Nearly 2 years after moving from Grose Vale, on the outskirts of Sydney, to some acreage at Quialigo NSW, I've started rebuilding my Obs - Bells Observatory V2.0. The location has good visibility and dark, transparent skies (Bortle class 2). See daytime panorama taken from where the Obs will sit HERE.
My todo list is very long so it will be quite some time before I reach first light, but ya gotta start somewhere!!
So far I've:
Dug the pier footing hole
Built the form so I can do the footing and the pier column in a single pour (al la Mike S' Terroux obs)
Cut the formatube to size
Assembled the pier bolts in a jig ready for embedment into the concrete pier column
Determined the location of true south (so I can align the bolt pattern) using a post's shadow produced at the sun's meridian transit time
Only a few small things left before the concrete pour now.
I'll be getting a raised wooden deck build by a professional sometime in October I think - 4.2m square. My old Obs was only sitting on a 2.5m square deck and that wasn't enough to allow me to walk around the 2.3m diam Obs for cleaning and easy dome assembly. Getting in and out carrying heavy equipment was a little dodgy too.
You can see all progress pics with commentary HERE.
Last edited by marc4darkskies; 26-09-2019 at 04:14 PM.
Great news Marcus Had a good scan over your property a few times over the last couple'a years (pining and looking envious on each occasion of course ) and that's exactly where I thought you would site the observatory
That form work looks veeeery familiar, uncanny really
Good luck with it and let me know when the heavy lifting needs to be done aaaand I'll..try and...get someone else to help! ...kidding
Mike
That panorama killed me
Last edited by strongmanmike; 13-09-2019 at 02:38 PM.
That form work looks veeeery familiar, uncanny really
Yeah, what are the chances we'd come up with exactly the same design eh? A single pour is certainly the way to go tho - cheaper too
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Good luck with it and let me know when the heavy lifting needs to be done aaaand I'll..try and...get someone else to help! ...kidding
Thanks Mike! Once the deck goes in (October probably) I'll be reassembling the dome and could use some pro help. Some muscle to lift the scope onto the mount would be nice too. We'll be sure to ply you with beer and food in return!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshua Bunn
Great to see Markus. These things are always good to follow.
The weather since the last instalment hasn't been the best - 40mm of rain including a 100mm snowfall (the biggest fall in 60 years). Consequently my pier footing hole became a swimming pool even though it was covered!
I baled it out a few days ago and re-applied the formwork. I also secured the formwork to the ground so it doesn't lift during the pour. See HERE and HERE.
The weather since the last instalment hasn't been the best - 40mm of rain including a 100mm snowfall (the biggest fall in 60 years). Consequently my pier footing hole became a swimming pool even though it was covered!
I baled it out a few days ago and re-applied the formwork. I also secured the formwork to the ground so it doesn't lift during the pour. See HERE and HERE.
Concrete pour tomorrow!
Water in the hole is good as the soil will not suck out the moisture from the cement mix and allow it to cure slower making for a stronger footing down the track.
Marcus I am enjoying your progression here.I showed my better half but she was more impressed with the stonework on your house.
Cheers Derek
Thanks Derek! Yes, the house has that rustic country feel to it! Maybe I should've build the Obs out of stone!
Anyway, I stripped the formwork off today. I didn't have a concreter's vibration wand so the concrete didn't spread to the top inner edge of the form. I also pressed the bolt pattern jig down into the column which left a lip of concrete around the top - some of which broke away when removing the formatube. Oh well! See HERE
Tidied up (so you can't see the ragged edged footing). See HERE
That's a great start Marcus. Can I suggest a modification? Perhaps put in another pier and build a roll off shed. If you have two piers you can have two systems working at the same time. Scope dome are starting to build roll off kits and that might suit you.