My Observatory

[netwolf]

I think I found it , is this the one Luke?
http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_...Builders|Doors

Now that I see it as a picture I can see the resemblance. The just look so much wider in real life. BTW what height did you cut these to?

Regards
Fahim

[Poita (Peter)]

Truly amazing, I never thought to use doors, and flute board for the roof is genius, I should just knock-off all the signs during the next election and use those.

I wish I still had my own property, I think the landlord might notice this if I put it in the backyard.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by Poita

Truly amazing, I never thought to use doors, and flute board for the roof is genius, I should just knock-off all the signs during the next election and use those.

I wish I still had my own property, I think the landlord might notice this if I put it in the backyard.

I hope to build a landlord friendly observatory over the next few months. Hopefully movable.

[Luke Bellani]

Hi All,
Thank you for your kind comments.

Fahim, yes they are the doors I used and I cut about 300mm off the length.

The offcuts made great shelves inside the obs, so very little was wasted.

I made a narrow desk with three joined together that are perfect for my keyboards.

I used other offcuts for shelves up high for my bits and pieces. Since they are door offcuts, they are exactly the right width and small right angle brackets are all that's needed to hang them.

The doors have 30mm solid timber edges so the shelf bracket screws have something to bite into.

As long as the doors are properly sealed and painted, there is no reason for them not to last for many years.

It's funny that you should mention making a kit available. I was thinking along those lines just today.

Do you think there would be any interest?

I would give it some serious thought if there were a few people seriously interested.

Cheers,
Luke

[Luke Bellani]

Originally Posted by Poita

Truly amazing, I never thought to use doors, and flute board for the roof is genius, I should just knock-off all the signs during the next election and use those.

I wish I still had my own property, I think the landlord might notice this if I put it in the backyard.

Peter,
Who cares if the landlord notices. It doesn't have be a permenant fixture.

[netwolf]

Luke, if you could make it such that it could be easily assembeled and perhaps even disassembeld then a kit would be great. I think there is a market for a low cost observatory. But as with anything astronomy in australia it is a small market.

[Poita (Peter)]

The landlord lives next door

I hate renting...

Originally Posted by Luke Bellani

Peter,
Who cares if the landlord notices. It doesn't have be a permenant fixture.

[Poita (Peter)]

If you made a kit that would survive and be non-permanent, I'd be interested for sure.

Originally Posted by Luke Bellani

Hi All,
Thank you for your kind comments.

Fahim, yes they are the doors I used and I cut about 300mm off the length.

The offcuts made great shelves inside the obs, so very little was wasted.

I made a narrow desk with three joined together that are perfect for my keyboards.

I used other offcuts for shelves up high for my bits and pieces. Since they are door offcuts, they are exactly the right width and small right angle brackets are all that's needed to hang them.

The doors have 30mm solid timber edges so the shelf bracket screws have something to bite into.

As long as the doors are properly sealed and painted, there is no reason for them not to last for many years.

It's funny that you should mention making a kit available. I was thinking along those lines just today.

Do you think there would be any interest?

I would give it some serious thought if there were a few people seriously interested.

Cheers,
Luke

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Originally Posted by Poita

The landlord lives next door

I hate renting...

Landlord around the corner

I hate renting too.....

[trek1701 (Mark)]

I'm interested.

[vignesh1230 (Vig)]

Now finally, the slit cover is made from 4 sections of overlapping flute board with the lower section at the back of the slit, glued in place and three sections able to slide over each other forming a weather seal.

These sections slide in a "track" made from strips of 4mm flute board glued together to form an E shaped end cross section.

When I want to view, I remove the front cover section and slide the top sections back past the apex of the dome, giving me a clear view overhead.

This has proven itself to work very well, however I have made provision for a flat strap that I use to secure the slit cover in high winds.

Could we get some close up images on how the slit goes together? I am going to soon make something identical to yours, and was just wondering how it weather seals and opens. Thanks

[prenzi (Florian)]

Why not show the landlord the beauty of the heavens above - he / she might fall in love with it, you never know...

The "Bunnings observatory" should be easy to disassemble and removable without a trace, so where is the problem for a landlord ? I wouldn't do a concrete pier without speaking to them first, though.

We're renting as well, big house with 13 acres of land, cats & dogs & horses & fish tanks, and do all sorts of funny things - and our landlords love it each time they come; over time we're actually developing a really nice relationship. What we do is we ask, and we show what and why we want to do certain things - so far it has always worked out fine.

BTW, I'm German, so where I come from renting is the norm, and buying is being done once in your life only - it's exactly the other way round as down under. And tenants are no outcasts... .

Cheers, Florian