Roll off roof shed

[jacko61]

After several years of carrying a tripod / mount / OTA in and out of the house on observing nights I got fed up so we moved to a house in the country a few years ago and I've finally got round to building a permanent observatory.  Once the boss and I agreed where it was going, I invested in an Altair Astro pier and sunk a huge concrete block into the ground (more on this later) then stuck my 8 inch Celestron Advance GT on top. (pic attached).  Once that was done I built a 4 x 5 metre deck around it so I could play while I planned the shed itself.

I ended up buying an 8x4 pent roof shed for the warm room and as luck would have it my next door neighbour was dismantling his shed so I've used the walls from that to build an 8*12 telescope room.  Surprisingly, the only company that would deliver 6 metre lengths of timber to scotland during lockdown was a company in Wigan!

The roof is corrugated clear fibreglass but it took quite a while to get that delivered so the inside of the shed got soaked in heavy rains several times. First frost, the underside of the roof was dripping so I need to think about insulation.  I still have the electrics to sort out and I've found that the pier doesn't sit high enough so I will be adding another foot of concrete sometime soon. 

Once I'm up and running I'll be upgrading the mount to a skywatcher eq6-r pro and eventually I hope to add an 11 inch OTA. 

 

Graeme

 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

That's what I need to do, soon.

Mind you we intend to move house sometime soon but not whilst all this lockdown stuff is on but probably not worth doing till we move.

Steve

[Yawning Angel]

That looks fab, enjoy it!

By far the best upgrade I ever did too 🙂

[Pete Presland]

Looks excellent!

[Hals]

Very nice, it makes a massive difference having an observatory.

[malc-c]

What... no build thread.... we normally string these DIY observatory posts out over at least 10 pages

Looks good... Having a permanent set up in an observatory makes imaging so much easier

[jacko61]

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

What... no build thread.... we normally string these DIY observatory posts out over at least 10 pages

 

Sorry Malcolm. I only joined last week

 

Graeme

 

[jacko61]

Managed my first evening observing since well before Christmas today. Also the first since I got the roof on - it's had 6 inches of snow sitting on top for a week but it thawed sunday night. This was primarily a session to check polar alignment and make sure the mount was slewing properly - had an issue where the right ascension controls would stick while the scope was slewing meaning I had to keep switching it off. This was due to the mount getting damp under the waterproof cover before the observatory roof went on. Stripping the circuit boards out and drying them on a radiator seems to have solved the problem for now.  Anyway, after a rough polar align and even rougher 2 star align the scope was slewing reasonably close to the chosen targets.  Mars, Uranus, the Plaeides, Aldeberan, Capella and M31 all ended up within the eyepiece although not dead centre. Some more fine tuning needed but  I'm reasonably happy that everything is working as it should.  I had to cut the session short due to a combination of clouding over and frost forming on the corrector plate.  I have a dew strap on order   Next job will be to strip it all down and add a foot of concrete to the pillar to raise it up enough to see over the side of the shed then I'll be insulating and panelling inside. 

Graeme

 

[skyhog]

Nice report. I'd say enjoy the new setup but I'll take that as read!! There really isn't anything like having an obsy with a permanently set up scope. 👍

[Silent Running]

Its great to hear about this project. I think are are several people on this forum with observatories up here in Scotland...  I am still at the planning stage, for when I get back permanently from the Middle East. 

Over there in the desert its mainly shielding from the never-ending Sun and clear skies in the daytime, and dealing with occasional sand and dust storms. Oh, and one of our group knealt on a scorpion last year when packing up his tent. Luckily one of the big black ones which are less venomous than the wee brown b*ggers, still had to rush him to hospital for antivenom!

 

[jacko61]

Spent an hour yesterday clearing snow and ice off the roof and runners as the sky looked like it might stay clear. WRONG!  I managed about an hour viewing before it clouded over completely. Woke this morning to another three inches of snow.  I did manage to get a couple of shots of the moon using my canon DSLR. No laptop yet so they're just snaps.

 

[jacko61]

Spent the weekend panelling the Scope room with OSB boards so hopefully it'll provide a bit of insulation.  6 hours to fit 7 boards though!!  Still have the warm room to panel out but that involves even more cutting so I think I'll get the power into the shed sorted out first.  As is typical with life just now, Saturday night was beautifullly clear but I had to work

Graeme

[jacko61]

Most recent photo. Since starting to use the shed in earnest, I found the mount was too low, both for my comfort and seeing over the edge of the roof at reasonably low angles so I added a foot of concrete to the original block.  Lifted the floor a few inches to run cable ducting underneath and panelled the inside. I installed 2 inch piping through the new concrete so all the cables run inside the pier. Saves me tripping over wires in the dark.  Power is an armoured cable from the garage fuse box to 3 x double sockets in the scope room and 2 x double sockets in the warm room. 

The white stripe halfway up the wall is an LED strip that can be switched through a variety of colours. It's set to start up in red. Still have to figure out some sort of 'winch' to make opening the roof less of a faff - the purple climbing sling will have to suffice till I can get down to the ships chandlers in queensferry. 

Graeme.

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by jacko61

[jacko61]

Latest updates to the shed.  I got really fed up with the amount of condensation dripping from the corrugated polycarbonate roof that I spent last weekend replacing it with wood panels and an EPDM rubber covering.  So far it's been as dry as a bone in there.  The other addition has been the replacement of the celestron mount with a Skywatcher EQ8R-Pro so the next few sessions are going to be spent getting EQmod working and learning a whole new way of controlling the mount.  pic shows the mount AND the new roof. The roof is now substantially heavier so I think I'm going to have to figure some way of motorising it. 

Graeme

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by jacko61

[ollypenrice]

Good stuff.  Wigan, land of my birth, triumphs again!  🤣

Do you have a built-in, failsafe, anti-lift system?  You need one. In fact you need two because one isn't enough! Looking at your early photo of the outside it looks as if you could have something coming down from the sides of the roof and extending beneath the rail carriers. The is what I've done on a number of our sheds. In the picture below you can see the unfinished anti-lift system: the roof sides extend below the level of the rail carriers and are awaiting a baton running horizontally along the bottom of the roof sides under the wooden rail carriers. Once in place it is impossible to lift off the roof. SGL has seen flying roofs on several occasions. Do not join this club!!!

Olly

[jacko61]

Hi Olly. Yes, since original photo was taken I 'finished' the outside edges with Skirting boards that extended below the level of the castors. (the pic below shows it a couple of weeks ago).  Since replacing the polycarbonate I still have to replace the sides but it's rained non-stop since the weekend so that'll be getting done next sunny day. I also have toggle latches on the inside to lock the roof down when I'm not using it.  My 'runner' is a simple 6m long 8" x 2" beam on either side with planking to stop the castors falling off the sides. I do however like the look of your V channel so I may look at that as an upgrade. 

[kirkster501]

Brilliant.  It is the best thing you can ever do to enjoy astronomy if you can build an obs or at least make some semi-permanent set up.