50 between scope and warm room. As I used 3x2 timbers for the walls the internal dimension of each room is going to be around 7'6" square.

With my 8"RC/NEQ6 on a pier this has left plenty of room to walk about and good options for upgrades if the lottery numbers come right. The warm room is probably a lot bigger than it needs to be - I could have either built a smaller room or shifted the interior partition wall to give more space in the scope room but either would have had knock on effects in the design of the rolling roof and the rails, the 50-50 split was the simplest configuration for rolling the scope room roof completely over the warm room roof.