New Observatory build in Gosport

[The storm fisherman]

23 minutes ago, JohnC64 said:

This is coming along very nicely and looking very good.  I do look forward to your Sunday updates  :-)

 

Cheers John

Thanks John there will be many more sunday updates yet still to come and i will try to get a bit more active on the board although i am still at  learner stage in astronomy i think my knowledge and years of experience in electronics  would help many and i always willing to advice in this area. 

Paul

[The storm fisherman]

Hi All

winter feeling temps have sure arrived  with a north facing back garden not good. Anyway on today's work i have  finished framing and wood preserving the shed ready for the big build transformation into an observatory tomorrow although that all depends on how quick i am at the hospital .i got to have a scan "what on a sunday" i hear you say, yes and it is at @ 8:30am  this is the new 7day NHS for you. Just to see  if i still got the kidney stone but I already know the answer will be yes. As i forgot my pills on thursday went all day no pain killers  the stuck kidney stone really let me know it was still there in no uncertain terms.

    No pictures today will post some up tomorrow.

[The storm fisherman]

Todays update 

well today didn't go quite to plan due to strong northerly winds it was like being up the khyber pass in winter . It was flat calm when i left for my CT scan and 2 hours later the wind had sprung up, so i finished fitting all the ally strips and corners to the deck. Just as well as lunch at my brothers was a bit longer than i thought next weekend is the the observatory  build .

Here are todays pictures. The first one is  from yesterday and the last two from today taken just as it was getting dark. 

[The storm fisherman]

Good evening  All

 No building work today too wet, So i spent the day sanding down the mount plates starting at a P80 grit Flap wheel to get most of the scratches out down P2000 Grit with a sanding block for a smooth finish . Then a few coats of primer and etch primer for the aluminum adaptor plate. Hopefully first job tomorrow to put the top coat on the pier plates so that they will be dry before then they go on the pier later in afternoon. Then on to the Observatory build pictures as usual tomorrow evening.

[The storm fisherman]

Here is another DIY observatory  ok not quite complete but it is up and usable 

The Weather today was whole lot better, it is surprising even this late in year can you still get a bit of sunburn on the face. On today's work i finished painting the pier to mount adaptor plates. i built the shed onto the undercarriage  and i now have a observatory in basic form , Doors need to be re-hung properly, trim to go on, screwing down of the panels, Then anchoring the observator to the undercarriage then anchoring the whole lot to the ground to stop it flying off to a neighbours garden, The  plates to mount on the pier, Running sealant around the joints to stop the weather getting in and to keep the environment inside stable and a whole host of other tweaks to be done.  As seen in the photo's below the marathon is in its last mile heading for the finish line but as they say "The last mile is always the longest" but the end is sight. After just seeing the weather forecast for next weekend i am glad i have finished the main build as it going to get very cold.

[cjdawson]

Just had a nice browse though this project.  Looks great.  Just one question from someone who grew up in Gosport and knows it well. Every so often gales force winds will rip though.  My mum and dads fences have been ripped out several times.   Looking at your build, I can imagine the shed being picked up by the wind like a kite - causing loads of damage and havoc.     Do you have any plans to add some anti hurricane force wind protection?

[Physopto]

Nice job on the build.

One point though is you have used aluminium angle on the edges all around. I would suggest you especially put some rubber protective blocks on the corners as if you or a family member falls on to them you may be really badly hurt. A child or person falling onto the point could crush their skulls.

Derek

[The storm fisherman]

2 hours ago, Physopto said:

Nice job on the build.

One point though is you have used aluminium angle on the edges all around. I would suggest you especially put some rubber protective blocks on the corners as if you or a family member falls on to them you may be really badly hurt. A child or person falling onto the point could crush their skulls.

Derek

Yes I was thinking that I will have a look in boating world for some rubber edging or beading i was also thinking about some side rail protection around the front part where the pier is although the deck is only 8 -10 inches off the ground and there is always a potential for injury.

 

13 hours ago, cjdawson said:

Just had a nice browse though this project.  Looks great.  Just one question from someone who grew up in Gosport and knows it well. Every so often gales force winds will rip though.  My mum and dads fences have been ripped out several times.   Looking at your build, I can imagine the shed being picked up by the wind like a kite - causing loads of damage and havoc.     Do you have any plans to add some anti hurricane force wind protection?

I am going to put some ground anchors in around and strap it down at the sides I only have one side to do   as i have some rather nice well rooted god father post for the the fence. The other side long j bolts will be put in at an angle to observatory and the prevailing wind direction to give as much ground resistance these will also be concreted in, they also have an eye in the top to put a strap , rope or chain through and i will be putting some very long bolts through eye bolts in the side  and  then in to the ground but the observatory is fairly well sheltered from the normal prevailing wind direction, as the garden is north facing.  But after fitting the roof yesterday the roof as it giving me a cause for concern re wind getting underneath the bitumen sheeting and using that as a sail and the roof underneath is osb sheet I may change it to rubber stick down sheet less chance of it being caught by the wind and they have some nice gutting to go with it.

[The storm fisherman]

Midweek update ,

After fitting the bitumen roof panels at the weekend I not happy with them. Too much potential for the wind to get underneath so I am going to change the roof to EDPM rubber as the underlying roof panels are osb will also make it more water tight and it is also an easier fit. I am going to fit the pier head mount plates this evening pictures to follow and maybe first light at the weekend ?

[Neil27]

Great build, enjoyed reading it - good luck with first light.

Clear skies,

[The storm fisherman]

On 18/11/2016 at 08:38, Neil27 said:

Great build, enjoyed reading it - good luck with first light.

Clear skies,

Thanks Neil but i may have to wait a couple weeks for that. The weather Gods have spied another observatory ready and have changed the weather right on cue "sorry  folks".

[The storm fisherman]

Good evening all

well after a stormy weekend i can safely say that my anti shed lifting straps have worked, there have been no observatory issues with it wet getting inside, roof coming off ,the observatory taking flight or taking a walk down the deck. it's 2.45pm and I have finally finished fitting all the shed trim, fitting the window, re-framed and beefed  up the trap door as it was sagging in the centre, used up 2 tubes of silicone sealing the joints ( more to joints to do), re-hanging the doors and fitting a hasp and latch for a padlock. Unfortunately i didn't get to fitting the pier mount plates until today due to the previous weekdays  what with the weather and public transport throwing a large spanner in my plans, i also had a problem with one of the holes being slightly off and needed redrilling.

   After I cleared up and Finished today and had plenty of time to get out the mount a NEQ6  and a Skywatcher ED80 Pro scope out and mount them on the pier. The rest of the gear is a Polemaster, ST-80 and ToupTek Mono Imaging and Guide Camera guide set up and my imaging camera is a Nikon D5200   which is the camera is have used to take all the pictures with. This has been modded with a Spencer cameras filter and cooling mod. I am going to reduce the distance from the top to bottom plate but needed to do a quick measure so that i can order the right length, I have a shorter bolt to replace the handwheel bolt for the mount. Next week i will be starting on laying the Data cable first i will be running USB 2.0 over ethernet cable, burglar alarm and then the power cable after. If i have a warmish dry weekend i will do the roof and paint the out of the Observatory. once the power is up and running and the observatory sealed up against the weather i will start the dehumidifier going and dry the inside out then i will lay floor tiles .

    To say that i am very proud for what i have achieved is an understatement, I am over the moon and heading to towards Mars but there is still a bit of a way to go to be finished if ever it will be finished as there is already some mods i am planning going into next year. Now onto the this weekend's pictures and a rare apperance of me .

 

[The storm fisherman]

Good evening 

cold weather stopped work this weekend or rather rephrase that to cold weather changed plans . I planned to polar align the mount Friday Evening but equipment had other plans the laptop would not recognize the pole master camera although it was working ok the previous weekend  and also the wifi or the sound was not working either later found out it was a microsoft update that caused the problems. Anyway the cloud rolled in and put a stop the proceedings for the evening. On to saturday i layed foam matting down and sealed bottom edge around wall and floor with sealant. Put in the wireless burglar alarm with the loudest siren i could legally install and also fitted the bolts on the side of the observatory , they are on the  front and back going through the deck into the joist .Today  was spent tidying the my work station area in the conservatory and started washing down the upvc windows and walls ready for a new lick of paint it is starting to look a lot whiter and cleaner. only one picture of the work area showing the difference a bit of cleaning does look at the difference on the white slats on the far wall.

 

 

[The storm fisherman]

Hi ALL

No thread update last weekend as i was otherwise busy. unfortunately no pictures this weekend forgot to charge camera battery, work done this weekend was to lay down then foam floor tiles, tidy up the warm room, cleared the mains cable route, laid the mains cable down, built a new PC to handle the imaging side and the old laptop down in the observatory running the Hardware. An unexpected clear sky last night and even managed to polar align the mount but ran into hardware problems with Eq-MOD not recognizing the com port and user error. i gave up after an hour and got the sykmax 90 out and had a good look at the moon, but with the humidity and the dew it was wringing wet everywhere and it still had not dried out today. 

With christmas around corner there will be plenty updates to come as i am off from the 22nd  december for 2 weeks so hope for some better weather

ok here is one pic taken on the iphone of the tidied  warm room with the new PC 

 

[The storm fisherman]

Good evening all

Just a short one from me this evening , a late start for me today there was a  very heavy dew overnight. i opened up obs'y to dry out then spent the day setting up the mount, telescope, downloading software including Teamviewer  installed an outdoor switch on the garden flood light some pic's tomorrow.

Paul 

[The storm fisherman]

A merry Christmas to everyone.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and got all that they wished for. My Christmas presents are a Zwo Asi 1600 mono cooled cmos camera, filter wheel and filters so apologies now for the persistent cloud cover.

i will hope to have a full update tommorow subject to family.

[PhilipN]

A great series of posts which has kept me entertained over the last half hour! Many thanks.

[The storm fisherman]

Hi Philip

Thanks for the comments i am not quite finished yet as cold and a cold has put me on the sidelines for the last few days apologies for lack of post's and progress. i have also had a slight delay that i am missing some parts to finish the electrics and Data cable install up to the warm room in the conservatory to finish. No extra photo's as yet but here is a jobs list of  final fit out for now and next year's general related jobs.

 

• Dig short trench over lawn from rear of Observatory to back fence then run amour cable in trunking along back fence and side of garden behind the two sheds and into freezer shed.
• Fit bugler alarm.
• Mount 2 way consumer unit into weatherproof electric box for the incoming mains from freezer shed.
• Get electrician in to replace 2 way consumer unit it freezer shed to a new 4 way one to include electric feed for Observatory.
• Run data cable (USB 2.0 over cat 6 i believe ) from pier to warm room in conservatory( conduit in place with some pull strings.
• Wire up Observatory with light's and mains sockets.
• some form of guided lighting down the garden.
• panel out the walls and roof in the Observatory and seal the gaps and paint inside color choice to be decided possible a mid blue  or mauve red color.
• Put Protection corners  on the Ally corners.
• Refit and set up mount and telescope when it returns from a service and a hyper tune.

 

Next years projects

• Tidy garden ( make it less labour intensive)
• Clear the rubble and the ground in front of Observatory  
• Build a portable Telescope viewing area in front of the deck.
• Paint sheds, Observatory, and fencing.
• Fit rubber roofing.

That's my new years resolutions for next year.

 

[The storm fisherman]

Good evening 

what a lovely day here nice in the sun had 1 very short sharp shower this morning it was nice to get out and do some of the long list of jobs on observatory I will do a fuller post tommorow with some pictures as it is forecast to rain most of the day

[The storm fisherman]

hello and welcome to my Sunday update

As predicted the rain turned today about 11:30 am this morning  yesterday was a cracking day full on sun most of the day and only 1 small shower and only a jumper required to work out in . it was so nice to work outside with out getting cold or working in near soaking conditions . The mount has returned after a problem was detected with RA  and it was also  given a service , belt upgrade and a hyper track tune up,  And as if by magic the moment i get the mount back the cloud comes rolling in.

I started on jobs yesterday list as per my previous posts the Data cable and conduit are now in place , wired right into the warn room just need to crimp  a new  RJ45 plug on that end and the other end is left by the fence ready for routing into the obs'y. Routed the mains cable in conduit down the garden from the freezer shed to just short of the compost heap i need to do some garden tiding first so that i can redistribute that compost heap, then i can carry on routing the mains cable to electric box that houses the 2 way consumer unit at the end of the deck. i have temporarily run a mains extension lead down to the obs'y so that i can run the de-humidifier  and power for the mount laptop etc. still loads of little jobs to do .

Here are a few pics from yesterday  

 

 

[The storm fisherman]

Hello from a very showery and extremely windy Gosport, This has been theme for the last couple of weeks , but i haven't been slacking though. The compost heap has been moved and just got the earth to move from behind the obs'y to the boarders of the garden then i can finish running the mains cable in . I also done a fair bit of gardening and tiding as well but seeing as this is a observatory building thread! i will refrain from going into to much gardening detail. The last couple of weeks i have been concentrating on finishing the inside and putting up internal panelling to finish the walls off i also cut in the main sockets and put in the wiring ready for wiring up. once the inside is done i will seal the gaps and paint the inside. The Burglar alarm is now fitted and working it is loud and totally remote it even has a sim card in with direct connection to the internet so it will even notify by phone/internet if there is a problem. 

The mount is hiding under the bin bag keeping dry as i had the obs'y back yesterday and if i had a quick sharp shower at least the mount would stay dry. The mount  it has now been aligned and synced and the observatory is now ready to use  and it is even  been synced the lap top at the moment until the data feed cable has been finished  i am using team viewer to link to the remote laptop.  I  have started to mount the scope but i ran into a slight mounting problem on the guide scope, I need another dovetail bar ( on order from FLO)  to mount the ST80 guide-scope to main ed 80 scope.

I have a extra half day off this week on Tuesday  and plan to wire up electric sockets and install part of the  the lighting i have purchased one of these multi-coloured  flood lights with remote control  to illuminate mount area and to give me light up the garden path back to the house.

 As usual here are a few pics from this weekend please note that i now have a weather station mounted on the rear of the osb'y.

 

 

[The storm fisherman]

As promised Tuesday update 

Today was only 1/2 a day as i had an appointment at the Hospital about my back. But i got a few things done fitted the burglar alarm , wired up the 5 twin mains sockets just need the main feed now and a spot of gardening i try out the new chain saw lopper on a few over growing branches on the boarder of the garden on the right of observatory in the picture . No photos today and some muddy work for Saturday is i am starting the dig on the trench for the incoming mains. 

[The storm fisherman]

 Good evening from a very foggy Gosport one of the hazards of living on the Solent this time of year  get some mild air from the south and over a cold sea and Bingo we have plenty Fog . Anyway on to today's work done a job today i have been putting off for ages that was digging the trench across the lawn for the mains cable to the observatory . The day started @ 9:00 am with the removal of what was left  mound of earth from the footings of the observatory to the boarders of the garden . We have paved path along the bottom of the garden and two the slabs where bowed up just about in the line of where the trench was going to go and the problem was a 6" dia  root from the tree i cut down a couple of weeks ago right across the path and into the garden that took most of the morning to get rid off. The afternoon was spent digging the trench and boy  don't my muscles know it i ache but no real arthritic pain my new treatment seems to be working. Here are today's pictures as you see the fence end i not gone down very far that is due to the concrete base of the fence .

[MarkyD]

0.75 meters is deep enough for SWA.  Lay a bed of sharp sand in the bottom, lay the cable then another layer of sand.  Run a length of yellow danger cable tape over or even better use some of those roofing tiles you have to the side to cover then the tape.  Then back fill.  Make sure you leave far more cable at the ends than you think you will need as mistakes will be hard to rectify

[The storm fisherman]

Thanks Mark

yes i don't intend going any deeper that depth was about 650 mm or the spade length of the trenching tool it got to do this job that was enough. i intend to lay a layer of shingle under the sand as i have clay at the bottom of the trench to give it a bit of drainage as well and then the soil and tape. Oh well it looks like i will have to wait to fill it back in as raining forecast is for most of the day and still have a host of other jobs to get on with like finishing the observatory electrics and lighting.