From Micro Obsy to Dual Pier Observatory - via Hard Work, RSI, Back Ache & Melting Credit Card!

[ArmyAirForce]

Looking back down the garden from the patio, here's another 30 second image. The brightness of the image is partially as a result of the processing, but it's included to show the high contrast shadows created by the light.

On June 10th, I took one end panel back out to the observatory to check on its height compared to the street light. I think the front wall will block the light from the solar system scope, but the end panel is going to be borderline on whether it will block the light for the deep sky scope. If I get no joy from the council with a light shield, I'll be fitting a pole up near the top of the garden with a large board or metal plate on it. This will hopefully be close enough to the light to cast a moderately large shadow over the observatory area. The arrow marks the street light location.

[ArmyAirForce]

June 10th - Another partial day. Lynne strained something in her leg on Wednesday evening, so I had to take some time out to drive her to the physio mid Friday. The rest of the day was spent sanding filler and getting a first coat of paint on the three sides that are built so far. The left end and front were in the workshop.

As I was running out of space in the workshop, so the other end was propped up in the corridor. I'm about to go out and give them another coat of paint. Once dry, I need to stack them up out of the way, somewhere, so I've got space to work on the rear wall.

[Swoop1]

I hope you have a result with the council.

Sending them the images you have included will hopefully help them understand the issues they have caused.

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, ArmyAirForce said:

Looking back down the garden from the patio, here's another 30 second image. The brightness of the image is partially as a result of the processing, but it's included to show the high contrast shadows created by the light.

On June 10th, I took one end panel back out to the observatory to check on its height compared to the street light. I think the front wall will block the light from the solar system scope, but the end panel is going to be borderline on whether it will block the light for the deep sky scope. If I get no joy from the council with a light shield, I'll be fitting a pole up near the top of the garden with a large board or metal plate on it. This will hopefully be close enough to the light to cast a moderately large shadow over the observatory area. The arrow marks the street light location.

I hope you get some joy from the council over fitting sheilds to the offending streetlights, it's like blooming daylight there. If not hopefully your own shields will do the job. It's a beautiful build and really enjoying your detailed process very much 👍

Cheers 

Lee 

[ArmyAirForce]

June 11th - This morning, I gave all three panels a second coat of paint. By the time that was done, I had to drop my daughter off at a friend's house, but it gave the paint time to dry. When I got back, I shuffled a few panels and tools around the workshop in order to get the door out - which was of course behind all the remaining wall panels.

Around 12 inches was cut off the top of the door so it would match the front wall. This also removed one of the hinges which would need relocating. The cladding was pulled off the top door stiffener, so it could be reused on the shorter door. It was nailed back on, reusing the original nails.

With the door structure restored, the door was tried into the front wall in order to drill the door hinges. This view actually shows the front wall upside down.

[ArmyAirForce]

The top hinge was aligned with the hinge line and the top door stiffener, so the screws had a decent amount of wood to grip. I've since removed the hinges and will probably paint them with Hammerite. When I fit the door the the final time, I'll spot weld a few of the screws so they can't be easily removed. No point in having a big door lock if you can just unscrew the hinges!

To end the afternoon, I was just about to paint the door when I remembered I needed to fill all the bullet holes! So there's where the project has been left for the day, with the filler drying. Hopefully it can get a sand and paint tomorrow, then clear the floor space to start on the rear wall.

[ArmyAirForce]

June 12th - Sunday was spent sanding the door, painting and waiting for paint to dry! The door got two coats and the front and end panels were turned upside down so that the bottom edge could be painted. Both the bottom rail that sits on the floor and the bottom and inside edge of the cladding were painted. This is where the rainwater is going to gather before dripping off.

June 13th - More running around doing normal stuff today, including a trip to B&Q for a new wood plane. I also ordered the aluminium angle roof runners. I spent quite a bit of time moving stuff around too! The corridor end panel was moved outside and the 12ft front section was moved to the corridor. The end was then brought back in.

The roof and rear panels were then swapped around locations in the workshop for the next stage. While stuff was moving, I rescued my astro cameras and solar filters from the cupboard lost behind the roof panels since the shed arrived.

With that done, the three remaining wall panels were laid out one by one and cut down to the final rear wall height. Nothing more was done to them other than moving them out of the way again.

[ArmyAirForce]

The end that was still in the workshop was then laid flat on the floor and the two off-cuts clamped back together along side the end. The roof wheels were balanced on small blocks in the approximate positions and the roof lower rail laid on top. The I stood back and pondered! I don't always fully plan projects and never draw full dimensioned plans before I start a project. These days people probably say it's designed "On the fly", but to me, it's always been "Winging it" or "Making it up as I go along"!

I took the NEQ6 mount back out to the pier and did some more measuring from floor height to pier and to the top of the mount in the stowed position. These measurements were then drawn onto the end panel. I needed to have a more accurate idea of the scope/mount height for the roof clearance.

Since both scopes protrude a little above the line of the roof runners, the front face of the roof panel needs to open to clear them. Having the whole of this flap opening would leave the roof with little support over the 12ft span.

The plan is to have one cladding plank of height fixed in place under the roof to create a 'C' channel support beam for the roof. This fixed portion will probably extend to the full height of the roof front at the outer 12 to 18 inches, leaving an opening flap of around 9 to 10 feet to clear the scopes as the roof slides open ( sort of like a garage door with brick pillars either side and a lintel over the top ).

So it appears that the front wall of the roof will be around 16 inches tall, with 4 of those inches fixed. I may make the back wall only 12 inches high to increase the fall on the roof for water drainage. Also, while wandering around the Amazon website last night, I found some silver, heat reflective bitumen paint, suitable for painting over roofing felt. This will reduce heat absorbsion by the dark grey roofing felt, helping to both keep the observatory cool and waterproof.

[ArmyAirForce]

June 14th - Update from Durham Council. After my initial online request that the lights were too bright, the light immediately outside the front of the house has had a small shield fitted. This has made a difference to the front garden and those rooms directly opposite. However, nothing was done about the main offending light. The online forms aren't great, giving no option to explain the issue, just tick boxes for the light is too bright, too dim, on permanently, off permanently or flickering from memory. There was a map to tick the offending light. There was also another tick box for are any other lights connected with the issue. First time around, I ticked this and a text box appeared, in which I wrote both lamp numbers down. The online status said case closed almost immediately and I thought nothing had happened until I spotted the light levels lower, I think on Sunday evening. It wasn't until yesterday that I could see the tiny shade.

My second attempt, I repeated the form and nothing seemsed to happen regarding that request. My third attempt this morning ( last before resorting to the phone ) and I again ticked the more than one lamp issue. In the text box that appeared, rather than just the lamp number, I gave a long speech about strong shadows, blue light sleep/health issues, light pollution, affecting nature ( not seen our bats since the lights were installed ) and how the whole road was badly installed, with all the lights illuminating the farm fields, not just the road and foot path.

A little while later this morning, I got an email from a real person ( finally ), saying the construction manager had been informed and he would organise the Operative Team to come out and fit shields. So fingers crossed, the shields will be big enough and effective from the viewpoint of the observatory. Time will tell.

Edited June 14, 2022 by ArmyAirForce

[Alan White]

5 minutes ago, ArmyAirForce said:

Time will tell.

Indeed it will, 
Well done on the swift response, it is so variable.
A shame we cannot get private lights shielded in the same way.

[ArmyAirForce]

14 minutes ago, Alan White said:

......A shame we cannot get private lights shielded in the same way.

You could try bribery with the owners. Is a darker garden worth bunging them a few notes, or are they ignorant and arrogant like my last neighbours and just can't be talked to!

Edited June 14, 2022 by ArmyAirForce

[Alan White]

56 minutes ago, ArmyAirForce said:

You could try bribery with the owners. Is a darker garden worth bunging them a few notes, or are they ignorant and arrogant like my last neighbours and just can't be talked to!

Sadly, the second of the two suggestions.

[ArmyAirForce]

Here's the two street lights. The one on the left is immediately outside the front of the house and the shield can be seen. The other picture is the main offender, currently unshielded, but hopefully it will be soon.

So continuing the work on the roof sections, I got yesterday's ponderings squared up in my head and started marking up and chopping wood. This is the bottom rail, on which will be mounted the wheels. The cladding will extend beyond the rail to hide the wheels from outside and to help keep the gap small between the roof and lower walls.

[ArmyAirForce]

After the lower rail was trimmed to fit and screwed in place, the upper roof line was marked out and cut with the circular saw, slightly over size.

Here's how it looks on the end wall. There's another two inches of height on top of this, from the thickness of the roof panels. The building is going to end up slightly taller than I first planned, but not by a huge amount. The roof should still roll down the runners far enough that it doesn't block the view. That was the whole point of having sloping runners in the first place.

[ArmyAirForce]

It was getting late by the time I'd trimmed and screwed the upper rail into the roof panel, so to finish off, I mixed up some filler and filled all the knot and nail holes. There were a few shakes ( splits ) along the grain on a couple of planks, so I ran some slightly dilute waterproof PVA glue into the cracks.

Here's the inner view of the roof end panel. With glue drying in various places, I haven't yet planed the upper edge of the cladding along the top rail.

[ArmyAirForce]

June 15th - Things started out ok, but quickly went down hill! I started by planing the top edge of the opening side. Where there were knots, I used my powerfile, rather than the plane. I was part way through one of the knots when the powerfile began to run slower than it should. A few weeks ago, it did the same and then seized when it stopped turning. I stripped it down and freed it, lubricated it and got it going again. This time around, it was seized solid and nothing would get the motor moving again.

So I went to B&Q in Durham to buy a replacement. It used to be a decent sized store, but they sold off half the floor space to another retailer and drastically cut the range of products they keep. I went up and down the power tool isle several times, but didn't see any powerfiles. I gave up on Durham and headed to the Washington superstore. There I was able to get a powerfile, threaded rod and some Gorilla glue, before heading on to Gateshead. The glue and thread are for mounting the pier adapters to the piers.

At Gateshead, I dropped in to Metal Supermarkets, where my order for the aluminium angle roof runners and a sheet of steel for the garage were cut and ready to be collected. The runners were tied to the roof rack and I came home to Durham. After lunch, the runners were unfastened from the car and stored in the corridor and the sheet steel, to be used for storing the magnetic markings from my military vehicles, was stored in the garage. I added a little more filler to the roof panel nail holes, then it was time for an online parents evening with the school. Now here we are, almost 5pm and not a great deal to show for the day!

[Swoop1]

Not a great deal to show?

A new powerfile, angle alloy and steel sheet in your possession is not to be sniffed at...

👍

[Alan White]

Good progress, very impressed so far.
Somedays it is small steps that enable bigger ones, looks like the 15th was one of those days.
And as @Swoop1 says, 'Not to be sniffed at' 👍

[ArmyAirForce]

June 16th - At 09:35 this morning, a Durham Council van pulled up next to my offending street light. The lighting department had arrived to shield the light. I'd requested a front and side shield due to the location of the lamp in relation to the house and garden. Initially, it only looked like they had fitted a front shield, which is probably the most important one for astro.

A closer look through my camera zoom lens showed that it has a side shield too. There is however a gap between the two, which may let some light through in the direction of the obsy, but I'm hopefull there will be a big improvement. Down by the observatory, the viewing angle is slightly different and from there, I think the shield will be more effective. I'll go out tonight and try to get some comparison photos to the ones I took a few nights ago.

For the rest of the day, I didn't want to tackle the other end roof wall. I know what I'm doing now, but my head hurt from working out the first one! So since it was turning out to be a really hot day, I decided to get the roof panels out and give them a coat of bitumen. The roof will have felt on it, but a coat of waterproofing bitumen on the wood was a good secondary defense, especially as I don't know how quickly I will be able to get the felt on after the walls and roof are assembled. They are all now baking in the sun on the patio.

[Swoop1]

Good to see more progress and that the council have responded.

May I suggest an e mail to the council to thank them for their remedial action (even if you are going to need a bit more) ?

I believe an acknowledgement goes a long way. Some poor council folk hear nothing but negatives and moans.

[ArmyAirForce]

1 minute ago, Swoop1 said:

.....May I suggest an e mail to the council....

I plan on getting some pictures tonight as a comparison, which will hopefully show an improvement, then I'll reply to the lady that contacted me to say the shields were to be fitted.

[ArmyAirForce]

Sadly, it doesn't look like there's any significant improvement. Slightly better, but because there's a large gap between the shields, the light from there is still piercingly bright.

[malc-c]

9 hours ago, ArmyAirForce said:

Sadly, it doesn't look like there's any significant improvement. Slightly better, but because there's a large gap between the shields, the light from there is still piercingly bright.

That's a shame.  Back to the council then.  From your photos it seem you are in quite a remote location which begs the question do they need to fit such a powerful light, or have the lamps spaced so frequently.  Maybe that offending lamp could be placed on a timer as well as a sensor, so it gets turned off at a time that allows you to use the observatory but also provide safe lighting for residents?  Maybe invite the chap you dealt with at the council to attend a site visit so he / she can see for themselves the problem the light pollution causes, and hopefully come up with a solution that's amicable to all parties 

[ArmyAirForce]

3 hours ago, malc-c said:

.....Maybe that offending lamp could be placed on a timer as well as a sensor.....

Unfortunately, that lamp is over a speed control chicane, so they are unlikely to dim or move it. All I can hope for is that there are better shields available. Otherwise, I'm back to a large board on a pole to block the light.

[M40]

9 hours ago, ArmyAirForce said:

Unfortunately, that lamp is over a speed control chicane, so they are unlikely to dim or move it. All I can hope for is that there are better shields available. Otherwise, I'm back to a large board on a pole to block the light.

I think you are right there in that it's there forever now. Have you considered asking the council for info on the light and seeing if there is an alternative shade available? It's very likely that they will choose the shade they always use rather than one that's fit for purpose. The money and effort that you are putting into your build, it may be possible to supply an alternative for them to fit. Wouldn't it be boring if it was easy...... 🤔