Well, in its embryonic stage anyway.... The pier is poured for my roll off roof obs, to begin further construction on the weekend. I won't post drawings yet, as it is still an evolving project, the only thing for sure is the floor area and the fact it is a roll off.... the wall height will be determined after the floor is down and the scope is on the pier, and the exact nature of the roof is being sorted out still...
This pier is chunky - I don't think I could make it move/wobble if I tried to.....
I love my "ROR" Obs
The walls shelter from the prevailing North / West winds whilst allowing full access to the Sky
The retracted roof also cuts out the southerly winds as its flush with the south wall when open.
Net effect the southerly wind arcs aver the whole Obs.
Great stuff Lee. What are the holes in the side, near the top -are they threaded for part of a cable management system or something?
We set a few 25mm long link nuts into the concrete, basically to add the option to easily attach things to the pier without having to drill it later. Will also mount the Gemini control box there (if cables long enough).
I just drilled 8mm holes in the formwork, and had the nut on the inside, held there by an 8mm bolt, long enough to fill the thread up and go through the 19mm formwork timber. Greased the thread first, and plugged the end of the nut with grease to stop it filling with concrete. Then filled her up....
Worked well I think.
Thanks guys - have the timber for the floor joists now... build floor frame then set into concrete on the weekend....
Must go and water the pier now! See if it will grow some more, maybe it will sprout a Tak out of the top if I water it enough!
Floor concreted.... After making sure it was square, we lowered it down around the pier, where the 7 footings had been dug, propped it up level - a car jack comes in handy here for fine adjustment, then filled the footings with concrete.
Took a bit of planning - but by far the easiest way for me, a non-carpenter, to get a floor very square and level across 7 footings on sloping ground....
The floor area is 2.4x2.1m (8x7') - would have went longer, but ran out of room along the fence.... of course with a roll off adding a foot means you need two feet extra room.....
h0ughy - it was almost a pile of mud when the formwork cracked.....
Floor frame completed now - had to box in around the pier, and floor fitted around pier also. Can't do any more for 2 weeks now, so won't screw it down yet though.
As a non-building type myself, I think the sun deck for the dogs is just about done. What about the rest of the kennel?
Seriously, it looks real good and as a non-builder type, I would say better than a professional. Why? I am glad you asked. You won't be able the see the floor frame work once the floor is secured, and yet you have made the effort to make everything neat and tidy, unlike the builders efforts on my last house, anything not visible was untidy and I sometimes wonder as to the stability of the structure whenever the wind picks up.
Not you though. Again, well done, a top effort and keep up the good work (and posting your efforts on Ice In Space).
I only hope that I can do at least half as good a job as you when I build my house for my not yet purchased telescope.
I love this thread and look forward to seeing your baby take shape in the future.
Very well made Lee...
I don`t think it will ever blow away!
Very similar to what I have done with mine so far except I used 4x2 treated pine for the floor at 300 centres to keep the floor lower as I didn`t design the pier for a observatory! I`m going with the ROR setup and I am up to doing the supports for the roof when its pushed off!! but the rain has put a stop to that at the moment!!!
Look forwards to your progress and posts!!
cheers..
An observatory is born....
On'Ya Lee
Thurs. Friday nite.
