Observatory Progress

[JohnP]

Excellent job Mark - Well done - bet you cant wait for first light..

I read an article the other day in a local paper about High Halden planning a new flood lit sports arena - hopefully it wont upset your seeing after all that hard work... 

John

[Mike]

Great progress Mark. How long till its ready to use? Looks almost done to me.

[MarkS]

Great progress Mark. How long till its ready to use? Looks almost done to me.

It is certainly usable in it's current state.  But there are a few time consuming things left to do:
I need some coats of wood protection and then add the trims on the corners.
Internal wiring and running the armoured cable from the house.
Adjusting the ground levels around the observatory.
Once I've taken holiday and other booked out weekends into account, it won't be completely finished until mid to late August.

I read an article the other day in a local paper about High Halden planning a new flood lit sports arena 

[mickw]

Excellent job Mark

[Mike]

It's been a while since we've had an update. You didn't accidentally set fire to it one day whilst having a BBQ did you?

[Rocket Pooch]

I think Mark may have just found out if its water proof, looking at the radar last night he got a soaking as did Mick.

[mickw]

I think Mark may have just found out if its water proof, looking at the radar last night he got a soaking as did Mick.

And pretty lights
And loud bangs

[MarkS]

Progress stopped for 2 weeks whilst I was on holiday in France.  Last weekend I moved a mature rosebush which sat directly on the access path (yes I know it's the wrong time of year to do this - if it dies then I'm also dead!).  This weekend I dug a trench for the 4mm armoured cable and a tube for a possible future data connection:





I then created an access path, lowered to give me more headroom:  6'2" which is fine for me but might give taller folk a headache.  I need one of those "Max Headroom" signs, but who's going to see it in the dark?



Next job is the internal wiring ...

[MarkS]

For the electrics, I'm still undecided whether to go down the DIY route within "Part P" of the Building Regs or get an electrician in to do the whole thing and save the hassle of the involvementof the requirements (and fees) of Building Control Officer, whatever those requirements may end up being.

[mickw]

Looking really great Mark - getting so close now.

[Les R]

Looking really great Mark - getting so close now.

When I built our log cabin down the bottom of my garden, I had a quote of supply and fit a few plug sockets and lights and connect to the house consumer unit (including 25m of 4mm cable) I was quoted a price of £280 from a very good electrician, which at the time, I thought was expensive.

I ended up getting a quote from another guy, which I ended up agreeing that Id do the work and he'd make it live connecting consumer units abd issuing the Part P for £180.

My work ended up being a fair bit. I used 10mm cable in the end. The cabin had 12 internal double sockets, 2 double external sockets (one on an internal timer) 2 internal lights and one external on an extra consumer unit. I also extended this to the work shed, adding more armoured cable (6mm) and 4 double sockets and light switch. It too me ages to wire up.... But I was surprised how long it took the guy to do his part, so the original quote i now appreciate was a bargain price.

AFAIAA you must have Part P for any out building and any additional circuits. I certainly saved a fortune by doing as much as I could myself.

Fantastic job BTW.... Im most jealous!

[Mac]

I wouldn't bother about the part P.
When (if) you come to sell your house you will need to get the whole house checked again anyway,

That's what happened when we sold our old house.
Even though we had the extension signed off under part P.
the Buyers solicitor demanded that the whole house was checked.

So its a waste of time.

Mac.

[MarkS]

Canon 600D with 18-55mm kit lens at 18mm f/3.5 on 1 August
20 x 10sec subs at ISO 1600 stacked in IRIS.

[Les R]

I seriously need to have a go with my attempted time lapse of the milky way when I was in Tenerife on the top of Teide. Ive got 2 or 3 hours worth of captured images using similsr to yours. (Canon 550 7 seconds 18mm) The skies were just so clear and the colours of the milky way visible to the naked, its nutz to have failed.

[MarkS]

Electrician comes Thursday to wire it up and issue the test certificate.  Once the wiring has been "fished" through, I can add wire mesh to prevent rodents getting underneath the floor.  All the wall and floor panels can then be finally screwed down firmly.  Some minor adjustments needed to the roof runners now the roof has bedded in.  Some other minor bits and pieces also need doing. Then once the dust has settled (literally) I can start moving equipment in, like a beer fridge and, I almost forgot, telescopes as well!

The last 10% of this project seems to be taking 50% of the time.