Observatory Rebuild

[MeyGray3833]

Hello all,

Long time no post from the Southern Hemisphere, been lurking for a few years now as I gave astro a bit of a rest while I concentrated on my other hobby.

Along the way I bought a house in a really hopeless location(nice house though) and have mangaed to convince my brother to put my obs at his place and upgraed it at the same time to encompass his gear. He was very willing and we are on the way.

Original size of the obs was 2.9 x 2.9 metres. It is now 2.9 x 4.5 metres which has involved quite a lot of work including extending the roof, sides and roller tracks along with logistical problems like this is not available now cause your stuff is too old and I have to transport it in 100km round trips.

Friday I am hiring a big trailer to pick up nearly all the rest of the gear we need including the timber and sheeting for the floor, conduit, cable etc. and over the next few days we are going like cut snakes to get as much done as we can so we are as close to lock up as possible, then it is all the small stuff like wiring and lights etc. and setting up our scopes!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics and if you have any questions, please ask. Use the next button on the link below to see all the pics.

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/164898313

Regards,

Graham.

 

[mikeyj1]

fantastic, wish i had the space for a project like that!

[MeyGray3833]

44 minutes ago, mikeyj1 said:

fantastic, wish i had the space for a project like that!

LOL! It's easy! You just have to come to sunny Australia!

[sloz1664]

That's one hell of a *shed."  If you've got the room, then you might as well use it  Can't wait to to the rest of the build photos.

Is the observatory going to be used for visual or imaging or a bit of both?

Steve

[MeyGray3833]

Hi Sloz, purely imaging. I have a very old LX90 go to that I drag out onto the lawn and peer through while I'm imaging sometimes.

My son is a fitter and machinist and he has been building the piers for me. They have come home tonight all welded up and oh my......well, I'll post the photos when I've stopped drooling!!

[iapa]

11 hours ago, mikeyj1 said:

fantastic, wish i had the space for a project like that!

+1

 

10 hours ago, MeyGray3833 said:

LOL! It's easy! You just have to come to sunny Australia!

won't let me in

[MeyGray3833]

Sorry to see that they won't let you in, iapa.

Some pics of the piers welded up. Clean up and painting comes next.

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/165086953

 

[iapa]

5 hours ago, MeyGray3833 said:

Sorry to see that they won't let you in, iapa.

Some pics of the piers welded up. Clean up and painting comes next.

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/165086953

 

too old, and unskilled

 

Looks a substantial pier that does.

[MeyGray3833]

Hi.

Some more shots of our obs rebuild, including the floor, decking and conduit through to a 95% completed obs. Will need to tidy up a few things including roof cap, roof and wall flashing and adjusting the roof to roll nicely. Next comes power, internet, piers and scopes! A bit more work and we will be ready to go.

Sounds easy, eh? Some days have been as hot as 35 degrees and a couple of days it was mud from thunderstorms. This last build sequence was a very hard and determined push by my brother and myself over the last 5 days.

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/165132861

Any questions, please ask.

Cheers!

[MeyGray3833]

Not too much to report this week, having a bit or a rest and doing a few jobs at home for the obs, including painting the piers. Today we installed the piers and they were even nearly level!! Top stuff!

The rest of the roof tracks were welded on and some screws in the floor plus the posts to mount the power points on by the pier. The only other order of business was to tidy up and cart some stuff away.

Pics here

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/165179133

and as usual, use the next button to advance.

Any questions, please feel free to ask.

[MeyGray3833]

Wanted to give a minor update on the obs rebuild.

 

Progress has been slow over the last few weekends with some fiddly stuff like trying to cut the floor sections to fill in around the piers and get the wiring done, both electrical and ethernet. We also found a water leak at the front of the obs that needed fixing. The piers are now finished and ready to have the hardware installed. One suggestion was to fit some strength strapping to the walls and roof and that also has been completed. Monday night is slated for mount and scope installation so I hope to be drift aligning very soon.

 

As always, images can be found on this link, please use the previous and next buttons to view.

 

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/165368485

[MeyGray3833]

Well, finally started to set up. Had some problems with the piers and had to redo the tops. I miscalculated by about 20 mm and they were too wide. All done now, although I made the level pins too long as I wanted to leave room to get an Allen key in to do up the mount bolts. They are all 16 mm and there are six of them so it will have to do for now.

Got the mounts on and got my scope on and working with EQASCOM and Sharp Sky to start drift aligning. I left my brother to his own devices and he has set up his Stellavue scopes etc.

Pics can be found on the link below and typically, yes, it is raining and gray and cold, but it is winter in Australia now we are nearing first light.

http://www.pbase.com/grahammeyer/image/165537895

Use the next button, only six more shots.

Thanks for looking.