Observatory Progress

[Carole]

Excellent progress Mark.

Carole

[mickw]

Blimey, you're not hanging about are you and it's looking very good.

You might need to hold those ducts down as well as vertical when you start to fill them, concrete will try and escape out of the bottom and that would be a bad thing 

[JohnP]

Excellent progress Mark & what a great weekend for working in the garden...

[MarkS]

You might need to hold those ducts down as well as vertical when you start to fill them, concrete will try and escape out of the bottom and that would be a bad thing  

Good point!

Excellent progress Mark & what a great weekend for working in the garden...

Yep - I was certainly lucky with perfect weather for 3 days solid.

Next step is to install the horizontal runners and get their supports concreted into the ground.

Mark

[MarkS]

Mark's shanty town survived today's weather intact - just a few drips got inside:



I've checked it for vagrants - no-one has set up residence (yet).

Mark

[Tony G]

And it looked like it was going so well.

This is the time to tell Dee that you want the prototype.

Tony G

[MarkS]

A roof that rolls!





Although it rolls quite freely, it is very heavy and awkward to push.  It is easy to pull with a rope though.  Needs some careful thought about how to operate it.

Mark

[Mike]

Great stuff.

Why not motorise it? A simple rack and pinion would do the job.

[Tony G]

Looking very good Mark.
Are they fold down panels to the front and side (which I gather is firstly South.....front, and East.....side, but don't whether you done the West from the photo)
Keep up the progress.

Tony G

[Rocket Pooch]

Looking very good Mark.
Are they fold down panels to the front and side (which I gather is firstly South.....front, and East.....side, but don't whether you done the West from the photo)
Keep up the progress.

Tony G

Child

Anyway Mr T, I need some help with insulating mine, let me know when you have a free day

[MarkS]

In the long run I'm sure I will motorise it somehow.

Yes, those are fold down panels to the South and also to the East and West, allowing views down to the horizon.

Chris - why do you think you need insulation?  I wasn't planning on any for mine.

Mark

[mickw]

I agree with Tony, it's looking very good.

I would think the insulation would be to keep it cool - the shed I built in London was insulated but still got hot during the 1 or 2 days of summer each year.

[MarkS]

during the 1 or 2 days of summer each year.

[MarkS]

I have a technical question.

I haven't quite worked out what to do when the flaps are closed.  They need to be clamped very tightly both to the each other and to the main part of the shed in order to provide the necessary structural stability.

What can I use to achieve this?  I'm sure something must exist to do the job, but what?  Some kind of heavy duty clasp on the inside that pulls the sections together and holds them firmly without any free play or rattle.

Ideas welcome!

Mark

[mickw]

I would have thought  that a standard bolt on each end of each flap so they cross over at the corners would do the trick

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