You have to take that big boulder and make it a landscape feature for your shed. Right near the entrance so you are reminded what it took to build it. Love the video
Someone probably already identified the metal parts. But just in case, it is a "work-horse" bridle. More specifically it is the "bit" the part that goes in the horses mouth. It probably was hand forged.
My 4 year old son get very excited to see your video because of the construction tools. For a role off roof your choice of the the wind sheltered spot is a wise choice for a roll off roof. its also nice to see you did not take a chainsaw to your woods like most people do. It took a long time to grow those trees. Your Mystery Iron item you dug up looks like some sort of horsed bridal or harness accessory.
If there's ever a next time, take the blade off your recip saw and using it's now bladeless head, use it against the sonotube to get out air bubbles. MUCH quicker than tapping.
I love to do things myself. Anything. Electronics, lighting, electrical wiring, building... Things get ugly, often messy... But you really do enjoy doing them, and the sense of pride while using them is nothing you can describe. Even the imperfections seem like part of the plan... 😂 Get it done Niko, here's my view for the algorithm.
I think this is the first time i watch an entire youtube video without missing a second.... i feel like i just lived my dream trough it :D good job and great video, amazing project.
I love your channel, and love the fact that you're now doing well enough with this channel to follow your dreams. Congrats on that, and congrats on being a homeowner! But now building your OWN observatory from scratch, by yourself, is a laudable project. I've been a DIYer for decades, and the personal satisfaction that follows after you finish your customized project is always worth the pain and hard work. Clearly you need lots of prior planning, and you almost can't overthink your wants and needs. My experience with using contractors to do projects almost always ends up with both concessions AND cost overruns, and their process focuses on just finishing, whereas your process focuses on perfecting. I can't wait to see the final result!
Cool project! I wonder if a 12+" EPDM roof pipe flashing seal might make a good vibration-isolation bond between your pillars and the floor? Dektite makes one in a 9"-20" pipe diameter.
Looks like you are having a lot of fun on your' archeological dig. The mystery item you found looks like a bit from a horses' bridle. Good Luck, and remember, measure twice ( or five times in my case), cut once.
Thank you very much for your videos. I am in the beginnings of astrophotography and you are a great source for so many things. But I can tell you something about composting: You need some kind of sturdy net, like a metallic one, at the bottom of your compost area. Unless you like visits from all kind of rodents and such. I hope that helps you, buddy. Clear skies.
Do you have termites in your area? Unless you use treated wood they will make short work of any wooden structure. Being an Australian I would be thinking of the fire risk coming from the forest. Is fire a problem there? Do bears attack telescopes?
Great video Nico, good luck with the construction! I dream that I will be reviewing your video when I build my own observatory when I am back to the US.
Hi 👋, NebulaPhotos , I have always enjoyed your territorial, I am thinking of building a Observatory , or just a dome housing for the telescope, I have even thought about constructing something in the attic as my property is an old mill. Some point in the not too distant future. I’ve got to re-roof my roof, and in the attic, there is a big oak frame construction, that I could quite easily mount a telescope into then finding a way of sliding back the roof, food for thought, whether there’s enough money in the budget to do it, especially as my building roofline is well above the trees at the moment, part of my problem is that I live in a valley, obviously next to a river, which the mill used to be run bye, I’ll wait and see how you progress and how you do your sliding roof, good luck for the future. I’ve always been impressed with your photography and your territorials, explaining how and where are used to set up the equipment., I look forward to part 2 😂 , Phil from the moulin France.
Love this build idea. I just built a fairly large sliding wall using unistrut and unistrut trollies. Engineered properly, I could see using a system like this to make a small roof move.
Hi Nico, as ever your commentary is always informative and enjoyable, definately one of the good guys out there! Please feel free to ask any questions, it's fun and strange to see someone who is really always the expert struggling in a very open way. If you need any more constructive help for your next steps please ask, it can be very easy or hard! Plan all your cable routing up front, that'll be the frustration later if not . Keep up the channel work, great stuff! P.S. Next time don't forget to where safety socks in your crocks ;)
As a builder using the metric system, in Australia we call it the "3 4 5 rule" peg out your shed footprint 1x3m side and 1x4m side, to make it square close off the triangle with a 5m hypotenuse and voila you have 2 sides of your shed marked and they are square....
Congrats on the Bortle 3 property, and that you are able to do this full time! My wife and I made the jump to full time amateur astronomy in 2016, and haven't looked back! I'm super inspired by this build. We just picked up some land under Bortle 3 skies (about 8 hours from you, in Nova Scotia). Hoping to build our observatory late this year or early next. Our goal is to do a domed observatory, and have it open to the public for EAO, and as a remote observatory as well.
Very cool. I'd recommend pricing a concrete truck delivery for the slab. Concrete truck on site for mine (very rural, the one you saw with the sheep, 9x9 feet by 9 inches deep) was about the same price as mixing it all myself, and you will need a lot more concrete for your slab than you used for those piers. I have pix of all of it if you want to see.
There should be insulation between the ground and cement when pouring columns - you can lay thick roofing material or pour cement into a plastic pipe, the depth is at least a meter, otherwise in spring, after frosts, the column may "float" and skew.
Hey Nico! You’re the first person who got me into astrophotography. Since then I’ve shot in Oregon, Hawaii and Mass. I’m in central MA right now. Lmk if you need any help with the observatory! I’d love to lend a hand. Happy shooting bro.
Well done. Great plans. You have likely already thought about it but when running power, run 2x as much as you think needed (at least 3 circuits of 20 Amp if not 4), in the same trench run a cat 5 data cable, just in case, and a fishable conduit to add whatever the new thing you will want out there in the next 30 years. Easier and cheaper to do it up front than to excavate later. Have fun, be patient, lift with your legs, be careful on ladders and roofs, and Oh, yeah, clear skies.
Please make sure your lumber is straight and if it is pre-cut has th.e correct lenght. I was depending on my local source delivering the lumber straight and in the right size. I didn't have the tools at the time to cut my 8x8 cm frame material (about 3.5x3.5 inches). Now there is no turning back for me. Also the wood for the walls wasn't straight so I got gaps which lead me to calling my observatory white hole observatory. Good luck with your build.
Love the video, and I can't wait to see how this goes to the end. A couple things, I don't know why, but without seeing it, I just couldn't picture you doing work like this. It's awesome to see though. The second thing, my best guess for what that mystery item is you dug up. I would guess it's part of an old horse bridle. Probably from back when they used horses to drag the logs out.
You could do a half wall with tracks mounted on the outside and have the half walls be seating and table. I watched the video where you visited Alan and he seemed to have trouble with bugs and whatnot, snow moisture etc, and the rails being a trip hazard. All that would go away in my opinion by making it not mounted on the ground but being resting on a lets say chair height wall where the tracks sit in a recess. But to avoid it being super ugly the mouse might need to be a bit longer to have enough wall for rails to go onto when you slide the top half of the house backwards. Basically a combination of Alans sliding roof and sliding house, a hybrid solution. At least thats what I'd go with. I also don't recommend using wood for the top structure, it will warp sooner or later. Maybe use metal tubes welded and the sides should connect to the upper portion as a triangle rather than a single plane. Doesn't have to be a big angle, but that will certainly help. If you need inspiration for structurally stable construction look up cranes at harbours used for container loading/uloading. It is essentially the same. A metalworker with welding experience from a shop could probably also give you tips on how to construct something like this. Maybe you have a metal workshop in your area. Those bigger shops usually also have pretty big high mounted cranes in their halls and they need to service and troubleshoot those and they can tell you exactly what problems you will face.
I work with concrete every day and I gotta say you did everything really well for never doing anything like that before. And yes best way to do something that has hardware for attaching something a wooden template is the way to go! Looks awesome so far!
I hope there was some overlap of the reo coming out of the in-ground footing pier, and the cage for the telescope mount. I feel like the "waist" of the pier has no obvious reo in it, but it could be that we just didn't see it put in.
SUPER impressed by the design, build and documentation of this project. The first two are challenging on their own. Filming it all in such detail is a real grand slam. Congrats on gaining several levels of DYI XP.
Glad to hear that you get paid from your work here on YT 🤩👍 Your videos are always inspiring and well made 👌 Thats why I watched many of them many times to try to learn myself 😄🙏 Looking forward to see this series 🙂
Can't wait to watch how this progresses! I'm hoping to build an observatory in the next 2-3 years. Have to get power on the land first. Will be great to go from Bortle 7 to 3
Once you've finished your observatory I have a suggestion for a video. At the moment I use an Askar 80PHQ and anyone who has used this scope would know why I am considering upgrading to the Askar 130PHQ. The quality of images from these quads is remarkable. The one thing that stops me doing so is changing the all-up loading on my AM5 from 7kg to almost 17kg and a search on UA-cam gets zero examples of anyone doing this. The closest I can find is a 10kg Dob. The ZWO website shows a 12kg 11" Celestron that is obviously setup for planetary imaging with no filters, focusers etc. At the moment my guiding is hovering between 0.16 and 0.45 and I don't think I'm the only person who would be interested to know what sort of effect you get when you get close to the weight limit on various mounts that have a limit of 20kg.
Amazing progress Nico; that concrete mix looked pretty darn good to me! Also, the thing you found in the hole was a steel snap lead, same thing you would find on a dog leash.
Good Luck Nico. Your earlier tutorials taught me how to do Astrophotography with a camera and my luck finding a good Celestron 4 inch telescope and having an extension roof right outside my window. I think Astrophotography is the perfect way to learn about photography in general. Layering, exposure time, manual settings, ISO settings, fast lenses.
12:02 Looks like a hook of some kind that would probably attach to a winch or crane of some sort. It seems like there is debris in the hook that makes it appear as one big chunk, the hook is on the left side.
Congratulations Niko. I don’t know how I got behind on your channel. Was the analemma project in New Hampshire? I am happy for you following your passion. If the skies are cloudy I hope you are enjoying the fall colors of that area. Oh yeah, cool rock, I am not a geologist but it has to be older than the chain thing you found.
Congratulations on everything. One question or point: why worry about the wind when you are going to be completely enclosed? You said part of the attraction of the site you picked was protection from the wind but seems like if you are going to be surrounded on four sides that are pretty close by, the wind blowing across the top isn’t going to matter.
I glanced at the thumbnail and thought "That's one weird looking telescope on the right". Then I took a second look and said to myself "Oh. It's a cement mixer".
Nice job! How do you plan to power the observatory? It might make sense to get your wire ran now so you can bring it in on one side and under the floor to the two piers. Good luck! I look forward to following your progress.
It's inspiring to see you make your dreams a reality. the entire process seems extremely fun (also challenging) and totally worth it. you earned this nico!
Hi Nico, for my personnal observatory, I also did incorporated into the concreted foot a tubing with ethernet, usb & 220V cables. Like this, I will have a perfect cable management. Best whishes for the house building. SteF.
Nico, that rusted object looked like a chain clip (similar to what you'd see on the end of a dog leash) and the other end looked like it could have been a pulley roller at one point. possibly the end of a clothes line? could have been a light duty set up for something to do with logging I imagine. any way, you are living the dream man. I love to watch the process. CS
Welcome to the granite state! I've seen the digging end of a 12 or 16" auger bit bent backwards from rocks. Part of your relic looked like a snap clip thingy found on animal leashes. Overall it seems small for logging.
Congrads on making your dreams come true. As far as the shed goes (regarding footing) looking into what is called a trench pour. Places like Home Depot rents a trencher. You trench out the perimeter of the shed, to the depth you need and just pour the cement into the trench. Also, call some of the local cement companies: sometimes they are looking for a place to dump excess cement, if they are working in your area. Just a thought.
Proud to see you repurposed some of the old shed! Currently saving any decent sized lumber remnants I come across for mine. You'll be exhausted, but at the same time, have more pride in it when you finish because you built it yourself. Anxiously following this build! BTW.. Astronomy Librarian: you gave away one of your knowledge secrets lol. Sounds like an awesome job!! Also, would it be feasible if in the future you wish to do more with your southern sky, to just place a pier on the hill, and have a portable setup remotely controlled from your observatory?
Nice work! Look forward to seeing more of the build. I unearthed a rock similar to the one you dug up from my yard. Was nearly the end of me…. Now it’s a feature in the front yard 😂
Thank you Nico for the many tips you have given me. Now maybe I can offer a small tip to you in return. Put the wheels of your mixer next to the hole rather than the stand when you are pouring. That way the concrete won't get all over your mixer. (12:45) I think that is the way it is designed to be used. You will have fun building this, and I will have fun watching!
I had a feeling that wasn't right, but I couldn't figure out how to pour in the opposite direction (wheels end). Maybe I'm still missing something obvious?
The bucket should be able to rotate 360 on top of the base. There may be a locking pin somewhere you have to release so that it can rotate. @@NebulaPhotos
Absolutely loved this video dude, it's hard work now but you're going to be so satisfied at the end of it all! :-D I only wish I lived closer so I could give a hand with some of the manual labor haha! Good luck with the next steps! - p.s: I now see a vitally important part of construction that I missed when doing my own build, - Crocs! 😀
I just finished mine about a month ago and it is a game changer, I have so much more enjoyment from the hobby than ever before. I did a budget build with a new metal shed I got from an auction and converted it. I didn't put a pier in cause I wasn't sure if I was going to stay at this location or eventually move in a few years. Gratz on making it happen. I look forward to seeing your build and the projects that come from it.
this is epic keep it up🔥🔥🔥... i have a question im 14 and getting into astrophotography have a nexstar 8se and a nikon d750 and i was just wondering how would i guide this setup
It would be awesome to get a old silo about 20'-30' tall. A dome roof, build steps to the top, maybe a homemade elevator, about 4'x4' running up a i-beam as a safety, using a counterweight and a winch. Or, building a pair of 20' concrete towers , and 4, 6" 1/4" wall pipes, with a 6" ,1/4" thick channel iron, all welded up, with the concrete collums in the center, then have a crane come and lift the building on to tge top, use mobile home anchor straping to anchor it to the steel leggs. With a 36" walkway around the building. With a set of steps going to the top, and winch to pull a basket to tge top for heavier things , it can also be modified into a elevator. With the walkway around it. People may think its a light house, or you have a airport in your yard, im very interested in the night sky, i have seen things i honestly do not belive any person of any country had control over it, i get a rush every time i think back on it. I honestly thought we were being invaded. We as in earth, it wasn't just a light behaving strange in the sky , it wasn't even moving, it just hovered there, silent. And seemed to be huge as un 100's of feet tall and probably 100' wide of wider, it was something else, it looked like one of the world trade center buildings was black and had a random light on , in a dark sky, it was like a black glass building , in a grey sky it didn't dtick out, but if you looked st it , you could not miss it. It was plane as a storm cloud in a bright blue sky, it blocked out stars behind it. It was a wild experience.. i also saw a strange light in the sky. It started out looking like the biggest brightest star. Only 5x bigger, and Brighter. While i was looking right at it. It flashed brighter. and was gone, i was freaking out, still looking, i saw a blue green like a aqua colored light, just barely able to see it. Moving away so fast. It seems like it was almost a streak moving north west. I never seen anything in the sky move that fast, not even fireworks , the blue green semi streak did remind me of a mortar type firework moving through the sky, burning the red orange fuse, however this thing was following the land, or horizon. I thought i saw a star supernova, until the tiny streak cane from it, it was about like seeing a tracer round leaving a gun , in slow motion. The muzzle flash. Then the traver ignites. It was moving atleast 4-5 times faster than any jet i sw in tge sky, enough rambling, but I'm serious, I'm torn. Ivtry to not go out, but if i do i can not keep myself from looking up first thing i do walking out, is look up at the sky, both times i just happened to look at the sky, anyway, like i said sorry to ramble! ✌️
Looks great. I was going to build my roll off by myself, but I got injured just before starting the project. I ended up having SkyShed build it for me. This was 18 years ago when SkyShed actually built observatories. It's the best investment I ever made for my astronomy hobby. Looking forward to your final results.
Not only did he build this fine structure, but also while recording the entire process! Definitely not as easy as you would think. Btw you're making me want to move back to NH haha
Great video! Just a thought, after you mentioned finding a surprise underground pipe, be sure to call "Holeymoley" or whatever utility that marks the ground for underground electrical, gas lines, etc before digging.
You have to take that big boulder and make it a landscape feature for your shed. Right near the entrance so you are reminded what it took to build it. Love the video
Someone probably already identified the metal parts. But just in case, it is a "work-horse" bridle. More specifically it is the "bit" the part that goes in the horses mouth. It probably was hand forged.
My 4 year old son get very excited to see your video because of the construction tools.
For a role off roof your choice of the the wind sheltered spot is a wise choice for a roll off roof. its also nice to see you did not take a chainsaw to your woods like most people do. It took a long time to grow those trees.
Your Mystery Iron item you dug up looks like some sort of horsed bridal or harness accessory.
If there's ever a next time, take the blade off your recip saw and using it's now bladeless head, use it against the sonotube to get out air bubbles. MUCH quicker than tapping.
Ha! That would have been smart! Hope others see this. 👆
Nice to see the steel toed Crocs. Construction footwear of discerning professionals. Great video, really enjoying the journey.
I love to do things myself. Anything. Electronics, lighting, electrical wiring, building...
Things get ugly, often messy... But you really do enjoy doing them, and the sense of pride while using them is nothing you can describe. Even the imperfections seem like part of the plan... 😂
Get it done Niko, here's my view for the algorithm.
Could that iron thing be a snafle bit for horses? Surly the lumber industry used them back in the days... Good luck on your build!
more like a snap hook. sitting on the Lead Rope you hook into the halter when leading a horse
Welcome to NH. Enjoy our rocky soil and semi cloudy skies. Glad you're able to be in bortle 3 though. I'm in bortle 5.
I think this is the first time i watch an entire youtube video without missing a second.... i feel like i just lived my dream trough it :D good job and great video, amazing project.
Clean up that massive rock and make it a feature stone with a name on it for the house or observatory. Great video!
I love your channel, and love the fact that you're now doing well enough with this channel to follow your dreams. Congrats on that, and congrats on being a homeowner! But now building your OWN observatory from scratch, by yourself, is a laudable project. I've been a DIYer for decades, and the personal satisfaction that follows after you finish your customized project is always worth the pain and hard work. Clearly you need lots of prior planning, and you almost can't overthink your wants and needs. My experience with using contractors to do projects almost always ends up with both concessions AND cost overruns, and their process focuses on just finishing, whereas your process focuses on perfecting. I can't wait to see the final result!
Cool project! I wonder if a 12+" EPDM roof pipe flashing seal might make a good vibration-isolation bond between your pillars and the floor? Dektite makes one in a 9"-20" pipe diameter.
Looks like you are having a lot of fun on your' archeological dig. The mystery item you found looks like a bit from a horses' bridle. Good Luck, and remember, measure twice ( or five times in my case), cut once.
This is my guess as well
looks like a keyring snapclip to me. you can even see the swivel portion of it.
Thank you very much for your videos. I am in the beginnings of astrophotography and you are a great source for so many things. But I can tell you something about composting: You need some kind of sturdy net, like a metallic one, at the bottom of your compost area. Unless you like visits from all kind of rodents and such. I hope that helps you, buddy. Clear skies.
Ah, thanks for the tip!
Do you have termites in your area? Unless you use treated wood they will make short work of any wooden structure. Being an Australian I would be thinking of the fire risk coming from the forest. Is fire a problem there? Do bears attack telescopes?
Happy to see your going to get your observatory! Can't wait to see the big projects you'll be able to take on.
Great video Nico, good luck with the construction! I dream that I will be reviewing your video when I build my own observatory when I am back to the US.
Hi 👋, NebulaPhotos , I have always enjoyed your territorial, I am thinking of building a Observatory , or just a dome housing for the telescope, I have even thought about constructing something in the attic as my property is an old mill. Some point in the not too distant future. I’ve got to re-roof my roof, and in the attic, there is a big oak frame construction, that I could quite easily mount a telescope into then finding a way of sliding back the roof, food for thought, whether there’s enough money in the budget to do it, especially as my building roofline is well above the trees at the moment, part of my problem is that I live in a valley, obviously next to a river, which the mill used to be run bye, I’ll wait and see how you progress and how you do your sliding roof, good luck for the future. I’ve always been impressed with your photography and your territorials, explaining how and where are used to set up the equipment.,
I look forward to part 2 😂 , Phil from the moulin France.
Congratulations - always happy to see people leave the rat race and be successful working at what they love!
Love this build idea. I just built a fairly large sliding wall using unistrut and unistrut trollies. Engineered properly, I could see using a system like this to make a small roof move.
Amazing DIY observatory 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Nico, as ever your commentary is always informative and enjoyable, definately one of the good guys out there!
Please feel free to ask any questions, it's fun and strange to see someone who is really always the expert struggling in a very open way. If you need any more constructive help for your next steps please ask, it can be very easy or hard! Plan all your cable routing up front, that'll be the frustration later if not .
Keep up the channel work, great stuff!
P.S. Next time don't forget to where safety socks in your crocks ;)
As a builder using the metric system, in Australia we call it the "3 4 5 rule" peg out your shed footprint 1x3m side and 1x4m side, to make it square close off the triangle with a 5m hypotenuse and voila you have 2 sides of your shed marked and they are square....
Congrats on the Bortle 3 property, and that you are able to do this full time! My wife and I made the jump to full time amateur astronomy in 2016, and haven't looked back! I'm super inspired by this build. We just picked up some land under Bortle 3 skies (about 8 hours from you, in Nova Scotia). Hoping to build our observatory late this year or early next. Our goal is to do a domed observatory, and have it open to the public for EAO, and as a remote observatory as well.
Really interested and looking forward to the build thread!
Unquestionably a great milestone for your. Happy that your Dreams closer now to realization. Best wishes.
1 hour is a kid we move to Arizona. My next door neighbor worked for NASA. And he had a homemade observatory in his back yard, it was so cool.
Good for you, Niko. Congrats! Hope you use that large flat rock as the outside threshold. It'll be a good memory for you.
Thank you for a well thought out and presented video diary. I'm looking forward to the next installment.
Put down insect killer under the floor to keep the critters from getting into the structure.
From one librarian to another, good for you, man! I’m envious…
Looks like a great project. Lots of potensial. Ill be looking for more on this. Good luck. Astrobill
Incredibly happy for you Nico!
Max
Living your passion! Inspiring!
Very cool. I'd recommend pricing a concrete truck delivery for the slab. Concrete truck on site for mine (very rural, the one you saw with the sheep, 9x9 feet by 9 inches deep) was about the same price as mixing it all myself, and you will need a lot more concrete for your slab than you used for those piers. I have pix of all of it if you want to see.
There should be insulation between the ground and cement when pouring columns - you can lay thick roofing material or pour cement into a plastic pipe, the depth is at least a meter, otherwise in spring, after frosts, the column may "float" and skew.
So fun to watch someone work through an interesting project.
That is an awesome project, look forward to seeing the finished product!
Good luck on your build. Looking forward to seeing the progress.
Hey Nico! You’re the first person who got me into astrophotography. Since then I’ve shot in Oregon, Hawaii and Mass.
I’m in central MA right now. Lmk if you need any help with the observatory! I’d love to lend a hand. Happy shooting bro.
Thanks!
Congratulations Nico!!!! An amateur astronomer's dream come true! Can't wait to see the next videos! Great job and lovely new house!!!
Well done. Great plans. You have likely already thought about it but when running power, run 2x as much as you think needed (at least 3 circuits of 20 Amp if not 4), in the same trench run a cat 5 data cable, just in case, and a fishable conduit to add whatever the new thing you will want out there in the next 30 years. Easier and cheaper to do it up front than to excavate later. Have fun, be patient, lift with your legs, be careful on ladders and roofs, and Oh, yeah, clear skies.
Are you supposed to have ethernet cables that close to power cables?
Please make sure your lumber is straight and if it is pre-cut has th.e correct lenght.
I was depending on my local source delivering the lumber straight and in the right size. I didn't have the tools at the time to cut my 8x8 cm frame material (about 3.5x3.5 inches). Now there is no turning back for me. Also the wood for the walls wasn't straight so I got gaps which lead me to calling my observatory white hole observatory.
Good luck with your build.
Love the video, and I can't wait to see how this goes to the end. A couple things, I don't know why, but without seeing it, I just couldn't picture you doing work like this. It's awesome to see though. The second thing, my best guess for what that mystery item is you dug up. I would guess it's part of an old horse bridle. Probably from back when they used horses to drag the logs out.
You could do a half wall with tracks mounted on the outside and have the half walls be seating and table. I watched the video where you visited Alan and he seemed to have trouble with bugs and whatnot, snow moisture etc, and the rails being a trip hazard. All that would go away in my opinion by making it not mounted on the ground but being resting on a lets say chair height wall where the tracks sit in a recess. But to avoid it being super ugly the mouse might need to be a bit longer to have enough wall for rails to go onto when you slide the top half of the house backwards. Basically a combination of Alans sliding roof and sliding house, a hybrid solution. At least thats what I'd go with. I also don't recommend using wood for the top structure, it will warp sooner or later. Maybe use metal tubes welded and the sides should connect to the upper portion as a triangle rather than a single plane. Doesn't have to be a big angle, but that will certainly help.
If you need inspiration for structurally stable construction look up cranes at harbours used for container loading/uloading. It is essentially the same. A metalworker with welding experience from a shop could probably also give you tips on how to construct something like this. Maybe you have a metal workshop in your area. Those bigger shops usually also have pretty big high mounted cranes in their halls and they need to service and troubleshoot those and they can tell you exactly what problems you will face.
I work with concrete every day and I gotta say you did everything really well for never doing anything like that before. And yes best way to do something that has hardware for attaching something a wooden template is the way to go! Looks awesome so far!
I hope there was some overlap of the reo coming out of the in-ground footing pier, and the cage for the telescope mount. I feel like the "waist" of the pier has no obvious reo in it, but it could be that we just didn't see it put in.
SUPER impressed by the design, build and documentation of this project. The first two are challenging on their own. Filming it all in such detail is a real grand slam. Congrats on gaining several levels of DYI XP.
Glad to hear that you get paid from your work here on YT 🤩👍 Your videos are always inspiring and well made 👌
Thats why I watched many of them many times to try to learn myself 😄🙏
Looking forward to see this series 🙂
Can't wait to watch how this progresses! I'm hoping to build an observatory in the next 2-3 years. Have to get power on the land first. Will be great to go from Bortle 7 to 3
Looks great Nico. Can't wait to see the next video!!
Clear skies forever and a day Nico. Take care, have fun and keep on looking up
Cepheus and Cygnus! 😅👌🏻 Probably my two favorite constellations for astrophotography too! Good to have on your arm on cloudy nights! 😃👍🏻
@NebulaPhotos I vote for Cepheus and Cygnus as the names for your piers!
@@KumarChalla @NebulaPhotos Then Cepheus must be the northern pier and Cygnus the southern! 😊
Once you've finished your observatory I have a suggestion for a video.
At the moment I use an Askar 80PHQ and anyone who has used this scope would know why I am considering upgrading to the Askar 130PHQ. The quality of images from these quads is remarkable.
The one thing that stops me doing so is changing the all-up loading on my AM5 from 7kg to almost 17kg and a search on UA-cam gets zero examples of anyone doing this. The closest I can find is a 10kg Dob. The ZWO website shows a 12kg 11" Celestron that is obviously setup for planetary imaging with no filters, focusers etc.
At the moment my guiding is hovering between 0.16 and 0.45 and I don't think I'm the only person who would be interested to know what sort of effect you get when you get close to the weight limit on various mounts that have a limit of 20kg.
My back and knees hurt just watching you do all of that manual work, but kudos to you for making this a DIY project. Good luck on the build!
Good Luck!
Subscribing for the observatory build - seems like a fun series!
Amazing progress Nico; that concrete mix looked pretty darn good to me! Also, the thing you found in the hole was a steel snap lead, same thing you would find on a dog leash.
So happy for all your success! Love your videos!
Good Luck Nico. Your earlier tutorials taught me how to do Astrophotography with a camera and my luck finding a good Celestron 4 inch telescope and having an extension roof right outside my window. I think Astrophotography is the perfect way to learn about photography in general. Layering, exposure time, manual settings, ISO settings, fast lenses.
12:02 Looks like a hook of some kind that would probably attach to a winch or crane of some sort. It seems like there is debris in the hook that makes it appear as one big chunk, the hook is on the left side.
So far, so good. Looks real nice and I bet it will work out quite well. Good job!
Thanks Jeffrey!
Congratulations Niko. I don’t know how I got behind on your channel. Was the analemma project in New Hampshire? I am happy for you following your passion. If the skies are cloudy I hope you are enjoying the fall colors of that area. Oh yeah, cool rock, I am not a geologist but it has to be older than the chain thing you found.
Congratulations on everything. One question or point: why worry about the wind when you are going to be completely enclosed? You said part of the attraction of the site you picked was protection from the wind but seems like if you are going to be surrounded on four sides that are pretty close by, the wind blowing across the top isn’t going to matter.
Of course you have that license plate! 😄
Looks great Nico! Can't wait to see it when it's finished.
I glanced at the thumbnail and thought "That's one weird looking telescope on the right". Then I took a second look and said to myself "Oh. It's a cement mixer".
Congratulations, this is such an amazing project !!! I am a bit like you, this is my dream !
All the very best dude🔥
Congrats bro. Finally your dream came true.❤
Nice job! How do you plan to power the observatory? It might make sense to get your wire ran now so you can bring it in on one side and under the floor to the two piers. Good luck! I look forward to following your progress.
This is awesome!
It's inspiring to see you make your dreams a reality. the entire process seems extremely fun (also challenging) and totally worth it. you earned this nico!
Hi Nico, for my personnal observatory, I also did incorporated into the concreted foot a tubing with ethernet, usb & 220V cables. Like this, I will have a perfect cable management. Best whishes for the house building. SteF.
Yes I'm so excited for you man!! I'm itching to tear down my above ground pool to build an observatory soon
Nico,
that rusted object looked like a chain clip (similar to what you'd see on the end of a dog leash) and the other end looked like it could have been a pulley roller at one point.
possibly the end of a clothes line? could have been a light duty set up for something to do with logging I imagine.
any way, you are living the dream man. I love to watch the process.
CS
Welcome to the granite state! I've seen the digging end of a 12 or 16" auger bit bent backwards from rocks.
Part of your relic looked like a snap clip thingy found on animal leashes. Overall it seems small for logging.
So excited for you! Thanks for taking us along on your new journey!!!
Interesting to see how you do the wiring on the telescope and power
Am looking at doing a puer so be interesting to see how your wire everything up
Cool video, you earned a new sub!
The metal piece looks to me looks like a broken horse bit perhaps.
my dream in some future … congrats and « bon courage » 💪
Congrads on making your dreams come true. As far as the shed goes (regarding footing) looking into what is called a trench pour. Places like Home Depot rents a trencher. You trench out the perimeter of the shed, to the depth you need and just pour the cement into the trench. Also, call some of the local cement companies: sometimes they are looking for a place to dump excess cement, if they are working in your area. Just a thought.
Surely it's going to be a great observatory! Can't wait for the first light from there.
The dryer the concrete, the stronger it will be in the end. Great job. Wish I lived closer I would help you, I’m a builder.
15 years ago I lived under a Bortle 3 sky. Circumstances changed. I moved to Bortle 5/6 and I regret it to this day.
Looks like fun and a lot of work, but worth it. Be sure and get the concrete poured before winter. We just bought a Subaru Crosstrek!
Proud to see you repurposed some of the old shed! Currently saving any decent sized lumber remnants I come across for mine. You'll be exhausted, but at the same time, have more pride in it when you finish because you built it yourself. Anxiously following this build!
BTW.. Astronomy Librarian: you gave away one of your knowledge secrets lol. Sounds like an awesome job!!
Also, would it be feasible if in the future you wish to do more with your southern sky, to just place a pier on the hill, and have a portable setup remotely controlled from your observatory?
This is awesome Nico, so glad to see everything is coming together.
Nice work! Look forward to seeing more of the build. I unearthed a rock similar to the one you dug up from my yard. Was nearly the end of me…. Now it’s a feature in the front yard 😂
Thank you Nico for the many tips you have given me. Now maybe I can offer a small tip to you in return. Put the wheels of your mixer next to the hole rather than the stand when you are pouring. That way the concrete won't get all over your mixer. (12:45) I think that is the way it is designed to be used. You will have fun building this, and I will have fun watching!
I had a feeling that wasn't right, but I couldn't figure out how to pour in the opposite direction (wheels end). Maybe I'm still missing something obvious?
The bucket should be able to rotate 360 on top of the base. There may be a locking pin somewhere you have to release so that it can rotate. @@NebulaPhotos
Mine doesn't rotate, but thanks to your comment, I see the problem. I installed the bucket on backwards 😂 I'll fix it.
Absolutely loved this video dude, it's hard work now but you're going to be so satisfied at the end of it all! :-D I only wish I lived closer so I could give a hand with some of the manual labor haha! Good luck with the next steps! - p.s: I now see a vitally important part of construction that I missed when doing my own build, - Crocs! 😀
I just finished mine about a month ago and it is a game changer, I have so much more enjoyment from the hobby than ever before. I did a budget build with a new metal shed I got from an auction and converted it. I didn't put a pier in cause I wasn't sure if I was going to stay at this location or eventually move in a few years. Gratz on making it happen. I look forward to seeing your build and the projects that come from it.
this is epic keep it up🔥🔥🔥... i have a question im 14 and getting into astrophotography have a nexstar 8se and a nikon d750 and i was just wondering how would i guide this setup
It would be awesome to get a old silo about 20'-30' tall. A dome roof, build steps to the top, maybe a homemade elevator, about 4'x4' running up a i-beam as a safety, using a counterweight and a winch.
Or, building a pair of 20' concrete towers , and 4, 6" 1/4" wall pipes, with a 6" ,1/4" thick channel iron, all welded up, with the concrete collums in the center, then have a crane come and lift the building on to tge top, use mobile home anchor straping to anchor it to the steel leggs. With a 36" walkway around the building. With a set of steps going to the top, and winch to pull a basket to tge top for heavier things , it can also be modified into a elevator. With the walkway around it. People may think its a light house, or you have a airport in your yard, im very interested in the night sky, i have seen things i honestly do not belive any person of any country had control over it, i get a rush every time i think back on it. I honestly thought we were being invaded. We as in earth, it wasn't just a light behaving strange in the sky , it wasn't even moving, it just hovered there, silent. And seemed to be huge as un 100's of feet tall and probably 100' wide of wider, it was something else, it looked like one of the world trade center buildings was black and had a random light on , in a dark sky, it was like a black glass building , in a grey sky it didn't dtick out, but if you looked st it , you could not miss it. It was plane as a storm cloud in a bright blue sky, it blocked out stars behind it. It was a wild experience.. i also saw a strange light in the sky. It started out looking like the biggest brightest star. Only 5x bigger, and Brighter. While i was looking right at it. It flashed brighter. and was gone, i was freaking out, still looking, i saw a blue green like a aqua colored light, just barely able to see it. Moving away so fast. It seems like it was almost a streak moving north west. I never seen anything in the sky move that fast, not even fireworks , the blue green semi streak did remind me of a mortar type firework moving through the sky, burning the red orange fuse, however this thing was following the land, or horizon. I thought i saw a star supernova, until the tiny streak cane from it, it was about like seeing a tracer round leaving a gun , in slow motion. The muzzle flash. Then the traver ignites. It was moving atleast 4-5 times faster than any jet i sw in tge sky, enough rambling, but I'm serious, I'm torn. Ivtry to not go out, but if i do i can not keep myself from looking up first thing i do walking out, is look up at the sky, both times i just happened to look at the sky, anyway, like i said sorry to ramble! ✌️
Looks great. I was going to build my roll off by myself, but I got injured just before starting the project. I ended up having SkyShed build it for me. This was 18 years ago when SkyShed actually built observatories. It's the best investment I ever made for my astronomy hobby. Looking forward to your final results.
Not only did he build this fine structure, but also while recording the entire process! Definitely not as easy as you would think. Btw you're making me want to move back to NH haha
This is great to watch
Looking forward to completion of this project and the results it brings to your astrophotography for the channel. Good times!
Excited for you! And why pay someone else when you can turn the process into so much useful content
Great video! Just a thought, after you mentioned finding a surprise underground pipe, be sure to call "Holeymoley" or whatever utility that marks the ground for underground electrical, gas lines, etc before digging.
I have plans for a roll off roof observatory myself. I just installed the second concrete base for it.