Earls Observatory.

[Earl]

Free concrete blocks, left overs from my brother in laws extension, if i need more he has plenty.

[Earl]

Decking

[spaceboy]

Come on Earl lets see some construction

[Earl]

If the weather holds this weekend

I also have the pipe for the pier and the angle iron to go inside it.

[Earl]

Just designed the floor plan of the blocks and decking, not to scale but the basic layout

[Bizibilder]

Looks OK

[Earl]

Im just taking a few shots from the site now and I have a feeling i might just squeeze polaris in !!!

[Earl]

.

[Pete Presland]

wahoo! its deffo there by the skin of your teeth

[yesyes]

Nice. Have you taken the picture at roughly the same hight the scope will sit at on the mount? Or at your normal eye level?

[lukebl]

Personally, I wouldn't worry at all about whether or not you can see Polaris. With a permanent mounting, you may as well use drift alignment anyway, and with PHD it's a doddle. See this link:http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/120593-phd-drift-polar-alignment.html

An important thing to remember, of course, is that you make sure the mounting plate is oriented correctly and that it has sufficient allowance for azimuth adjustment of the the mount. As I can't see Polaris, I used the sun and worked out when it was directly due south (which is rarely exactly at 12:00 GMT due to both the difference in my longitude from Greenwich, and to the fact that the sun's midday position oscillates throught the year anyway). I then used the shadow of a precisely vertical rod to show where true north was.

[Earl]

Nice. Have you taken the picture at roughly the same hight the scope will sit at on the mount? Or at your normal eye level?

That image was taken on my camera tripod which is about 5 foot 6 ish

I think the scope will be a touch higher.

The height and of the pier and the lenght i need to cut my tube and angle iron is something i am pondering on.

Im thinkning its going to be around 6-7 foot long, with 3 foot below the floor into the ground.

[noakesy]

good luck with it i enjoyed building mine

[Earl]

Well this weekend has been a disappointment, the gravel area is frozen solid a few inches down.

If the weather continues like this i doubt I will see progress until its cleared.

[noakesy]

hows the build going earl

[Earl]

Nothing done, the gravel area the decking is been built on is frozen solid !

I did remove part of the small path fencing in preperation for the entrance though.

spade to floor "ding".. vibrations LOL, go back in and make a coffe LOL

[spaceboy]

spade to floor "ding".. vibrations LOL, go back in and make a coffe LOL

Don't blame you! I need to lay a few slabs so I have at least a level platform to observe off but I look out the window and thats as far as I get. I know if I go out and get into it I will be sweating buckets with in minutes but it's just convincing myself to go out in the cold in the 1st place.

[George]

I used some old bricks (in pairs) to support my decking at key points. I'd certainly suggest getting it off the ground. It also makes it easier to get it level.

I used four 8 foot mini steel rsj's rescued from a skip at work (will last my lifetime)