Building the Observatory

Now the construction of the 

Observatory Tower with Roll-off-Roof begins

First thing is to build the floor framing
for the tower. The framing is supported
on concrete piers and bolted to the steel
floor framing of the containers.

We dig a 48 inch deep hole for the
telescope steel pier. A 8" sonotube
will be used to anchor the 4" diameter
steel pier.

The sonotube is buried to where the
top of the tube is about 1" below the
top of the floor framing boards.
Then we fill the sonotube with concrete
and place the steel pipe inside.

Once the concrete is dry, we install the
floor decking and start erecting the walls.

After we installed 3 walls, we then built
the second story floor and added the top
section of the 4" steel pipe. Now we can
erect the last wall.

Next we added windows to the second
story and installed the final sheets of
exterior siding. Now ready to build the
roll-off-roof.








I will be using garage door rails & rollers
for the roll-off-roof. The rollers will be
attached to a end roof truss and the track
to the building walls.

The roof end trusses
are made of 3/4"
plywood for the top
and bottom plates
and 2x4's studs.

The walls are complete and the door
is now installed. The roll-off-roof is
finished and works properly too.
All we need are the final finishing
touches.

Roof open

Roof closed

The observatory tower is now finished

Stairs to observatory

Observatory with roof closed

Observatory with roof opened and telescope installed

Here is a video tour of the finished observatory...