Roll Off Roof Observatory With Pier

[alan meehan (Alan)]

HI ALL
Here are some pics of my garden shed observatory,which after 18 mths
is close to finished.i have finally put my scope onto a pier,this is just the best
for keeping the telescope rock solid .
The whole shed sits up off ground level as i have a slopping yard, pavers were originally laid and the tripod sat on top but the vibration through the scope was terrible.a hole was dug in the floor nearly a metre deep and lined with insulation foam then concrete poured then the pier was ramset into the concrete,finally power was connected to the shed and all that needs to be done is some sort of rubber flooring for comfort.the pier was supplied by
Houghs telescope supplies,many thanks

Alan

[h0ughy (David)]

LOL hey that looks great Alan. (i have only 60 minute to go before I have bradleys soccer team over for a sausage sizzle & meeting, so I wished I could come over.) great for these rainy days that we are suffering. you have done a great job. Looks like you have all the heater straps going there - i take it you got the power supplyy

[leon]

Nice job Alan, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing the fruits of your labor come together, fine job you did.

leon

[astroron (Ron)]

Great setup there Alan it looks rearly functional and cool
Ron

[RB (Andrew)]

Nice work Alan, looks great.
Love how you've intergrated the kid's swings on there too.
How well does it keep water out, any probs?

BTW is there enough room in there to receive'n'store all of Houghy's astro deliveries?

[alan meehan (Alan)]

the shed has a good testing as far as rain goes i put some flashing front and rear as well as siliconed up a few small holes but have no real bad leaks,the swing at the front was my wifes idea for the grandkids they loveit

[Ian Robinson]

Not cyclone proof , (we do get them sometimes here in Newcastle !! remember last June) but still , pretty spiffy.

An idea I've had for long time has been a modded garden shed with a split , hinged roof that can be locked with a steel rod when closed or taking the roof off a nice sized garden shed and mounting a handy single steel garage roller door on nearly horizontal tracks to have a "roller roof" .

I have an old , slightly bent single roller door that I could straighten up and use for that.

Now if only the guy next door would only turn off his dammed outside light at night ... I might build myself an observatory shed then. Any of you guys know some heavies I could send to his place to "politely convince" him to turn off his back light at night time ???

[alan meehan (Alan)]

hi Ian
yep you are spot on when you say we have cyclones here,but i had the shed up last june and every thing held together must have been the silicone around the base of the shed.i toyed with the idea of a split roof myself but it was beyond my skills i think.i had a bloke next door when we lived in tighes hill he would always turn his light on when i set up outside
have you tried to talk to your neighbour

[Alchemy (Clive)]

just lovely

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by alan meehan

hi Ian
yep you are spot on when you say we have cyclones here,but i had the shed up last June and every thing held together must have been the silicone around the base of the shed.i toyed with the idea of a split roof myself but it was beyond my skills i think.i had a bloke next door when we lived in tighes hill he would always turn his light on when i set up outside
have you tried to talk to your neighbour

Guy next door is crazy .... really .... he's schitzophrenic and has a hard core pot habit too (which doesn't help) , and likely does other drugs too.
The guy lives like a king has ony the best of everything inside the house, yet is on a disablilty pension, he's never worked a day since moving in (and he's in his 40s) , spends his lucid days playing zoom zoom video games and watching his monster plasma TV, when he's not spaced out or having arguments with imaginary people . CRAZY .

He went absolutely bonkers one morning at the crack of dawn about 18 month ago and did the rounds of all the neighbours screaming abuse and threats at everyone , trying to find out who dobbed him in the cops for selling drugs to the local kids , we were the last one's he went too . (Wasn't me or my wife BTW , we knew he had a habit , but didn't know he was selling the stuff , if we had , I wouldn't have hesitated to tell the police about it, I have a zero tolerance for that kind of behaviour.)

Well I don't take too kindly to being awakened by some raving lunatic banging and kicking at my front security door and windows and screaming abuse and physical threats at us (anytime and expectially being awakened by this while it's still dark , and I don't take well to personal threats of phyical violence , so I told him to f*** off, and when he didn't, I called 000 , if I had opened the door to confront him, I don't think I could have been held responsible for my actions as I was seeing red.

Yes you guessed it , when the cops finally showed up , the charm offensive was on , and as soon as they were out of sight (and earshot - so he thought) he was at it again.

Uptake is that I went to magistrate that day and asked for an AVO and I renewed it last year ( he didn't like that much , I believe reconsilation or mediation with him is a waste of time and wont entertain it ) .

My wife was terrified by his behavior and is still petrified of him.

So no - talking with him is not an option . I want absolutely nothing to do with him , and live in hope he'll just go or be taken away. In my view he as crazy as they come and is a danger to society and should be involuntarily committed permanently.

We bought our house 26 years ago , he's only been next door for 10 years and he's always been crazy , noisy and trouble since his mum bought the house for him and he moved in.
I'm not going to be forced out my home.

When I renew the AVO this year , and I will , I'll ask the magistrate about adding something about outside lights.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Fantastic job Al. Great to see you get it up and running

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Woweee.
You've done a great job!
I'll have to get a move on and finish off mine so I can show it off too.

[Cerberus]

that's some jim dandy work Alan!
btw does it obscure the near horizon view?

[alan meehan (Alan)]

thanks guys & girls hey jjj keep going at it ,its well worth the effort
cerberus i do have the horizon cut off a bitt but it doesn,t worry me as there is a fair bit off light pollution on my horrizon to the east ,west of me i have a row of palm trees next door , the front door is facing south rear to no
rth of which i have a very good view.
hey ian i can see why you don,t talk to the neighbour it ashame you have to have idiots like that.

[tornado33]

Top stuff there Alan. Is that why the weather is so bad now
Scott