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.
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
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 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 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.
Nico, enjoying your channel. You will have fun doing this yourself. Very rewarding. I have been enjoying your journey. Tony, your friendly Canadian subscriber. Thought I would send you a couple of thoughts regarding the dream observatory I recently just “more or less” finished. I build a 10x12 roll off. Love, love, love it. Some thoughts. 1) don’t cheap out on the fasteners that you use (screw everything. If you F,,,,,up, you can easily redo. 2) over build cross supports for your floor as rectangles are weaker than squares. Use lots of cross supports and 45 degree supports, for the floor structure. Use 2x6 for all your walls and floor construction. At least 1” subfloor. Glue and screw floor. That way, you will have a structure that does not flex, (less vibration). I used a very strong and light roofing that Home Depot Canada sells. It is a wavy reconstituted thin asphalt roofing. Did I mention it’s wicked light, and very strong for Canadian winter. Wheels for your roof track, use wheels with grease nipples, so they can always be maintained! HD also sells a terrific pre primed mould resistant wood siding. It looks great and will save you grief down the road. Heavy, but makes your structure even stronger, when you screw it in. Use bracing on your walls at 45 degree angles screw it in under tension. Makes the building much more resistant to wind and storms. Makes it much stronger too. Metal rolls are pre punched and easy to install, with screws. DON’T BUY YOUR LUMBER FROM HD! Their wood is shit! Go to a lumber store, with a yard you can browse to pick out your wood. All beams have a crown, not perfectly straight. When building your roof structure, ensure that all your beams are installed with the crowns one way. That way your roof will not have dips and valleys. Incorporate ample ventilation in your roof. I insulated mine as it’s really only warm a few months of the year, where I am. I added a big buddy heater with a 20lb propane tank outside the structure. It’s great for taking the chill off, if you work out there, for any substantial period of time. The 18,000 btu model has a hose kit for using the heater with a 20lb tank. I would invest in a combo set of Good quality CORDLESS Drill / IMPACT DRIVER/ hell: CIRCULAR SAW for your build. They will last for years. Every house needs some serious power tools. Forgot,,,,,a GOOD QUALITY HAMMER yeah,,,,,a couple of HD SAW HORSES will serve you well for the project. 10x18, building is a lot of sawing , angles cutting, drilling, screwing. One more MUST have,,,,,a speed square. ( it’s a triangular tool that is indispensable, if you want to build a square , not lopsided building. HEY, owning a home, those tools will pay you back in no time! Do not cheap out!!! Buy good tools, and fasteners! Nail your walls together, but screw everything else. Enjoy my friend. Have fun. Take tons of pictures!
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....
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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 ;)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 TH-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.
So awesome. What an adventure - not just building the obsy but moving and doing what you love full time. I'm a couple weeks behind you on my own obsy build. Can't wait to wait next update for any ideas I can use!! lol
What an exciting project! I understand the feeling of "I woke up early for a full day of working with concrete". It's not like you can do some of it, stop and come back later. Once you're going, you're going and it doesn't stop until you're done :p
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?
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.
Good luck with your build! I just placed three 10x10x5 cm concrete bricks into my garden to have sort of "permanent" place for my tripod. Well, I had to start somewhere :) Who knows, maybe one day there will be a permanent pier or something...
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.
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
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.
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.
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 🙂
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.
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.
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.
You probably should consider adding a warm room in addition to the observing room. Makes it much more comfortable when operating the computer but you don't need to be by the scopes.
With the most of the new Go To mounts and Asair equipped with Wi-Fi you don't really need to set a place for the computer but can be useful to keep others pieces of equipment.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
C14 ready on the right 😆
C14? I will not waist fine observatory on that scope. 17” CDK is a way to go.
I only noticed a cement mixer
@@googlecrazy657 which looks like...
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. 👆
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!
Nice to see the steel toed Crocs. Construction footwear of discerning professionals. Great video, really enjoying the journey.
Good Luck!
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.
This is awesome!
Nico, enjoying your channel. You will have fun doing this yourself. Very rewarding. I have been enjoying your journey.
Tony, your friendly Canadian subscriber.
Thought I would send you a couple of thoughts regarding the dream observatory I recently just “more or less” finished. I build a 10x12 roll off. Love, love, love it. Some thoughts.
1) don’t cheap out on the fasteners that you use (screw everything. If you F,,,,,up, you can easily redo.
2) over build cross supports for your floor as rectangles are weaker than squares. Use lots of cross supports and 45 degree supports, for the floor structure. Use 2x6 for all your walls and floor construction. At least 1” subfloor. Glue and screw floor. That way, you will have a structure that does not flex, (less vibration).
I used a very strong and light roofing that Home Depot Canada sells. It is a wavy reconstituted thin asphalt roofing. Did I mention it’s wicked light, and very strong for Canadian winter.
Wheels for your roof track, use wheels with grease nipples, so they can always be maintained!
HD also sells a terrific pre primed mould resistant wood siding. It looks great and will save you grief down the road. Heavy, but makes your structure even stronger, when you screw it in.
Use bracing on your walls at 45 degree angles screw it in under tension. Makes the building much more resistant to wind and storms.
Makes it much stronger too.
Metal rolls are pre punched and easy to install, with screws.
DON’T BUY YOUR LUMBER FROM HD!
Their wood is shit!
Go to a lumber store, with a yard you can browse to pick out your wood.
All beams have a crown, not perfectly straight. When building your roof structure, ensure that all your beams are installed with the crowns one way. That way your roof will not have dips and valleys.
Incorporate ample ventilation in your roof. I insulated mine as it’s really only warm a few months of the year, where I am.
I added a big buddy heater with a 20lb propane tank outside the structure. It’s great for taking the chill off, if you work out there, for any substantial period of time. The 18,000 btu model has a hose kit for using the heater with a 20lb tank.
I would invest in a combo set of Good quality CORDLESS Drill / IMPACT DRIVER/ hell: CIRCULAR SAW for your build. They will last for years. Every house needs some serious power tools. Forgot,,,,,a GOOD QUALITY HAMMER yeah,,,,,a couple of HD SAW HORSES will serve you well for the project. 10x18, building is a lot of sawing , angles cutting, drilling, screwing.
One more MUST have,,,,,a speed square. ( it’s a triangular tool that is indispensable, if you want to build a square , not lopsided building.
HEY, owning a home, those tools will pay you back in no time!
Do not cheap out!!!
Buy good tools, and fasteners!
Nail your walls together, but screw everything else.
Enjoy my friend. Have fun.
Take tons of pictures!
Love that license plate!
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.
Congratulations - always happy to see people leave the rat race and be successful working at what they love!
Clear skies forever and a day Nico. Take care, have fun and keep on looking up
All the very best dude🔥
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....
Amazing DIY observatory 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
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?
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.
Excited for you! And why pay someone else when you can turn the process into so much useful content
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.
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.
Living your passion! Inspiring!
From one librarian to another, good for you, man! I’m envious…
Incredibly happy for you Nico!
Max
Really interested and looking forward to the build thread!
So fun to watch someone work through an interesting project.
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
your artifact you dug up is a dog clip on a pulley. often used for dog runs on a length of cloths line :)
Good luck on your build. Looking forward to seeing the progress.
Cool video, you earned a new sub!
The metal piece looks to me looks like a broken horse bit perhaps.
Thank you for a well thought out and presented video diary. I'm looking forward to the next installment.
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!
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.
Unquestionably a great milestone for your. Happy that your Dreams closer now to realization. Best wishes.
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.
my dream in some future … congrats and « bon courage » 💪
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.
That is an awesome project, look forward to seeing the finished product!
Excellent job Nico!
Thanks Bill!
Looks like a great project. Lots of potensial. Ill be looking for more on this. Good luck. Astrobill
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.
Put down insect killer under the floor to keep the critters from getting into the structure.
Thanks!
Happy to see your going to get your observatory! Can't wait to see the big projects you'll be able to take on.
I have plans for a roll off roof observatory myself. I just installed the second concrete base for it.
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
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.
Looks great Nico. Can't wait to see the next video!!
Congratulations Nico!!!! An amateur astronomer's dream come true! Can't wait to see the next videos! Great job and lovely new house!!!
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 ;)
This is great to watch
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!
Yes I'm so excited for you man!! I'm itching to tear down my above ground pool to build an observatory soon
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.
I am so looking foreward to be part of that via youtube! Thank you Nico :D
Good for you, Niko. Congrats! Hope you use that large flat rock as the outside threshold. It'll be a good memory for you.
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.
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.
So happy for all your success! Love your videos!
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.
Congrats bro. Finally your dream came true.❤
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.
Happy for you man. Hope to be in your shoes some day. Hope the build continues to go well.
Looks great Nico! Can't wait to see it when it's finished.
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 TH-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.
So awesome. What an adventure - not just building the obsy but moving and doing what you love full time. I'm a couple weeks behind you on my own obsy build. Can't wait to wait next update for any ideas I can use!! lol
What an exciting project! I understand the feeling of "I woke up early for a full day of working with concrete". It's not like you can do some of it, stop and come back later. Once you're going, you're going and it doesn't stop until you're done :p
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?
Subscribing for the observatory build - seems like a fun series!
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.
They don't call it the granite state for nothing! Nice job!
So far, so good. Looks real nice and I bet it will work out quite well. Good job!
Thanks Jeffrey!
Congratulations, this is such an amazing project !!! I am a bit like you, this is my dream !
Good luck with your build! I just placed three 10x10x5 cm concrete bricks into my garden to have sort of "permanent" place for my tripod. Well, I had to start somewhere :) Who knows, maybe one day there will be a permanent pier or something...
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.
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
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! 😊
Excellent start looking forward to your next videos
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.
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.
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 🙂
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.
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
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.
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.
You probably should consider adding a warm room in addition to the observing room. Makes it much more comfortable when operating the computer but you don't need to be by the scopes.
With the most of the new Go To mounts and Asair equipped with Wi-Fi you don't really need to set a place for the computer but can be useful to keep others pieces of equipment.
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.
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.
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 😂
Of course you have that license plate! 😄
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.
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.
Thats awesome dude, congrats
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.
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!
So excited for you! Thanks for taking us along on your new journey!!!