The Unnamed Observatory

[saac]

Well what do you do in your summer holidays?  It's been a long time in the waiting but spurred on by all the wonderful  inspiration here I've eventually made a start on my longed for observatory. We have a relatively small garden so the priority was to have something that blended in.  I know it's probably not the best platform to use but in the end I opted to convert a garden summer house.   I haven't yet decided whether to make it a sliding or rotating roof, leaning more towards the latter at the moment.  First things first though, I wanted to get the basic summerhouse up out of the ground so I could start working on design solutions for the roof.  Well with the help of my 11 year old daughter (goes by the name  Muscles) we now have the concrete base in and have just finished pouring the pier foundation.  I'm hoping to get the summerhouse itself up before the weekend, weather permitting (go away ex hurricane Bertha).  What with work and finances I don't expect to be able to progress the roof until round about October, if I'm in luck we may be ready for the winter season.

If anyone has any experience of converting an octagonal  summer house roof to a rotating roof then I'd be greatful for any advice.  At the moment I'm looking to cut a "dome ring" ,top and bottom, from 18 mm thick birch ply onto which I can mount wheels  (pulley, skateboard type) .  We also have a local steel fabrication company in the  town and I may approach them for a quote for metal rings - if not prohibitively expensive I may consider that route.  That leaves the opening hatch to work out.  No idea how to proceed there at the moment - I want to keep the profile as close to the original roof as I can - may not be possible!

The other crucial piece is of course the pier itself.  I've opted for a metal pier bolted to the pier foundation.  This gives me the option of relocating the setup if we need to. The supply of the pier is still a work in progress !  

So that's where we are at the moment - must admit I've been really inspired but all the various solutions and design posted here: a genuine thanks to all who have shown their builds.  Seeing other folks work and solutions is really supportive and encouraging.   Here are a few pictures of where we are at the moment.

http://1drv.ms/1lV9sO0

Jimmy

[laser_jock99]

Great start. What is the signifcance of the Iron Pyrites in the pier concrete?

[saac]

Hi laser jock, the iron pyrites was my daughter's idea.  She jokingly called it her "meteorite" and thought it would be a cool idea to put in the pier foundations; I guess it's like a totem.  We had thought about a family time capsule but weren't organised in time  for that.  I'm happy with the idea of Bridget's space rock, I will help tie in her interest to the observatory, as with all kids that age she has a wild imagination!

We poured the pier foundations separately from the main slab  as I wasn't confident that we had the levels correct - I wanted the pier foundation to sit just below the main slab.  So it was me and muscles Bridget again mixing concrete in the wheel barrow - boy is that hard work.  If anybody is considering a concrete base I would seriously consider a ready mix delivery.  The company we used took about 15 minutes to mix and pour the slab . I think they wheel barrow up to about 30 m and of course you only pay for the quantity you use.  After the pier foundation, I'm so glad I didn't try to  hand mix the main slab.  Taking the cost of mixers into account and time and effort I think it even worked out cheaper than doing it manually. Any way, the pier foundation is now in and nice and flat and level.  It's isolated from the base slab.  Now that its done I have a warm fuzzy feeling I'm a step closer, it won't see the light of day now until October when I hope to be installing the pier itself.

So with the pier foundation in today we put up the  summer house itself, i'll post separately on that.

Jimmy

[saac]

Opps, that photograph is way to big, not sure how to shrink it!

Well after a bit of shimming of the summerhouse base we eventually got the the main structure up.  Just got to finish off tomorrow with the roof felt then cedar panelling and the odd decorative bits and bobs.  

Some photographs attached.  I've shown the internal structure of the roof  in case it prompts any ideas regarding a solution for the hatch opening,  I've been following John's build on the Hilltop thread and I hope to be able to follow the same solution he used for the rotating roof rings.  Everything at the moment is screwed in only so that it can easily ( hopefully ) be taken apart to allow the hatch and rotation modification later.

http://1drv.ms/1uTYf5z

Jimmy

[michael8554]

The book "Small Astronomical Observatories" edited by Patrick Moore has a chapter on an octagon summerhouse-style obs with rotating roof.

Springer 1996

ISBN 3-54019913-6

Michael

[wuthton]

I've used local engineers/fabricators several times. If you have reasonably good drawings with exact measurements of exactly what you want the cost is usually very reasonable.

They generally seem to offer discount if you pay with cash, no idea why that should be. 

[saac]

Michael thanks for the book reference I'll see if I can get hold of a copy.   As for cash being cheaper I found that too with the skip hire when doing the ground works.  I'm quick lucky in that around here is fairly rural so there are a number of agricultural blacksmiths who may also be able to fabricate either the pier itself or the dome roof rings.

As for today's progress, after a hesitant start placing the roofing panels we eventually got everything aligned.  So what I have now is a an octagonal summerhouse ready with a pier foundation to receive a pier in due course.  I may be able to get the pier in by October but I think the roof will need to wait until next summer - plenty of time to do some research.   Again thanks for any suggestions.

Here's the completed building - an observatory in waiting.

http://1drv.ms/1mUUsjo

Jimmy

[nytecam]

Sounds like the rotating 'lid' option is being followed which may restrict the sky observable - the whole stricture could be rotated at ground level using the door aperture to view below the lid restrictions - just a thought :-)

[saac]

nytecam funny you should say that but that was exactly what I was thinking today as I was cleaning up.  I had considered a rotating structure at one stage and to be honest I'm not sure why I had discounted it.  As it is, I've pretty much resigned myself to the rotating roof now.  Using the door opening would have been a clever idea  and it would certainly have avoided what will now need to be a fairly tall pier in order to provide sufficient  line of sight above the walls of the summer house. 

Jimmy

[saac]

Well on holiday for 2 weeks so hoping to make some progress on the obsy.  I've bitten the bullet and decided to go for a roll off solution rather than a rotating roof.  Not my first choice but I think it will be the easiest solution.  I ordered some wheels and rail from Brundles http://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/- excellent service, they delivered the next day.  I'm thinking that I may go back and place an order for the wheels in their own bracket though - that would avoid the complication of making  a carrier for the wheels and get the roof done sooner.  The wheels with their own brackets are more expensive so if anyone could offer an easy solution on how to mount these wheels (shown in the photograph in the link) then I'd be grateful.  

I still can't work out how to post photographs directly so the link below takes you to my One Drive.  I've added some photographs to show the wheels and the rails.  The wooden pier setup in the summerhouse is just me messing about to get the height.  I've asked a local blacksmith to give me a quote for a metal pier - hopefully have that tomorrow.

Jim

http://1drv.ms/1lV9sO0

[saac]

Jumping for joy, the blacksmith delivered my pier today; they even bolted it to the base (chemical fixing), saving me another task.   I'm still working on getting the roof rolling but I couldn't resist fitting the adaptor and then the scope to the pier.  What a joy.  You start these projects with an element of hesitation and doubt -  but now that I'm at this stage I just about see it all coming together.  I'm really looking forward to getting it all working, weather permitting I'll hopefully have the roof rolling tomorrow.

Here's the latest photographs:

http://1drv.ms/1lV9sO0

Jim

[saac]

Hurrah, the roof rolls!  It was kind of scary rolling it back, I was half  expecting the thing to fall off!  Still a fair bit to finish off; need to come up with a solution for the side pieces (bargeboards) something to make it weatherproof while giving enough clearance to the scope when it rolls back.  I also need to strengthen the structure of the summer house, maybe some extra internal bracing with posts tied to the concrete base.  I must admit I'm so exited now at the prospects of having a working observatory, as so many others have said I'm looking forward to getting more observing done, clear skies willing.

Jim

[saac]

Clearance was always going to be an issue here because of the height of the summer house walls.  I was banking on the few inches added to the roof height by the wheels would give me enough clearance for my reflector.  Luckily it fits, although balancing will need to be done with the roof rolled back.  In slow time I may end up repositioning the roof bracing to give a bit more clearance.

Jim

[saac]

Well yesterday was really frustrating. I had to abandon working on the observatory due to rain half way through.  The light just seams to disappear in these short days too - maybe I need to get up earlier but hey it's the weekend!  Anyway, today was a bit better so I tackled a problem I was having with rain water tracking along the roof rails and on to the inside.  I didn't take too much notice of it when I installed the rails but the front rail has a slight kink in it.  Not a major problem in itself but enough to allow rain water to track along the rail and on into the inside of the observatory.  In the summertime I think I will take the rail off and plane down the horizontal support to give it a slight downhill incline away from the observatory, the rain can then drain away happily.  In the meantime I've placed some lead flashing under the rail to act as a collection chanel and then hopefully to divert it to the outside. Unprotected lead will produce a white lead carbonate stain on tiles and wood when exposed to the rain.  A trip to Jewsons and thanks to a helpful assistant I found that the idea is to protect the lead by rubbing on something called Patination oil.  Well hopefully it will work, I'll know the next time it rains, shouldn't have to wait long.    The next task it to reinforce the walls with some cross ties - might be ready for observing at Christmas, hopefully.

Jim

[saac]

Well I haven't really achieved what I had hoped over the holiday period.  To be honest I don't really like working when the weather is cold and damp - I know too soft.    I have however at last sorted out the problem of adequately supporting the roof.  The roof was supported on the rails on 2 of its 8 sides - the sections above the door and immediately opposite that.  This worked fine and the roof would roll off nicely but I was worried about the amount of flexing in other sections which were unsupported.  I eventually put in a third rail (I'll post pictures in due course) which supports the two sides which are perpendicular to the travel of the roof.  Internal bracing now resists any remaining flexing of the roof. The third rail is removed once the roof has been rolled back to allow the scope an uninterrupted view and for clear slewing.  So what with that and the toggle latches I'm now the very cuffed owner of an workable observatory; the roof rolls on and off in a few minutes - hurrah!   Installation of electrics and final fitting out to follow.  

Today was quite pleasant after I finished the third rail I put the reflector on the mount and had a go at sorting out the alignment of the finder scope - It had suffered a small knock which loosened its mount.    It's not quite perfect but workable for the moment.  I gave the honour of first light to Bridget, hopefully we will have lots of observing ahead of us in 2015.  

Jim

[Fish]

Nice conversion glad it worked out ok, you will love it :-) . An Observatory is the best thing I have ever built .....

[r3i]

Congratulations on a novel build, it looks great. I'm sure that you will get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

[saac]

Mike, Keith thanks, I'm starting to get a sense of just how much an improvement a permanent setup brings.  I know I've still got a lot of work ahead, apart from the observatory itself, I need to shake down the mount and get up to speed with the ASTRO EQ.  But over the last few days I've been having a bit of fun - nipping out and rolling the roof back on a whim for some casual observing just because I can.    As I was going to bed last night my usual routine of pulling the plugs and letting the dog out also included a quick look at Jupiter - just to check of course!  Poor dog, she sat there patiently waiting to get back in the house.  I'm sure the novelty will wear off but I hope it takes its time.

Jim

[saac]

Well it's coming up to 2 years this summer that I have had my, as yet, unnamed observatory.  Tonight was the first time that I can really say that it has all come together to a stage that I thought I would never see. I upgraded to my first proper mount AZ EQ 6 GT around about October last year (lucky find on Astroboot).  I've been itching to shake down the mount since it arrived, my first with a decent go to, tracking and payload capability.  Having aligned it last night, tonight I was hoping from Andromeda, to M42, to Pleadies the Moon and back again - M42 was glorious in just the 80 ED APO, what a joy!  I even managed to confirm my manual observation of comet Catalina from last night by punching the coordinates into the handset - haven't yet got my head around the various catalogue systems to call it up.  I must admit, I was starting to get a bit down heartened, seems to be going around at the moment like the seasonal flu - I was worried I was becoming a bit of a fair weather astronomer!  Anyway I came back inside smiling from ear to ear .  I couldn't wait for my daughter to return from a birthday party to tell her the good news - she is my observatory co pilot - keeps me straight, and confirms what I think I have found in the eyepiece. Long story short, I still have a long way to go - my long term aim is to take a decent image of Pleadies (my favourite patch of diamonds in the sky).  I know there is going to be plenty of frustration ahead as I start to try and get everything else - computer, EQMOD, Backyard EOS, CdC, cameras, guiding and all the rest commissioned and integrated.  But I'm happy to play a long game here - I'll be happy if I'm doing reasonable imaging within next 5 years.  I'm just so glad I now have the makings of a good reliable visual set-up. This coming summer will see me moving the pier a few cm back to give some much needed clearance around the door, beefing up the uprights that support the roll off roof and, hopefully install a permanent electrical supply. Compared to what some of you have already achieved, I know I'm only at the foot hills but the view has already got me hooked. Hey, I may even get around to giving the observatory a name.

 

Jim

[Physopto]

Just read your posts on the build. Sounds like you had a great time with the build. It looks really nice as well. Not the usual edifice. When you do name the observatory I do hope you consult your daughter for advice. ? I am sure she will have plenty of suggestions. 

Derek

[saac]

Thanks Derek, it was fun building it, owing largely to the really good summer that year.  As always, there were a few things I'd do differently, but on the whole I am really pleased with how it's shaking down.  Bridget really put her heart and soul into helping me, I was amazed at her energy when helping with moving soil then mixing and barrowing in the concrete.  She continues to take an interest in the ongoing modification and has an order in for a hot chocolate machine - apparently it's an essential piece of kit that every observatory should have.  I think she may be right  Yes Bridget shall definitely have a place on the naming committee.

Jim