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Observatory Build Progress

blinky

By blinky
in DIY Observatories

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pritc

pritc

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Sorry to here that Craig.:D

Shame the tradesman could not take any criticism about his work.

But if the roof does not roll smooth, what was you to do?

Just put up with it??....

Hope you and your mate can finish the last 10% of the build and finish this great observatory

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blinky

blinky

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Yep he is £200 short and as far as I am concerned can whistle for it! Originally is was to take 2 days but in reality 3 weeks later it is not complete! Just checked again and the floor inside is wet as the door is not correct either and is letting in the rain!

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Astrokev

Astrokev

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Hope you get this sorted Craig.

Back to your question about scope height, if you make the scope higher (rather than lower) I wonder if you could make simple removable screening to deal with any light pollution or wind. In this way you'd have the best of both worlds?

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blinky

blinky

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Well, the scope height has now been set! So lets hope it's ok......

As for the build saga - i fixed the door yesterday as it was letting in water (some joiner eh?). I need to get plasterboard for the warm rom, a sliding door between the 2 rooms (or some other kind of door) and sort the roof. The roof should be coming off this weekend and we will square up the casters and add a couple more. I will also need to do something with the apex of the rolling roof as he could not make an A frame at the end that rolls so is has 1 caster right at the apex to take the load, but it's not right, I will need to come up with another idea.

TBH, I am glad he is out of the equation, he originally told me he would plan it out in Autocad (lie) then he would hinge the back down to give me a nice low horizon (lie), then it would only take 2 days to complete (3 weeks ago....). I can see what still needs to be done and other than the roof it is all straightforward and it looks like Gary and Euan will be popping along next weekend to help me fix the roof.

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pritc

pritc

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OOOOO, I get to play wi me toys...... best to dig out the router to square 'em castors...... mmmmwhawhawhahahahahahahahah!

gary

Don't go to mad with your router Gary!

Craig's obs will start to look tacky,if you add to many decorative edges...:)

Wayne

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paul11

paul11

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Hi Blinky I am a Carpenter/joiner for 30 years, if you have any problems you can’t sort out put up some images of the problems and I will try to tell you the best way to get over them. The main thing is that you end up with an Observatory you are happy with,,,,Paul.

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blinky

blinky

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Well thanks to Gary and Euan I now have a roll off roof that erm.... rolls :) It took us all day but it is starting to really take shape now. I have still got to make it wind/weather proof at a couple of points and figure out how to lock down the roof from wind and thieves! (See my other thread in DIY Observatories for that question).

I will take osme more piccies tonight as I have done the flooring and we have a few more strips of wood over the ends to neaten things up a little.

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pritc

pritc

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Piccies mate, I need piccies of the obs wi the roof open and closed, taken from the side so that Debz can see what she has agreed to.....

Gaz

Gary,

SWMBO hasn't agreed to you having an obs has she???? :)

Wayne

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gary1968

gary1968

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In principle yes she has Wayne...... :)

Next spring / summer I am to remove the Pier from the lawn, modify the summerhouse (current warmroom) i.e. make it a bit longer, fit a partition wall and fit a ROR similar to the design Craig has used. The end result will be what looks like a summer house from the outside but inside will be a scope room with Pier and a warm room with the lappy n stuff........

And the best bit as far as she is concerned....... "that big ugly pole" as she calls the pier, will be away from the centre of the lawn.

She is a good lass, puts up with s**t loads from me with my astro stuff, as I am sure most of the astronomers wives do on here....

Gary

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blinky

blinky

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So you are gonna have the same problem as me then..... How to remove the current pier!

Piccies will be taken this weekend once it is painted, just about finished now although I really should paint the scope room - think thats a job for next year!

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gary1968

gary1968

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Nah mate, mine will be a 'bit' easier. Mine is steel so I just cut it off at ground level then weld on a plate to the bottom of it to bolt onto the concrete block once it is in.

My problem will be breaking up the lump in the ground enough to get a layer of soil then grass seed on it..........

I have just looked at HSS, petrol breakers can be hired, but are quite expensive.... might be an idea, if you can wait to get your pier out, to club together and hire it and do both together........ but mine wont be till next spring / summer.

Gaz

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blinky

blinky

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Well it's finally finished! Got everything wired up this evening and it all appears to work.:) It's blowing a gale outside and raining so no first light:mad:

I have in the warm room a dual monitor setup, with a heater as well. In the scope room the pier has some nice red lights (although I think I will need to dim them a little!) and the laptop has a monitor attached that I would like to use as a screen for taking flats but that still has to be tried.

I got the roof locked down with a turnbuckle in each corner and so far it's holding nicely! I have also started to put strips of draught excluder brush/strip along all the section that I can see daylight coming from.

So.... Still to do..... Paint the outside, decide if I want to paint the inside and then well... first light really!

It's been a slog, 3 weeks with the joiner from hell, then 1 weekend with Gaz and Euan to sort the roof (thanks again guys:icon_salut:) and 2 weeks of me working from after work till 9pm but hopefully it will all be worth it when I get some views.

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Astrokev

Astrokev

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Hi Blinky

Really like your build, but I can't figure out how the roof covers the obs section. Please can you post some pics of the obs with the roof open and closed so that we can understand how you approached this?

Thanks

Kev

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