have £1K to £1.5k for a DIY Obs

[skippyinspace]

Just out of interest, I assume all those lovely domes on roofs that are on the pulsar website would suffer from some sort of thermal problem?

Ian

[KenG]

I had a look at the Pulsar site and can see only two on brick structures, are there more? Why not contact Pulsar themselves and sound them out. They may tell you that it's perfectly ok to have a telescope on top of a brick building. Personally, I wouldn't want to invest the time and money in a project such as the one you're describing unless I was 100% certain of the outcome. Throughout the summer months, the walls of my house are like a storage heater, and although it mightn't be so apparent, if there's any sunshine on a winter's day, the walls absorb heat then also. I've had some experience of designing buildings which had to be insulated against/for all sorts of things, and it's usually a complex and expensive process. For an easy solution in your case, I'd probably be thinking about cladding the lower walls with foil-clad(facing out)board before covering it with timber panels on 4x2 battens. That way the blockwork's never going to get any heat and the cladding doesn't even have to be weatherproofed, but check it out for yourself, the more research you do, the better.

If you're serious about converting your outhouse, I'll offer to give you whatever advice and help I can.

[skippyinspace]

Thanks very much for the offer of help, I will ask pulsar the question as I'm also sure one of the domes is in spain. Also I'll ask the observers who have web sites that have done garage observatories in the states what problems they have.

Thanks for the advice and Ill start getting some thoughts down for a roll on roll for location and plotting out in the yard.

Though I do think if I do go down roll on roll off it will be own design or one that some one else has done, rather than a shed conversion, Though I'm starting to like the idea of a dome due to compactness

Ian

[skippyinspace]

Spoken to Pulsar and their thoughts mirror what has been said about converting an outbuilding as there might be thermal issues.

Ian

[yesyes]

I'd still think converting an outbuilding/garage to an obs is far better than no obs at all. But if you have the choice between brick building and wooden shed, the shed would win any time.

[skippyinspace]

what I havent mentioned is the garden is approx 30m x 40m, So I do have room for a freestanding observatory on 3 sides would be a 2m hedge and the 4th side is the house which is in the north west which pretty much block most of the sky in that direction.

Still have to make sure it doesnt stick out like a sore thumb, Which might actually be a harder task in all that space

[KenG]

If you have to have an obstruction, then north-west is probably the best place for it to be. Are you intending to design the observatory around a dome?

[ampleamp]

Can't remember who suggested it to me but a very useful activity to compare sites is to take a series of pictures at each site and stitch them together as a panorama. Little bit of a pain but 30 minutes spent doing this could save hours and days or work

[Les Tilly]

Here is my Obs I built myself. I knocked down an extension that was on the back of my garage, and put the garage back to normal. I then put the obs there. Here are some links to the images.

observatory Photo Gallery by Les Tilly at pbase.com

Then I added a Garage door opener to move the roof remotly

roof__motor Photo Gallery by Les Tilly at pbase.com

and here is the roof moving

Les

[skippyinspace]

As the Roll on Roll off yahoo group hasnt responded to my response for membership, I thought I would as this question.

Has anyone used the skyshed plans and built one of their roll on roll offs and if so what was the cost for say the 10x8 size to build.

Thanks

Ian

[citaylor]

I saw these and thought they looked smart....

[skippyinspace]

Problem with them and Alexanders and all the dome suppliers is transport costs.

I'm in an AB post code and transport quotes have ranged from £400 to £850 depending on the product.

Which is why I was thinking of paying for the skyshed plans and getting a local shed company to build it or myself and my father in law build it.

That sort of delivery money is a good pier or even second scope!

Thanks

Ian

[MikeWilson]

Hi Ian,

I'm also interested in the answer to your question if you get it. It would be quite nice to know what the cost ballparks are for the common roll on/off observatory types and sizes.

Best,

Mike

[Vic&Al]

Problem with them and Alexanders and all the dome suppliers is transport costs.

I'm in an AB post code and transport quotes have ranged from £400 to £850 depending on the product.

Which is why I was thinking of paying for the skyshed plans and getting a local shed company to build it or myself and my father in law build it.

That sort of delivery money is a good pier or even second scope!

Thanks

Ian

I just paid for a shed from a local company, and discussed the RORO with them and its application. They were very understsnding and only charged £150 extra for modification to the roof, castors etc. The RORO concept is very straight forward and well within the capabilities of a reputable shed maker/joiner. IMHO

[MikeWilson]

I just paid for a shed from a local company, and discussed the RORO with them and its application. They were very understsnding and only charged £150 extra for modification to the roof, castors etc. The RORO concept is very straight forward and well within the capabilities of a reputable shed maker/joiner. IMHO

Did the shed company also build the pier and the cement/foundation for the main part of the shed?

[Helen]

For mine, we spoke to the shed manufacturer and they amended the design of a standard shed and charged about £200 extra (£1200 for a log-lap 8x12 shed). BUT they were used to designs where the walls and roof combined to give the required stability, and they underestimated badly the consequences of the two bits (ie roof and walls) being independent. We've had loads of remedial work to do as a result. But I'm pretty sure that if they'd had plans to work from it wouldn't have much (if any) cost more and would have saved them (and us) a lot of work and effort.

Helen

PS despite all the challenges we've had, its still the best astro thing I've done!

[martin_h]

Mines a roll over roof, so very stable because half the roof is still there. 2m x 4m, with the decking that surrounds it and the pond I had to build! It came to about £1500 all in - self build.

[malc-c]

I designed & built my own, took a few months but really enjoyed it.

Stardust, that is absolutely fantastic, love the design and the finish, looks good in its location too.

If it's not a rude question, how much did that cost?

[red dwalf]

i managed to buy a roro skyshed from a chap that was moving, he and his son had both made the sheds from the plans and if i remember rightly they said the costs came to somewhere around the £1000 mark, but i must add that they where very well and solidly made, the floorboards where 1" thick, it was a killer to move to my house !

[Tim]

I built my own (4.2m x 2.2m) for less than £1k, using 4x2 framed panels, 21mm shiplap exterior, plywood lined interior for warm room. It can be done

[Vic&Al]

Did the shed company also build the pier and the cement/foundation for the main part of the shed?

I am afraid not, the shed base, pier base etc, came down to me, a shovel, a spirit level and lots of sand, cement & sweat...

[MikeWilson]

Thanks chaps.

My missus has said that I can have an observatory (size wasn't specified but she knows what's involved)

However at our current house I need the scope set up right in the middle of the small lawn so can't manage an observatory.

But I might be able to manage a HEQ5 PRO pillar mount (not a pier) buried into a few inches of sand and semi-permanently mounted in the garden.

Has anyone else done something similar? (I saw something similar on another forum post here from a couple of years back, but I'm wondering how viable it would be to use a "Pillar Mount" as a temporary pier and leave the pier and mount head outside, pre-aligned).

[yesyes]

A few days ago I found this cheap "pier" that someone has built.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikegray0422/CheapPier#

This might be a good idea for a cheap, temporary way to keep the mount pre-aligned. Though I would make the cover a bit more wife-friendly...

But if you got permission to build an obsy, DO IT !!! :-)

[astroimpulse]

He could have used a concrete post of the same size to get even more stability (maybe he considered that defeating the object).

The problem he will definately have is the huge box on that 4x4 will stress the life out of the post when it's windy. Add a little wetness and it will just become wobbly in the ground.

I like the idea though

[mikeknowle]

What would you do if you had that ammount of cash available?

For me, definately would build a storm-resistant RORO-shed over a massive concrete pier-base! Best way to spend £300-£500 I think.

Of course needs a bit of careful planning and some graft, but:

- doesn't look out-of-place, like a dome can to a spouse and attract unwanted attention

- can be customised to suit personal taste in terms of size, shape, coloour etc.

- massive amount of help and advise in the forms of books, forum photos etc.

- can decide the perfect site now, do the concrete/pier in the spring (so is useable from then...using the waterbutt cover idea), build the shed over the summer when it is pleasant and light evening...good use of time, perfect it over the autumn......ready for serious use as the winter approaches (only 9 months from now!)

Mike