Observatory build underway

[Tzetze]

So, a moderate (40mph) wind pulled several eyelets out of the tarp and left it flapping wildly. It was much too light for purpose. Something like a lorry curtain would be needed, but that's not going to happen.

There's a deluge of rain forecast to move across tomorrow, but fine and settled for the week ahead after that. Here's hoping to get the roof watertight before too much longer. There are some waterproof layers covering the floor at the moment, it will keep most of the rain off tomorrow but will need to get out there with the brush once it passes over and let the breeze and sun at it.

So, a few more pics. I got the last few rows of shiplap finished, and cut and installed the rafters for warm room. I took delivery of some track and wheels for the rolling section (6 wheels). Next up is to get warm roof finished, track installed and a start made on the rolling roof.

 

 

 

[Tzetze]

It's been a month since the last update. Where does the time get to?

I gave the exterior a coating of woodstain, which worked out well enough in the end. All apart from the first side that I tackled, which ended up stripey. So, I learned two things - how not to apply woodstain and that I will end up painting the exterior!

Not to worry, I set about getting the roof sheets up on the warm room (help was much appreciated at this stage).

(yours truly)

 

 

Then, with the roof sheathing in place, I felted the roof.

 

As you can see in the above pic, I began to run a 2x4 around the top of the building. This is to allow the sliding roof to grip onto the building below should a gust of wind catch it while free moving. Some heavy rain was forecast at this stage and I had some late hours and weekend work to contend with for my day job, so the covers went over the scope room and I took a forced break for a week or so.

We lucked out with some good weather over the last week, so, with some time off work, I got another bout of build time in.

To start, the 2x4 lip had to be finished and felted.

I cut the roof running rails to length and recessed the wheels. Then got the roof base framed up and made sure it was running easily along the freshly installed track...

 

 

Then it was up with the ridge beam and get all the rafters cut...

 

The reason for the 2nd birdmouth cut in each rafter is so that they will clear the high ridge along the top of the central dividing wall. I wanted to keep the slope of the pitch roof as low as possible (it's 4 in 12) in order to keep the profile height under the limit of requiring planning permission. It would probably have been easier to cut a diagonal off each end of the central ridge, but this way has worked out well. My gut feeling tells me that this doesn't compromise the integrity of the roof frame very much - I hope I don't learn a hard lesson from this!

I've never done anything like this before, but armed with a freshly-purchased speed square and having done a crash course on youtube, the roof framing turned out pretty good (although I wouldn't like to self build anything that required an inspection).

 

Time to get the roof buckled down! There's a turnbuckle in each corner for the closed position and a couple of latches to hold it in the fully open position.

 

Then one final day's work with, again, some very much appreciated help, has brought the build to its current stage. I installed 3 angle brackets (made from 8mm steel plate) on each side at the end of rafters which hang straight down from the rafter and bend in at 90 degrees so they sit a few mm below the lip, ready to hang on tightly should the need ever arise. Here's hoping they never feel any strain!

Then it was on with the facia board (ripped from 11mm marine ply) and the roof sheathing.

 

 

With another dry day forecast for tomorrow, I bagged another day off work and hope to get the roof fully felted and the gable ends shiplapped. Roll on water-tightness and the day that the tarps can finally be put away!

[nightvision]

Very nice finish, felt looks neat, how did you attach it?

[Physopto]

I would not worry about your perceived stripy finish, looks fine to me. You would be better off just giving it another coat of stain to even it out. It will last better than a paint finish. Looking good.

Derek

[Tzetze]

12 hours ago, nightvision said:

Very nice finish, felt looks neat, how did you attach it?

Thanks Tony. The felt is attached with felt nails and adhesive. There's a nail every 100mm along top of each row, then one every 40-50mm at bottom of each overlap and facia. The overlap is 100mm and loaded up with adhesive. The Felt is also left hanging ~5mm below facia to allow drip away from building. It's all then painted with a roof seal.

I would not worry about your perceived stripy finish, looks fine to me. You would be better off just giving it another coat of stain to even it out. It will last better than a paint finish. Looking good.

Cheers Derek. Good advice, it can't hurt to give it another coat of stain.

 

Made some more progress today. Fingers crossed that it's watertight now. I have yet to finish nailing down the felt to the facia of sliding roof. There's still air forecast for days though, so I can get this done over the next evening or two.  I need to acquire some rubber strip to fix behind bottom row of shiplap on the sliding roof, so until I find something in the classifieds, the last of the shiplapping will have to wait.

 

[Physopto]

For the rubber strip how about rubber pond liner!

[Tzetze]

28 minutes ago, Physopto said:

For the rubber strip how about rubber pond liner!

Good suggestion. I need a pretty long strip, though. In or around 3.5m or so. The pond liner isn't cheap at that length, or rather, at heavy enough thickness. I think 1mm might be a bit light.

I see some 5m neoprene strips at up to 200mm wide available on ebay. 3mm sounds stiff, but looks flexible enough. I'm tempted.

[graemlourens]

Really impressive work, and well planned. Taking a page out of your book for my future projects!

[Physopto]

6 hours ago, Tzetze said:

Good suggestion. I need a pretty long strip, though. In or around 3.5m or so. The pond liner isn't cheap at that length, or rather, at heavy enough thickness. I think 1mm might be a bit light.

I see some 5m neoprene strips at up to 200mm wide available on ebay. 3mm sounds stiff, but looks flexible enough. I'm tempted.

You could also look at DPM strip. Not rubber but wide and strong. Not meant to be in sunlight though so don't know how long it will withstand UV. Could be too stiff though. 

[Tzetze]

Work and weather have been getting in the way of getting much of anything done lately, but I managed to get some more progress done.

I settled for an EPDM rubber strip as it's rated against sun and rain. So, the rubber strip is installed on the south side forming a nice seal that should keep out all the horizontal rain! I got the shiplap up on that south gable today.

 

How could I resist a dry run of the scope? I was keen to see how it worked out for roof-roll clearance and for scope's north view. Plenty of clearance on both counts, thankfully!

 

[Neil27]

Looks great Mike, a lot of work gone into the build  - big thumbs up. Just the encouragement I need with my build.

 

[Tzetze]

4 hours ago, Neil27 said:

Looks great Mike, a lot of work gone into the build  - big thumbs up. Just the encouragement I need with my build.

 

Thank you Neil, it's very kind of you to say so. Good luck with your own build. It's been such a worthwhile experience so far. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

[N3ptune]

Wow that's a premium quality building for observation, great work really.

 

[Tzetze]

Well guys, it's been yet another age since the last update, but things have been progressed well, albeit at a snail's pace.

I put down a 'tille backer board' throughout. This will, hopefully, add a dew protection layer to the osb flooring in the scope room and an insulation/vapour proof layer to warm room floor.

 

I ran the internal wiring and insulated the warm room.

 

A kicker board for the external doorway.

 

Then I got to building the external door. I maybe should have used lighter sheet material and tongue and groove in the process, but it's held up with heavy ball bearing hinges and feels very secure. It also gives a very satisfying 'click' when closing.

Next up was to get the plywood installed onto the warm room walls.

Then an undercoat and paint job turned out nice and fresh

 

And that's pretty much where I'm at now. Next is to finish up wiring the sockets and switches and get her powered up.

I tested a 5m USB 2.0 'active' cable to hook a computer up to a powered hub, but I can't pickup any of my devices over that length (shorter cable to same powered hub works fine). I can use a keyboard over that cable but the lights don't power up on the keyboard. Has anyone found a good solution for this. I've been looking at Option 1 and Option 2 - would these work? Option 1 would require a cat5/6 run but option 2 could work with the cable I already have in place. Or maybe there's a USB 3 option that may be more worthwhile?

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Hi Mike,

Superb build, but to answer your question re USB, I'm not sure what you are thinking about controlling the mount\cameras, but I'd recommend putting a PC adjacent to the mount, together with a Powered USB hub(s) [2.0 & 3.0]

which can then be controlled from your warm room via a network connection to a master PC .....

[Ouroboros]

 As with so many of our observatory threads, I'm so impressed with your skill and confidence at taking on such a project. Looks a fantastic location too.  Lots of sky! 

[Tzetze]

Thanks guys. Very kind comments.

Well it turns out I was connecting the cable in reverse. I put the repeater end at the hub and it worked. Will have to test everything fully and pull cables back through pier in reverse. =]

[Physopto]

It is all looking really good. Just takes time to get it all sorted out. Once done I recon you will be a happy man, well at least until the bug to upgrade something bites again!

 

[JayStar]

This is an incredible job.  Really well done....will anyone ever see you again, or is your new home that warm room

[Jokehoba]

Epic build. Makes mine look very amateurish...

[Tzetze]

21 hours ago, JayStar said:

This is an incredible job.  Really well done....will anyone ever see you again, or is your new home that warm room

I have a feeling a lot of time will be spent in there!

 

Got a few more bits and pieces done today, wiring mainly. Got the internal window installed, finally. The external window lost its vacuum seal in the main pane and is full of condensation. I thought that may have been caused by vibrations from hammering so didn't want to chance having to replace two panes.

The windows came from the local classifieds at €40 & €35. It took a while for brown PVC to show up at a size I could work with, but they were worth waiting for.

[niallk]

Truly amazing build - outstanding job 

[sulaco]

Amazing job, really tidy.

 

[The storm fisherman]

Well done another great build and nice and neat some real eye candy i bet your really chuffed and looking forward to a great observing season coming up as the nights start drawing in .

[Tiny Small]

This is an excellent build thread. Great work and I'm looking forwards to seeing it completed. Having spent some time in your part of the world, I know exactly what the weather is like there and I hope that your current design proves strong enough to keep the roof where it's supposed to be

I like the idea of the roof sliding over itself too as it minimises the overall foot print compared to the roll off roofs that slide outwards. Very nifty design.