Astrokev's ROR - The Build

[swag72]

A very nice build indeed.... I do enjoy looking at these despite, sadly, having zero skills of my own. It's really taking shape now ????

[Astrokev]

19 hours ago, Mick J said:

Looking really good Kev,  surprising how much time and timber these things take,  you have loads of room under the floor for cable trunking before you put the floor down.  

Thanks Mick. Your dead right there - even the simplest of jobs seems to take twice as long as I expected! I'm keeping a log of all the materials and costs, but am beginning to wish I hadn't started this as the cost is really escalating! Good job it's taken me nearly a year so far since I started, which spreads the cost somewhat.

I'm starting to think about power supply to the obsy. In the little research I've done so far, it appears there are no hard and fast regs relating to whether outside SWA cable needs to be buried. I gather it can be routed along fencing.

Does anyone know for sure the regs regarding this?

Thanks

[Astrokev]

15 hours ago, swag72 said:

A very nice build indeed.... I do enjoy looking at these despite, sadly, having zero skills of my own. It's really taking shape now ????

Thanks Sara, that's very kind.

I've been following your obsy rebuild with great interest. I'm envious of the skies you have out there in Spain - and of course, of your excellent images!

Kev

[swag72]

11 hours ago, Astrokev said:

Thanks Sara, that's very kind.

I've been following your obsy rebuild with great interest. I'm envious of the skies you have out there in Spain - and of course, of your excellent images!

Kev

Cheers Kev..... as it stands right now, my observatory roof was completed a week ago and I've been in the UK since then..... I've not even seen it yet ??

[Astrokev]

Yesterday and today were devoted to household chores - cleaning, office paperwork etc, so didn't have much time to enjoy myself.

Last night I did manage to get the posts concreted in to the holes I'd dug though, which was pleasing. I creocoted the bottom of the posts to help resist decay. I'll coat the rest of the posts in solvent based preserver once all the woodwork is finished. The pointy-sticks nailed to the wooden form frame (middle pic) were to hold the post in the right place to keep it vertical. The tops of the posts were held in place with clamps. Once the concrete has hardened I'll screw the brackets in place. These pics were taken this morning once the concrete had started to go off.

Next job is to add bracing to the posts and then, finally, I can move onto the rolling roof.

Rain is forecast tonight so back-on went the tarp this evening, just in case ☹️

In the last image you can also get a good view of my nemesis - a neighbours decorative lamp on the corner of his drive. I think he must have used a thousand watt bulb because it illuminates the whole garden like daylight ?.. My cunning plan is to persuade him to let me paint the near-side black. Failing that, Plan B is to make a cover that I can place over it when I'm doing my stuff. I could always plant a new bush to replace the one that has clearly died next to the lamp (presumably scorched to death by the ferocity of the light), but not sure I've got time to wait for it to grow.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Astrokev

[tobblerone]

Awesome build and a huge inspiration to someone like me that have started the process towards my own home observatory. But ouch, that lamp really stings..

Just one question, a bit off topic, if I may: I saw your brilliant sketch from SketchUp. Is that from the free or payed version? I’m going to watch some tutorials and try to learn it for my own build but I was just wondering if that kind of results are possible with the free version or if I should open up my wallet

Cheers!

[Astrokev]

8 hours ago, tobblerone said:

Awesome build and a huge inspiration to someone like me that have started the process towards my own home observatory. But ouch, that lamp really stings..

Just one question, a bit off topic, if I may: I saw your brilliant sketch from SketchUp. Is that from the free or payed version? I’m going to watch some tutorials and try to learn it for my own build but I was just wondering if that kind of results are possible with the free version or if I should open up my wallet

Cheers!

Thanks for your comments - much appreciated. I'm really just riding on the back of previous great builds on the forum. Very little is purely my own design; I've cribbed and cherry-picked from lots of other builds and put them together to suit my own needs.

I'm probably over-engineering my build. A perfectly good obsy can certainly be built more simply, quickly and cheaply! As I think I've mentioned before, for personal reasons, I needed a project this year that I could immerse myself in and this is the perfect thing to do just that.

Regarding SketchUp, I use the free version, which is brilliant, and I guess good news for your wallet! Took me a while to get to grips with it, but once you do it really is a joy to use. If it's of interest, I've copied my obsy SketchUp file below. I've added the .pdf extension as I read somewhere that you couldn't upload .skp files to the forum. Simply copy the file to your PC, rename the file to delete the .pdf extension leaving just the original .skp extension, and it should then open without problem in SketchUp. If you do this, you'll see that each part of the build is drawn on different layers, together with additional layers that have everything dimensioned. This makes it easy to view/hide different parts of the build.

The rolling roof is in green - I'm still tinkering with the roof design before I start to build it - my next job ?

Hope this is helpful and useful ?

 

Final Design mod 4.skp.pdf

[tobblerone]

1 hour ago, Astrokev said:

Thanks for your comments - much appreciated. I'm really just riding on the back of previous great builds on the forum. Very little is purely my own design; I've cribbed and cherry-picked from lots of other builds and put them together to suit my own needs.

I'm probably over-engineering my build. A perfectly good obsy can certainly be built more simply, quickly and cheaply! As I think I've mentioned before, for personal reasons, I needed a project this year that I could immerse myself in and this is the perfect thing to do just that.

Regarding SketchUp, I use the free version, which is brilliant, and I guess good news for your wallet! Took me a while to get to grips with it, but once you do it really is a joy to use. If it's of interest, I've copied my obsy SketchUp file below. I've added the .pdf extension as I read somewhere that you couldn't upload .skp files to the forum. Simply copy the file to your PC, rename the file to delete the .pdf extension leaving just the original .skp extension, and it should then open without problem in SketchUp. If you do this, you'll see that each part of the build is drawn on different layers, together with additional layers that have everything dimensioned. This makes it easy to view/hide different parts of the build.

The rolling roof is in green - I'm still tinkering with the roof design before I start to build it - my next job ?

Hope this is helpful and useful ?

 

Final Design mod 4.skp.pdf

Very much appreciated!  Probably better than borrowing my daughters crayons to draw my designs  

[yesyes]

32 minutes ago, tobblerone said:

Very much appreciated!  Probably better than borrowing my daughters crayons to draw my designs  

Probably... :D

I found the single most important thing to learn in Sketchup is Groups. You want every single piece of timber to be its own Group, otherwise everything will stick together and if you try to move something, everything else moves with it in unexpected ways. You also want to nest groups (groups of groups), for example all pieces of timber of one side panel would be a group of groups of pieces of timber.

 

[Astrokev]

4 minutes ago, yesyes said:

Probably...

I found the single most important thing to learn in Sketchup is Groups. You want every single piece of timber to be its own Group, otherwise everything will stick together and if you try to move something, everything else moves with it in unexpected ways. You also want to nest groups (groups of groups), for example all pieces of timber of one side panel would be a group of groups of pieces of timber.

 

Absolutely agree.

The other thing (which I still sometimes get wrong) is to make sure you have the right layer selected when you are drawing on a layer. Nothing more frustrating than drawing a complex piece only to find it's on the wrong layer. You can move groups between layers but I always get into a pickle when doing this. Far better to get it right first time!

[Astrokev]

Update of the day's progress.

As hoped, I completed the bracing on the rail support posts. These could have been neater, but will do the job.

I also added right-angle brackets to the warm room roof joists, to strengthen the support for the beam that forms the seal between the rolling roof and the fixed roof when the roof is closed. I was a little worried that it may be knocked out of position by the rolling roof repeatedly bashing into it if I close the roof too vigorously.

Next task is either to start on the rolling roof (which I’m dead excited about), or finish the fixed roof by adding a ply sheet and then covering with EPDM rubber. Problem is I haven’t got a ply sheet, or EPDM, and I’m eager to get going on the rolling roof!

Since I’m busy enjoying quality family time over the next few days, and the weather has closed in again, think I’ll source the ply and EPDM. The next task will then be dictated by whether these arrive before the rain stops ?

[RayD]

14 hours ago, Astrokev said:

Next task is either to start on the rolling roof (which I’m dead excited about), or finish the fixed roof by adding a ply sheet and then covering with EPDM rubber. Problem is I haven’t got a ply sheet, or EPDM, and I’m eager to get going on the rolling roof!

Looking positively delightful, Kev.  As the rolling roof is going over the fixed one, and you need to make sure all the parts of the former clear the latter, my view would be to complete the fixed roof first, but of course I can understand your desire to jump on the the rolling roof ASAP, I was the same.

[Astrokev]

12 minutes ago, RayD said:

Looking positively delightful, Kev.  As the rolling roof is going over the fixed one, and you need to make sure all the parts of the former clear the latter, my view would be to complete the fixed roof first, but of course I can understand your desire to jump on the the rolling roof ASAP, I was the same.

Yeah, I know that's the right decision!

Looking up EPDM right now.... and trying to figure out how much I need ?.

Rubber4roofs seems a popular supplier, so will try there first. Not sure what grade to get yet....

Edited May 25, 2018 by Astrokev

[RayD]

5 minutes ago, Astrokev said:

Yeah, I know that's the right decision!

Looking up EPDM right now.... and trying to figure out how much I need ?.

Rubber4roofs seems a popular supplier, so will try there first. Not sure what grade to get yet....

That's where I got mine, Kev.  Really good service, no issues with them at all.

[Astrokev]

EPDM rubber membrane is on order from Rubber4roofs. Yay!

The single most expensive bit of the whole build so far ? (at least it's difficult to think of anything else that could be more costly short of buying another scope....although I haven't priced up the shiplap cladding yet, so may be proven wrong here!).  Just hope I don't mess up the installation.

All I need now is a roof to stick it to. I've finally decided on 2.4 x 1.2 OSB3 sheets for the roof (I'll be getting ply for the flooring). After pricing several local vendors, I was surprised to find Wickes the cheapest. Unfortunately the roof sections are bigger than a single OSB sheet, so I'll have to make a jigsaw of pieces to form each roof section, which will need careful placement of the rafters to support all the edges). Being so large I can't get these home from the DIY shop in the car and begrudge paying extortionate delivery costs, so will have to wait until the weekend when, for a small fee / beer money, I hope to employ my son to get them in his huge van! Roll on the weekend ? and hopefully some good weather ?.

[Shibby]

Good to see your obsy is coming along very nicely! It looks incredibly sturdy and is a nice design. I was just about to comment and recommend OSB instead of saggy ply for the roof but I see you've already decided that

You asked about the power... As you say, the laws are somewhat grey and it's really insurance/moving house that's the main concern (as well as your own safety of course). I haven't yet buried my armoured cable, but that's mostly down to laziness. I've been planning to bury below spade depth and place yellow warning tape above it. I assume you'll be using a consumer unit? I have a small 2 circuit (lighting/sockets) unit and a bench supply for my DC circuit, with each device fused separately.

To circumvent any future problems, I've actually powered the whole obsy from a 13A socket in the house. 13A is plenty, means I didn't have to add a new circuit and if I ever move I can just unplug the whole thing and then not worry about it.

[Yawning Angel]

Hiya Kev, I've been following your build with interest - very nice work! It's my plan to put a similar build together this year. One thing I'm struggling with, and you may have solved in your design - how are you weatherproofing the horizontal seam between the rolling roof and the southern end, when it is closed?

[Astrokev]

10 hours ago, Shibby said:

Good to see your obsy is coming along very nicely! It looks incredibly sturdy and is a nice design. I was just about to comment and recommend OSB instead of saggy ply for the roof but I see you've already decided that

You asked about the power... As you say, the laws are somewhat grey and it's really insurance/moving house that's the main concern (as well as your own safety of course). I haven't yet buried my armoured cable, but that's mostly down to laziness. I've been planning to bury below spade depth and place yellow warning tape above it. I assume you'll be using a consumer unit? I have a small 2 circuit (lighting/sockets) unit and a bench supply for my DC circuit, with each device fused separately.

To circumvent any future problems, I've actually powered the whole obsy from a 13A socket in the house. 13A is plenty, means I didn't have to add a new circuit and if I ever move I can just unplug the whole thing and then not worry about it.

Thanks Shibby for the nice comments. Final test will be when it's finished, and I can roll the roof off without causing havoc, and that it's fully waterproof!

Thanks for the tips regarding power. I'm very much a novice when it comes to electrics, so will have to do some research regarding consumer units and circuit loading. Don't want to burn the observatory down as soon as it's operational ?.

The route from the house to the obsy is not straight forward if I had to bury the cable (a 100 year old fragile mains drain runs right across the route!) so would have to be really careful if I need to bury it. Keeping it above ground would be simpler, but is not without it's obstacles either, but I can probably find a way. Then I'll need to drill through the house wall to feed the cable to access a socket. All good fun ahead!

[Astrokev]

3 hours ago, Yawning Angel said:

Hiya Kev, I've been following your build with interest - very nice work! It's my plan to put a similar build together this year. One thing I'm struggling with, and you may have solved in your design - how are you weatherproofing the horizontal seam between the rolling roof and the southern end, when it is closed?

Hi Alex

Thanks for your kind comments. A good question regarding sealing the south wall. I'm still working on my roof design and to be honest haven't yet found a method that I feel happy with, so this is a work in progress.

The roof won't form a perfect seal all round of course. The E/W edges will have a small gap above the wheel track. This will be partially covered by the edges of the roof which will extend below the top of the walls and then "hook under" the top rail. This will help keep out wind and rain but won't prevent creepy crawlies entering. The northern edge of the roof will form a seal between the rolling roof and the top-most piece of the fixed roof. So, back to the southern edge. At the moment I'm thinking of using a spare strip of EPDM to form a flap which will keep out rain and wind, but it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing solution. Other builders have used this method, and I guess it works OK from a functional perspective. I'll keep thinking on this and will post my final design in the coming days, once I've finalised it, but I'm not expecting miracles. As far as I've seen in other builds, no one using a similar obsy design has yet found a perfect answer for this and I don't consider myself any better than other builders!  

One other consideration - I've designed the roof with a fairly generous overhang of the EPDM covered boarding, so rain ingress will hopefully not be a high risk.

SketchUp is great for playing with different design solutions, but for this I may have to design on the fly once the main roof is up and can play with it for real. ?

[RiponJas]

Hi there. Been following since I joined and I am enjoying following your progress. A family member of mine has a small obsy and under the sliding roof he used garage door brush strips /Draught excluders to keep a good seal stopping wind and insects when closed. Not sure if you've considered them already.. 

Keep up the good work. 

Jas

[Astrokev]

Not much going on on the observatory today due to other commitments. But - the EPDM rubber roofing arrived ?. Crikey, it's heavy! ? Just hoping my roof design is strong enough to take the weight.

My son has promised me a trip to Wickes tomorrow in his big van to get the OSB3 sheets so, weather permitting, I hope to see some roof-action this weekend.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Astrokev

[Astrokev]

4 minutes ago, RiponJas said:

Hi there. Been following since I joined and I am enjoying following your progress. A family member of mine has a small obsy and under the sliding roof he used garage door brush strips /Draught excluders to keep a good seal stopping wind and insects when closed. Not sure if you've considered them already.. 

Keep up the good work. 

Jas

Thanks Jas. Yes, I've considered using them somewhere in the design; just need to figure out how to make best use of them.

[RayD]

1 minute ago, Astrokev said:

Not much going on on the observatory today due to other commitments. But - the EPDM rubber roofing arrived ?. Crikey, it's heavy! ? Just hoping my roof design is strong enough to take the weight.

My son has promised me a trip to Wickes tomorrow in his big van to get the OSB3 sheets so, weather permitting, I hope to see some roof-action this weekend.

Nice one, Kev.  Big moment when the roof goes on.

As I said earlier, it is pretty heavy, and imagine that with snow on also, so make sure you go big enough with the OSB, and get all those joints on the joists.

Looking forward to seeing it coming on.

[Astrokev]

1 minute ago, RayD said:

As I said earlier, it is pretty heavy, and imagine that with snow on also, so make sure you go big enough with the OSB, and get all those joints on the joists.

I'm going with 11mm OSB which hopefully will do it?

Just designing the joist positions now for the rolling roof. I will have to add a few extra to the fixed roof, which is already finished. Stupid me should've considered the size of the roofing sheets BEFORE I put up the joists! Not a major problem as more is good! Won't make that mistake with the rolling roof though.

[yesyes]

20 hours ago, Yawning Angel said:

Hiya Kev, I've been following your build with interest - very nice work! It's my plan to put a similar build together this year. One thing I'm struggling with, and you may have solved in your design - how are you weatherproofing the horizontal seam between the rolling roof and the southern end, when it is closed?

This is my south side.

The black painted (bitumen paint) piece just above the white cladding is the top of the south wall. The one on top of that is part of the rolling roof frame. It overhangs the wall by its own thickness (2 inches, 5cm). The roof overhangs a further 4 inches, 10cm. In 5 years not a drop of water came in that way.

 

Where I did have a bit of water and snow ingress (small amounts of water twice during really heavy rain, a bit of fresh snow blown in each winter) is where the roof rails go from outside (warm room side) to the inside (scope room side). I have a pair of these huge brushes used to put glue on wallpaper lying around that fit these gaps perfectly. But the ingress hasn't been bad enough for me to bother installing them yet. ;-)