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building my own observatory?

lostinspace

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RobH

RobH

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Hello John.

An observatory is the best bit of astro gear you will ever own :)

I'm now considering a rebuild of mine, as I want to put a second pier in and expand the whole thing.....a thing to remember is that you should build it a couple of feet bigger than you think you need....mine is almost 10 feet square and it's a bit tight.

Check out my site....lots of pics there.

Cheers

Rob

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lostinspace

lostinspace

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.....a thing to remember is that you should build it a couple of feet bigger than you think you need....mine is almost 10 feet square and it's a bit tight.

Check out my site....lots of pics there.

Cheers

Rob

cheers rob, awsome site, i just love looking at scopes allmost as much as the sky. they look stunning to me.

thanks for your suggestions, i will take it on boared, space is no object as i (luckily i have a girlfriend who loves horses and owns two big fields)have acres to play in,:)

john

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yesyes

yesyes

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I`m not sure but if you make it a none permanant structure( ie, it sits on concrete footings and can be moved after, would this not satisfy your landlord or agency)? just a thought:)

I was thinking about that. I don't think he would have anything against it. He doesn't seem to care much about the house anyway. But I'm afraid to spend all that money and then might not be able to use the whole stuff again when we buy a place. And we're actually saving for a deposit to buy a house...

On the other hand, the garden has a brick shed at the back of the garage. Would be ideal to roll the shed roof straight onto the garage roof (same width). And the roof of the shed is collapsing. I'm trying to get the landlord to fix it but I doubt he'd pay the extra cost for a roll-off roof... :)

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yesyes

yesyes

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I did offer that in summer - no response. It all goes through an agency and I doubt they even forwarded the offer to the landlord. But we're about to renew the tenancy agreement (in March). I foresee some hard negotiations .. :)

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The Sailor

The Sailor

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I was on about a concrete flat space earlier, this would be at 1st floor level and just in line with the street lights. I checked the width today amd it is just over 5', 63" in fact, would this be wide enough for an observatory keeping in mind that the scope will be on a pier. It is I'm afraid to say the only place I would be able to put one. Just one point in favour of this place, it will have good views to N and S, E is partily blocked by a tree and W will be blocked by the house roof but will still afford a degree of view.

Jim

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lostinspace

lostinspace

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just an out there sggestion, but in the grow your own fruit and veg age were circuling back to,an allotment could deal with many of the problems your now encountering? generally located in hard to built in/on locations, insuring a dark spot. why not google away and find your local one? good veg could offet the rent? nice thought eh?

john

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Bizibilder

Bizibilder

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Hi Lostinspace!

A few threads back I included a link to another site - this is the website of the Mark Parrish at the Selsey Observatory (Astralweeks site) featured in S&N magazine and includes quite a few more photo's of the Observatory which I had hoped you would find useful. It is not my observatory!!

Mine, if you want a look, is linked within my signature.

Sorry for the confusion!!

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yesyes

yesyes

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just an out there sggestion, but in the grow your own fruit and veg age were circuling back to,an allotment could deal with many of the problems your now encountering? generally located in hard to built in/on locations, insuring a dark spot. why not google away and find your local one? good veg could offet the rent? nice thought eh?

john

Not a bad idea, actually. But I just checked local ones. None available and there's a 3-5 years waiting list. These seem to be in high demand. Some allotment areas has twice as many people on the waiting list than allotments.:)

But they seem to be rather affordable. £3.50 - £4.50 per 25sq metres per year.

I doubt they have electricity there though...

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Brian M

Brian M

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Hi,

I've been down the self build road myself, followed up with some modifications when I realised my errors!

The observatory is timber frame (4x2) clad with shiplap. The "dome" was originally timber frame with marine ply covered with felt. It rotates on golf balls in a ball race made from 18mm ply.

The problem was that the roof was really too heavy and also it acted as a heat resevoir causing air currents for hours and hours. The answer was to remove the ply and felt and use the ply as a pattern to make some flat panels from glass fibre. The roof opening was also extended at the same time to make the zenith view easier.

Attached pictures show it in a sorry state after the original covering was removed, then with some of the glass fibre panels in place and lastly the finished object!

HTH

Brian

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The Sailor

The Sailor

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I am now beginning to wonder if building an observatory is an option, I have a certain amount of light polloution, a number of trees in other gardens and little area in which to build one. I wonder if another option would be to just build a couple of piers around the garden and work that way and if necessary be prepared to be mobile and have runs into the countryside now and again. I am at the moment looking at buying a new scope and want to get the best from it.

Jim

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