An Observatory is born (sort of)

Terry B · #1 08-01-2008, 09:23 PM

Dear All
Well today I turned the first sod on the way to creating my very own observatory. Hopefully I will have the forming finished to pour concrete next week.
Note the cloudy sky. I'm not sure why I am bothering with this project apart from the exercise in frustration that the clouds have recently given.

I will add more pics as it develops.

Outbackmanyep · #2 08-01-2008, 11:49 PM

Keep us posted! Bring your plans in to the next meeting!

Cheers!

iceman (Mike) · #3 09-01-2008, 05:58 AM

ugh i'm jealous of you too, now!

Look forward to the progress.

leon · #4 09-01-2008, 02:56 PM

Nice one Terry, hope it all comes together for you real soon.

Leon

I.C.D (Ian) · #5 10-01-2008, 07:02 AM

Terry,
What type of roof are you having a slid off or one that open like a door

DaveGee (Dave Gault) · #6 10-01-2008, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry B

Dear All
Hopefully I will have the forming finished to pour concrete next week.

Hi Terry,

I'm sure you have thought of it... but have you considered under slab cabling for 240v and data. It's much easier to install conduit now than later...! And make it bigger than you think you might need.

Terry B · #7 10-01-2008, 01:54 PM

I have thought about cabling. Data is a bit hard as it is quite a distance from my house ~100m and the ground is hard and rocky. I have an electricity pole about 30m from the observatory and will probably get it connected in the future.
As for size it is planned to be 3m square with a roll off roof. I have plenty of options as we are building it from scratch with the help of my brother who is a builder. I hope this is big enough. The slab will be 3.5m square. Any thoughts?

citivolus (Ric) · #8 10-01-2008, 02:41 PM

100m should be no problem for 802.11 with directional antennas, as long as you have line of sight.

Eric

Lee · #9 10-01-2008, 08:18 PM

So far so good..... What sort of pier are you going to use....

Terry B · #10 10-01-2008, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee

So far so good..... What sort of pier are you going to use....

I have a very pretty cast iron pillar that we bought with a bird bath. We only needed the top of the bird bath so the pillar is mine. It's pretty solid and has nice decorative castings. It will be the most decorative pillar to be seen.

It will bolt to the concrete when I get a top to connect it to the mount. In the short term I will just use my current tripod.

As of tonight I now have a nice layer of crusher dust ready to put reo in etc.

GrampianStars (Rob) · #11 11-01-2008, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry B

Dear All
Well today I turned the first sod on the way to creating my very own observatory..... I'm not sure why I am bothering with this project apart from the exercise in frustration that the clouds have recently given.

...

Terry
Once finished you'll be observing much more often without the hassle of setting up. Here's what I made

http://www.grampianstars.com.au/observatory.htm

h0ughy (David) · #12 11-01-2008, 01:51 PM

keep going - I will get there tooo one day

Ric · #13 11-01-2008, 04:10 PM

A fine start Terry, I hope those trees don't block off to much of the sky in that direction.

Cheers

Terry B · #14 14-01-2008, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ric

A fine start Terry, I hope those trees don't block off to much of the sky in that direction.

Cheers

The position is a bit of a compromise. The trees will block about 10deg from the horizon in all directions But I don't often view in the low mire anyway. I could have positioned the shed in a much more open spot but it is about 600m from my house and about 6 deg colder. This is significant as I would have to walk further from the house through pitch dark bush down to -10C. Way too cold for this little bunny

I have ordered the concrete for tomorrow morning so obviously it will rain tonight. It is currently just misting. Clearly ordering concrete is even more effective at creating rain than buying astro gear.

Terry B · #15 15-01-2008, 08:24 PM

Part 2
The concrete arrived this morning. I haven't laid concrete since I was a teenager but it still worked with the help of my 13 yr old son.
He spent the afternoon carrying a watering can up the paddock to the slab and watering it about hourly whilst I was at work. It had set within 4 hours of being laid as it was reasonably warm today (for Armidale).
Nature is now keeping it wet for me with light drizzle falling.
The fence is to prevent horse and roo footprints.

Terry B · #16 09-02-2008, 10:29 PM

All the wood and iron etc has arrived. Construction starts next weekend when my brother (who is a carpenter) comes visiting. Wouldn't trust my carpentry.

abellhunter · #17 10-02-2008, 07:18 AM

Nothing like going out at sunset, un-chaining the roff and hitting the "Go" button on the winch.... R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

___________________________________ ___________________
Large Group Scope &/or The new OZ Observatory plan [see post #35]
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=27969
___________________________________ _____________________

Best Wishes, Lance aka "abellhunter"

http://www.anzaobservatory.com
...is Moving to the Southern Hemisphere any ideas, suggestions or
comments?

humphreys@greencafe.com

Terry B · #18 17-02-2008, 08:40 PM

Well I have spent the weekend pretending to be a carpenters assistant and am the proud owner of a 95% finished observatory. Ran out of light today to finish the corners.
We constructed the frame and stood it on the slab and added the running beams.
We constructed the roof near my house for ease of electricity etc and put ot on my trailer and carefully moved it to the observatory. We were able to lift it with the 2 of us onto the frames. The iron for the roof and cladding was added after placing the roof in position. The roof rolls to the east and does block the view to the east a bit but that is the direction of town (~8km) away and has a little bit of light pollution anyway.
I will finish securing the iron and add the corner flashing over the next frw days before moving the scope in.

h0ughy (David) · #19 17-02-2008, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry B

Well I have spent the weekend pretending to be a carpenters assistant and am the proud owner of a 95% finished observatory. Ran out of light today to finish the corners.
We constructed the frame and stood it on the slab and added the running beams.
We constructed the roof near my house for ease of electricity etc and put ot on my trailer and carefully moved it to the observatory. We were able to lift it with the 2 of us onto the frames. The iron for the roof and cladding was added after placing the roof in position. The roof rolls to the east and does block the view to the east a bit but that is the direction of town (~8km) away and has a little bit of light pollution anyway.
I will finish securing the iron and add the corner flashing over the next frw days before moving the scope in.

WOW what a difference. Very inspirational

Makes me want to dig holes LOL (must get ministerial approval first)

Ric · #20 18-02-2008, 12:12 AM

It looks great Terry, a fine construction.

Well done.