Home build observatory

[Gina]

Absolutely dreadful isn't it!!   Come the spring/summer I shall have to arrange better drainage for mine - the beams on which the joists sit seem to have constantly "wet feet"

[Garethr]

Plans may change drastically . In process of negotiating the purchase of a dome. It's a kit form dome 3/4 built and owner has sadly passed away. Watch this space. Dome dia is 3m by 1.8 high. How the heck I will get this past SWMBO I don't know but hey it's a dream opportunity and I could always paint it green

[Garethr]

God this weather is rubbish. Itching to get out this weekend and start setting out/ organising moving bike shed and greenhouse but got to work Saturday now so that's out the window. Concerned about the dome now as SWMBO placed restrictions on the space I could use and that's why I ended up with a weird footprint. RoRo roof type build will fit dome will need established plants relocating and my track record in the garden isn't great . Need to think hard about this. Any thoughts people?

[yesyes]

I never liked the idea of a dome. I would never get it past the wife and it doesn't blend in as nicely as a "shed". It probably also attracts more attention and advertises expensive kit.

But it has its advantages of course.

[dmahon]

Dome. Looks a bit more unusual if it's in the middle of your garden I agree, but it doesn't advertise expensive easy to sell items like a shed does (bikes, chainsaws, lawnmowers - my shed has far more money in it than my observatory, and it'd be far easier to shift on).

There's no right answer. I disliked the wasted space of a roll off roof and the asymmetry of a roll-off apex roof over pent warm room, but if you have a dome and you want to image, you have to either spend or tinker to get rotation sorted.

[Garethr]

Cheers guys, but your not helping here . 50/50 vote so far.

Personal feelings is a dome is quite sexy and as you say dmahon prob doesn't advertise to the muppet thieves what's in there that's easy to remove and sell . Space is a big problem and SWMBO will go mental if I turn up with a big grin on my face with this on the back of a lorry . French word for this is ( Gallic shrug of shoulders and grin) fete something or other I couldn't spell.

I think with dome mounted on some sort of base it will come out at approx 2.8 ish so planning may be an issue but again a dome looks so sexy. Hmmmmmmmm. Someone steer me in the right direction

[Gina]

A dome is more expensive or much more difficult to make depending which way you go.  Nuff sed!

[Garethr]

But what if it was less than £500 to buy?

[callump]

I recon you can build a small domed observatory (6ft) along the lines of nytecam's for around £500 or less - at least that is my aim.

I have a big roro observatory but it uses up a lot of real-estate, so am downsizing... new potato patch beckons.

/callump

[Gina]

Good luck and please keep us informed of progress - with photos if you can

[callump]

Will do - it will be a long drawn out project, i expect :-)

Need to do some ground clearance on the site, then the pier will be going in.

Will start a new thread once the rough plans are done, and have a few photos...

Cheers, Callum

[mhard26339]

Hi Garethr, I am also planning an Obsy and have similar problems re direction. I have open fields to the North but unfortunately with the space considerations I must align North South with the roof rolling South over the warm room. When I break earth I will set up a thread. Because I split my time between Spain and UK it must be built during July and August although being retired I cane devote more time. Much advance planning required to achieve in that timescale and probably extra costs but need to achieve more astro work when in the UK.

Regards Mike

[Garethr]

Well finally a day off and decent weather so able to get out and have a proper look and measure up of proposed Obsy location. First thing that became apparent is I can't fit the dome into the space I have so, reluctantly will have to give up that plan. What's left is a 3m x 2m usable space allowing for thickness of walls this should be internal dims. The roof can roll back over the warm room to the north end of the Obsy rolling back approx 1.7m cutting off views to the North and NW but there are trees and a neighbours shed behind so no great loss there. If it's of any interest to others watching the dome is listed now on Ebay at £51. The description does it no favours as the obviously don't understand how a dome works or how it's put together so I think I would be a bargain even at 300

Plans now underway and will post as soon as ready ( along with pics Gina ) dome measures 3.3m x 1.7m so you see my problem but a low timber structure beneath such as the have at astro adventures Devon was my plan.

[Garethr]

PS search for Astromony dome and you should find it

[Garethr]

Hi all

Sorry it's been so long since last post but my job keeps me busy for 6 months at a time then I get a month or so off.

Anyhow  here is where I am with the obsy build.

Majority of materials have been gathered from work and brought home on car roof rack including all the timber and roofing materials

Pier will be made up from an I beam welded to a flat plate at the bottom which will be sunk into the ground then concreted in, next a 200mm spiral sleeve fits over the beam and gets filled with concrete once height has been decided upon.  then a mounting plate welded to the I beam and that should be solid.

Going for a roll off roof design which will roll back over the warm room at the rear of the obsy, done a few sketches and will post later showing the layout and roof details.

As I currently have an SW200p on an eq5 have ordered the Astro eq from Tom and hope to use that along with a small 80mm Carson second hand scope from fleabay with one of my cameras mounted as a guide scope.

Having just spent  a week in Devon down at Astro adventures spent a lot of time looking at their set ups and builds so came away with a few good ideas and some rubbish immages as the weather was appalling all week ( sunny all day and cloudy at night)  

First job is to clear the site of an old bike shed and relocate the green house to keep SWMBO happy.  Then its all about preparing the ground by casting a new slab for the greenhouse, cutting the old slab where the green house stood to make a pit for the pier base and concrete in.  The corner posts will e 6 x 6in treated timbers that used to hold up the hoarding around the building site where I work, from that I will suspend a floor frame work from 4 x 2in and lay in the floor using the panels from the hoarding ( see I'm saving the planet by re-cycling everthing and it's free ) 

Walls will also be framed out using the 4 x 2 timbers then insulated with celotex again surplus on site and 12mm ply outside with plasterboard inside.  Roof over the warm room will be a flat roof running off to the rear of the obsy with the main roof having a shallow pitch and rolling back over the warm room possibly using patio door rollers as they have a good degree of adjustment, run on an inverted v track and are able to take quite a load.

The electrics will have to be run from a temp supply as 1 we are looking to move in the next 5 yrs and 2 getting a direct feed from our board is too much hassle as its round the front of the house and the only rout to it would invlove digging up the driveway and path round the side of the house 

Anyhow will post pics as work starts and any suggestions welcome as I'm sure to be asking you guys how you did things on your builds to overcome the unforseens.

G

[Garethr]

A quick update on where I am with the project,

Almost all materials are home ready to go on the build in the next few weeks (provided I get the time between jobs)

Astro eq has arrived and thanks to Tom I managed to get the scope tracking on the tripod as a test but having issues with my laptop at the moment with only 1 USB port working and trying to run everything through a hub is proving difficult to say the least.

Whilst clearing out our site the other day I noticed we were throwing away a load of 8x4 panels with an unusual make up

They are 2mm Ali with a 2mm foam and 2mm Ali creating a sandwich. My thoughts were these would be lighter than ply, obviously more weather resistant being metal and not take up so much room. I think I would have to instal some kind of air vent otherwise the whole Obsy by the time I sealed the joints would almost be airtight! Certainly for the roof I think this would work as they are so much lighter and I can still bond the roofing material directly to them.

Any thoughts all.

Will post a photo when I get a chance.

[nytecam]

Best of luck. I would strongly advise checking with your local planning authority to ensure you don't need planning permission for your build. Also, if its going to be close to a boundary I would speak to your neighbours as well.

Be wary of this - if you choose to contact the Council don't use the word 'observatory' -this will attract undue attention. It's a shed for your recreational use and is normally 'permitted development' not requiring permission or BC. The fact that the roof slides aside is you business. There are 'rules' like must be behind the building line/ of modest size for plot (Max sq footage?) / not over 4m high for pitched roof and not connected to the house eg can't be a habitable room (you'd be surprised!)

Good luck:-)

PS: just spied the date of OP so my comments are history for this project:-)

[Garethr]

Well,  After work keeps getting in the way of my plans I bit the bullet and started today.  First job was to remove the old shed that stood in the area where the greenhouse is moving to. That done the green house is being dismantled and should be down tomorrow when I get back from work. Will post more pics as work progresses

[Garethr]

After another day at work things moving on with the Obsy.  Greenhouse moved to new location and some overgrowth clearance required to achieve the footprint for the build.  Although the greenhouse has only moved about 4 feet to the right this will open up the view from the obsy to give SE through S to W which is the best I'm going to get with the trees around.  I have included a photo of the panels I intend to use as described earlier in the post.  I also intend to try and keep a running total on the costs because although I have been fortunate in obtaining a lot of materials free its the small day to day items that we don't normally budget for that push the costs up, it will also help me to understand where all the money went when I've finished and wonder where all the pennies went

Still need to fix the green house down in final location and put glass in but feel things have begun at last.  A full week work ahead so not sure how much will get done before next weekend. Also a snap of an eagle eyed watcher who is very noisy.

[Garethr]

A couple of pics showing the undergrowth to be cleared and the ali panels and corner posts 

[Garethr]

A bit more progress this weekend, greenhouse panels installed and now sorting brickwork base . Next is clear undergrowth and set out Obsy base. Mount plate is being sorted by my son, we are using a 20mm thick 220mm flange plate to carry the mount and this will be bolted to the proverbial ford brake disc (cost £10.00) inc del from ebay. Plan is to set the brake disc level on top of the concrete/steel pier with a 10 mm gap the the flange plate to allow for levelling and polar alignment. Will post pics when mount bits are drilled and ready to fit. Next job is to dig the dreaded pier pit 1m x1m x1m.

[Garethr]

Managed to get a day off work so went outside to do a bit but way too hot to dig so started on the mount.

We enlarged the central holes enough for the fixing bolts to go through and took a bit off one side of the nut to create a captured nut above and tighten the bolt from below. this will then be set into the pier and act as the base plate. the top plate  is with my son at work being machined to take the eq5 mount.  4 large bolts 20mm dia will join the 2 together allowing for adjustment. The idea is to be able to remove the eq5 at a later stage and put back on the tripod if required or I manage to buy another mount

Couple of photos of the base plate and will show the top plate when it arrives back home.

[Garethr]

Bloomin weather, just get some time off from work and it's pouring with rain and forecast is rubbish all week

[Garethr]

finally making a start on Obsy Digging out old concrete slab to dig pit for pier. Discovered wasp nest in pampass grass next to where I'm digging. Brought the gear and will apply this evening so work can continue tomorrow as they were getting quite angry when I was using the breaker to dig out slab.

[Jokehoba]

Bloomin weather, just get some time off from work and it's pouring with rain and forecast is rubbish all week

Totally agree. My obsy is nearly complete - I went for a dome - but the weather has hampered progress throughout the build.

It's a lot of effort but well worth it in the end (well at least that I am telling myself!). Looking forward to following your progress and keep the pictures coming.

John