Pulsar 2.2 Observatory (Start To Finish)

[Ouroboros]

That's an excellent job. It never ceases to amaze me the high level of practical ability amongst amateur astronomers .... excepting myself that is.  How do people learn the skills and confidence to do this sort of thing? 

[Benjam]

2 hours ago, GCG-Observatory said:

Yeah I may have to. I'd like to  think I will perhaps at least get the sight levelled and pier hole dug, and if we get a dry spell that isn't too cold, perhaps get the cement done... though that is probably going to be difficult to find this time of year.  Last thing I want is frost or rain damage to a freshly laid base.

Where about's roughly is your observatory based?

 

North Wiltshire, spitting distance from Bath. 

I guess you can do the groundwork, though everything becomes twice as difficult when wet and muddy. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Benjam

[Benjam]

1 hour ago, Ouroboros said:

That's an excellent job. It never ceases to amaze me the high level of practical ability amongst amateur astronomers .... excepting myself that is.  How do people learn the skills and confidence to do this sort of thing? 

Thank you. 

I’m a practical person and I was fortunate to learn many skills from my Father growing up. Though I’m not very academic and I’m lost reading most the discussions on this forum. I’m way out my convert zone, but I’m keen to learn. 

ATB

 

Ben 

 

[Ouroboros]

35 minutes ago, Benjam said:

Thank you. 

I’m a practical person and I was fortunate to learn many skills from my Father growing up. Though I’m not very academic and I’m lost reading most the discussions on this forum. I’m way out my convert zone, but I’m keen to learn. 

ATB

 

Ben 

 

That's great. I'd wished I'd had the opportunity to learn those sorts of practical skills.  I'm ok with the equipment, technical, computational and science aspects.  Those were key aspects of my career so I'm fine with setting up and running kit. But as for construction work, engineering and serious electrical work I'm definitely out of my comfort zone. 

You're right though. The great thing about this website is learning from others. Also we live at probably one of the best times ever to learn things because of the Internet. If you don't know how to do something there's nearly always the information out there that you need to do it. It's just a matter of having the guts to have a go. 😕 🙂 

[GCG-Observatory]

1 hour ago, Benjam said:

North Wiltshire, spitting distance from Bath. 

I guess you can do the groundwork, though everything becomes twice as difficult when wet and muddy. 

Used to work in Chippenham years ago. I have a mate with a digger, and my ground is like concrete, full of shale and rocks, so dont intend to get too muddy! Actually wondering if I even need to dig down that far if ground is hard here?

[Benjam]

9 hours ago, GCG-Observatory said:

Used to work in Chippenham years ago. I have a mate with a digger, and my ground is like concrete, full of shale and rocks, so dont intend to get too muddy! Actually wondering if I even need to dig down that far if ground is hard here?

Hahaha, small world... I’ve lived in Chippenham all my life, apart from when I worked / lived in Pencelli / Llangorse. 

Where did you work? I’m guessing Westinghouse 

For the concrete base, I dug down 4 inches. I made the shuttering 6 inches in height so you have 2 inches above ground. It’s a bit over kill for a observatory. For the pier base, the instructions recommend 1m by 1m. Again, probably over kill. I dug a 800cm square and two spade spits down (600cm). Poured the concrete in one hit, I wasn’t worried about the anti-vibration pad because when I’m not observing, I’m operating from inside a warm room. 

A digger will just make life so much easier for you, if the digger bucket has teeth then it should be a breeze. Well certainly a lot easier then manually swinging a pick... 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Benjam

[Benjam]

9 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

That's great. I'd wished I'd had the opportunity to learn those sorts of practical skills.  I'm ok with the equipment, technical, computational and science aspects.  Those were key aspects of my career so I'm fine with setting up and running kit. But as for construction work, engineering and serious electrical work I'm definitely out of my comfort zone. 

You're right though. The great thing about this website is learning from others. Also we live at probably one of the best times ever to learn things because of the Internet. If you don't know how to do something there's nearly always the information out there that you need to do it. It's just a matter of having the guts to have a go. 😕 🙂 

I just get blown away by all the technical jargon, though everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Life would be dull if we were all the same... When I read the threads on here, it’s like a different language, though this comes with experience I guess. 

Recently the bulb inside our 20 year old microwave needed replacing. This was a job for a engineer and in no doubt £100+ just for a £2 lightbulb install, according to the manual. I searched online and someone had very kindly written step by step instructions for this particular model. I followed the instructions and saved myself £100. 

Youtube is my favourite way to learn, especially for anything astro related. 

  

 

[GCG-Observatory]

2 hours ago, Benjam said:

Hahaha, small world... I’ve lived in Chippenham all my life, apart from when I worked / lived in Pencelli / Llangorse. 

Where did you work? I’m guessing Westinghouse 

For the concrete base, I dug down 4 inches. I made the shuttering 6 inches in height so you have 2 inches above ground. It’s a bit over kill for a observatory. For the pier base, the instructions recommend 1m by 1m. Again, probably over kill. I dug a 800cm square and two spade spits down (600cm). Poured the concrete in one hit, I wasn’t worried about the anti-vibration pad because when I’m not observing, I’m operating from inside a warm room. 

A digger will just make life so much easier for you, if the digger bucket has teeth then it should be a breeze. Well certainly a lot easier then manually swinging a pick... 

I used to work for Securicor, it was over 18 years ago now, so all I remember was it was in a long building alongside the river leading up to the bridge in the town centre. Hated the job, but loved Chippenham, lovely town centre and enjoyed sitting out by the river in the park during the summer at lunch times.

 

Yes a digger will make light work, and I really need to level the ground where I’m planning on siting the dome, as it’s all over the place. The other thing I need to work on is how to persuade Network Rail to cut down some tall trees along the western side of my site on the abandoned railway. I have emailed them some pictures and asked them to, but no response as yet. I have pretty good views to the south and north, as my land is long and narrow.

[Benjam]

2 hours ago, GCG-Observatory said:

I used to work for Securicor, it was over 18 years ago now, so all I remember was it was in a long building alongside the river leading up to the bridge in the town centre. Hated the job, but loved Chippenham, lovely town centre and enjoyed sitting out by the river in the park during the summer at lunch times.

 

Yes a digger will make light work, and I really need to level the ground where I’m planning on siting the dome, as it’s all over the place. The other thing I need to work on is how to persuade Network Rail to cut down some tall trees along the western side of my site on the abandoned railway. I have emailed them some pictures and asked them to, but no response as yet. I have pretty good views to the south and north, as my land is long and narrow.

I’ve driven past a million times but never actually been inside. It was once owned by Nestle.

 

Good luck with Network Rail, I hope you receive a positive outcome. Though I’m not surprised you haven’t had a reply, it’s probably been delayed... 

[GCG-Observatory]

3 minutes ago, Benjam said:

I’ve driven past a million times but never actually been inside. It was once owned by Nestle.

 

Good luck with Network Rail, I hope you receive a positive outcome. Though I’m not surprised you haven’t had a reply, it’s probably been delayed... 

Haha yeah thats the place! Thats a trip down memory lane

Yeah I am not too hopeful about the trees, will have to make do, a bit of a pain if they stay, but still have pretty good skys, Bortle 4, so can't complain. 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by GCG-Observatory
spelling

[Benjam]

Quick update on a issue I recently discovered and fixed today.

The past 10 days I’ve been noticing a small amount of water underneath two floor tiles, nothing major but it was becoming annoying and I couldn’t work out where the water was creeping in. In theory, it should be bone dry as I went over the top sealing the observatory. On Thursday I decided to lift half the floor tiles and look under the DPM (Damp Proof Membrane) for any evidence. Basically under the DPM the floor was saturated and puddles were visible. 

I ended up removing everything out the observatory so I could investigate further, just leaving the dehumidifier running overnight. I’m glad I used a towel to wipe away the excess water before bed because the next morning I could clearly see the problem.

To cut along story short... 

The water draining away from the dehumidifier couldn’t drain away properly because there was nowhere for the water to drain to, apart from back inside the observatory. The last two months wet weather has lifted the water table. 

Yesterday I plugged the drainage hole with silicon and today I drilled a 15mm hole through the observatory wall to allow the dehumidifier to continue draining normal. I wrapped pipe insulation around to hopefully stop it from freezing up.

[GCG-Observatory]

Hi Ben,

well after a few months of wind and rain I have now finally made some good progress on my dome. (Check pics) Base is done, pier foundation is seperate and isolated, I have built the dome, installed shutter drive system and walls are loosely bolted for final positioning. My question is on this, how did you manage to ensure that the walls were perfectly square, (circular) so that when the dome is on top, it will move flawlessly? I haven’t bolted wall panels down to base yet. Struggling to work out best way to square it up. Tried measuring from central point, but not sure if there is a correct measurement to go by?

Any tips?

[JeremyS]

Looking good @GCG-Observatory

[GCG-Observatory]

Update. 
 

Contacted Pulsar and they said just measure from seam to opposite seam of the outside edge of walls, and make sure they are the same. 
I didn’t bolt all the walls down until dome was on so I could still make adjustments.

Dome is on and pretty much flawlessly turns with a push of the finger, so good news.

Edited April 3, 2020 by GCG-Observatory
Grammer