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And so it begins


twintin

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Well after my good lady wife gave the thumbs up to a ror obs the buildings started. A few concessions are having to be met ie it must have a bar so we can use it when it's not dark (i have no problem with that at all :grin: ) and it has to match the paint on the fence.

So on one of the hottest days of the year the digging began. It took 3 hours to get rid of the huge bush that was in the way. Then it was a case of getting rid of a bit of bamboo and digging up the random lumps of concrete that were hidden in the ground??? As my garden slopes a lot i'm building it on timber posts and hopefully i'll be digging the holes tonight and getting it set in over the weekend. I tooka few pics of where i'm at and just dropped the frame down to make sure i have allowed enough room. I'll try and update as i go along and no doubt be picking a few brains along the way.

post-23328-0-40114000-1374238222_thumb.jpost-23328-0-41520900-1374238223_thumb.j

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Good start, with weather like this id say the bar needs to be open asap so get building :grin:

The only word of advice id have at this stage is to make sure your plans allow for the scope to ne mounted direct to the earth, either on a concrete/paving slab pad, or on a ground sunk pier.

Having the scope sat directly to the wooden floor is a nightmare for vibrations so direct to ground is the only option to be homest.

Good work so far.... now open a beer :cool2:

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The pier is going to be made from a piece of 6" steel pipe I blagged from work (when I finish making it) and will sit on a concrete pad dug into the ground. Ill dig the hole once the frame is In, then pour the concrete and finish the frame around the pad. Hopefully the weather will hold for a bit as it might be a long build !

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The pier is going to be made from a piece of 6" steel pipe I blagged from work (when I finish making it) and will sit on a concrete pad dug into the ground. Ill dig the hole once the frame is In, then pour the concrete and finish the frame around the pad. Hopefully the weather will hold for a bit as it might be a long build !

good plan , Im sure the weather will hold !

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garden slops alot with look of pictures lol

clear skys

matty

it does! The pictures don't do it justice. Over the 8ft width it drops 8" from right to left and 10" front to back! Hence the stilts. At least doing it this way means I can level it and as it will be a fair bit higher than the lawn Ill get a bit more sky to look at.

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Well today I've concreted the posts in and given the frame a coat of bituminised paint. I've dug the hole for the concrete pier foundation and am now contemplating the pier height. As I have only got the post at the minute I'm considering setting it straight into the concrete rather than bolt it to the top as this will save me having to weld a plate to the bottom a nod make it easier for me to make the top plate for the mount. (Thinking of using a Nissan micra front disc as the centre hole will fit my eq5 ) any suggestions for pier height (doing it as above will make it approx the same as the mount on its tripod) or obvious things I'm over looking gratefully received. Photos to follow once I'm at the computer

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post-23328-0-16224100-1374346039_thumb.jpost-23328-0-16095100-1374346042_thumb.jpost-23328-0-84018300-1374346088_thumb.j

Sorry they are a bit messy but i was still working when i took them. The plank is to give me a rough idea of where the floor will be. The foundation will protrude above ground approx 400mm and will be shuttered. This will give me a block approx 500x500x1000 deep so should be solid?

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Well today I've concreted the posts in and given the frame a coat of bituminised paint. I've dug the hole for the concrete pier foundation and am now contemplating the pier height. As I have only got the post at the minute I'm considering setting it straight into the concrete rather than bolt it to the top as this will save me having to weld a plate to the bottom a nod make it easier for me to make the top plate for the mount. (Thinking of using a Nissan micra front disc as the centre hole will fit my eq5 ) any suggestions for pier height (doing it as above will make it approx the same as the mount on its tripod) or obvious things I'm over looking gratefully received. Photos to follow once I'm at the computer

i parked my scope horizontal then measured from the top of my mount to the top of the scope, added 20mm and subtracted that from wall height giving me my pier height.

in my case it was 350 off of 1850 wall height putting pier at 1500. double checked before filling with concrete and checked again last night with my rear wall now erected by setting up for a visual session making sure when parked its below the top of the wall, which it is.

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hopefully it will stay dry tonight so i can get the pier in. Just 1/2 ton of concrete to handball and mix ! Ive got a mixer but its out on loan and by the time ive fetched it back i could probably have mixed most of it anyway. Mind if i cant get it in the back of my van on the way home it might not happen anyway :confused:

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Managed to get the pier concreted in last night. Never worked so hard and fast in my life! All concrete mixed and poured in 40 mins as I was racing the storm. Got it finished literally with seconds to spare :eek: Got it all sheeted down then the rain came so hopefully it should be ok, I'll find out in a few days. Ill take some more piccies when I can as know that's the best bit :grin:

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Concrete actually cures in warm water and comes out stronger the next day :) Although I did have indentations caused by the weight of the rain pushing my plastic sheeting down.

Im not worried about the finish as it will be hidden under the floor. I had a quick look outside this morning and although ut was still tipping down the sheet i put on had formed a nice tent shape with the pier being the centre post so it should be ok. :confused:

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I've been thinking about the roof gear and have decided that the track they use for up and over garage doors would be perfect. It's a c channel and the rollers fit inside so zero chance of roof lift. But I can't find anywhere that sells it! Does anyone know where I can source some?

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Quick update managed to get most of the joists and additional legs in last night. trying to keep costs down so used what was to hand for a few bits, but as they wont be seen i'm not too worried. flicked a quick coat of paint on the pier tube as i had a tin of smooth stone chip in the garage. I'll top coat it later. Hoping to get the OSB down this weekendpost-23328-0-56124800-1374741068_thumb.j

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I managed to get an hour or so in last night so I got a couple of the floor sheets down and started to give them a coat of bituminised paint. Hopefully tonight will see it all down and painted ready for wall construction. Meanwhile I'm taking some mount measurements and ill be perusing my options on the brake disc pier adapter. I'm looking at Nissan micra front ones at the minute so we shall see how it pans out. :grin:

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As you know, I avoided that problem by using top quality T&G floorboards. These were liberally coated with wood preserver before fitting (but after cutting to length - the ends were totally immersed in preservver for at least 10mins).

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I painted them on the top, the theory being that once the roof is on it shouldn't be getting wet inside anyway! It's more a measure to stop them swelling when it inevitably rains and I forget to sheet up! I have managed to get all the boards down now and they are all painted, so no doubt the heavens will open with a deluge of biblical proportions. Tomorrow I'm picking up a pair of micra brake discs so hopefully this weekend I should be able to fabricate the top plate and get that all fixed in. Then it's time to build the walls and the uber important drop down bar top :grin: :grin: :grin:

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well managed an hout or 2 this am so picked up the micra disks and with a bit of fettling came up with this. Still needs the bolts cutting down and painting but i'm happy with it especially as the disks only cost £23 + £13 for the threaded rod and bolts :grin: :grin:

just need to start on the walls now

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I painted them on the top, the theory being that once the roof is on it shouldn't be getting wet inside anyway! It's more a measure to stop them swelling when it inevitably rains and I forget to sheet up! I have managed to get all the boards down now and they are all painted, so no doubt the heavens will open with a deluge of biblical proportions. Tomorrow I'm picking up a pair of micra brake discs so hopefully this weekend I should be able to fabricate the top plate and get that all fixed in. Then it's time to build the walls and the uber important drop down bar top :grin: :grin: :grin:

I hope your flooring is well covered. OSB is very poor at handling moisture. I will be using ply for my floor.

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