How big is yours?

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My home made, 180mm [7"] f/12 R35 iStar refractor standing 2.3m [7' 6.5"] high on its short, fixed dewshield. For scale I am about 5'10" [1.8m]. Since it overlaps the height of the shed door it has to go in at an angle and is then carefully lifted to stand up between the ceiling joists for a small storage footprint. Not an easy task when it weighs around 50lbs and has a main tube diameter of 20cm or 8". I consider steel toe-capped, industrial safety shoes as essential wear when handling heavy mounting weights and setting up large and heavy telescopes.The grippy, rubber gloves are "handy" too. Providing a greatly increased sense of security compared with bare hands  when manhandling large OTAs. 

Oh, dear. Now my wife wants my observatory to look like this:
A gorgeous, decorative, octagonal, copper-clad, roof tower from a former Carlsberg building in Copenhagen. You'll have to imagine a dome in place of the spherical, wind globe 'basket' on top.

Rescued from demolition and used by a large, architectural salvage, recycling business as a center piece at the entrance to their premises: Genbyg.dk - Denmarks largest online store for used building materials

Genbyg Tårnet på Amager Landevej 185 | Genbyg Bloggen – inspiration, info og tips & tricks

GENBYG.DK - Photos

I had better start building right away! 👷

Bending the framework for my half cylinder "dome" out of aluminium angle is proving more difficult than hoped. The first [of four] arcs is getting close but it is proving difficult to avoid a slight corkscrew effect. I am unsure how important twist will be in the structure. The angle is quite flexible so may be flattened during construction. One gets quite a sense of scale when the arc is hitting the ceiling of a large shed/workshop! One chap on each end, each with a stepladder, was helping to avoid adding twist as the free end towered high above the bending machine. The raw lengths are 6m or about 18'. This length can be trimmed to size eventually. The last foot or so, at each end of the arc, cannot pass properly though the machine due to the spacing of the rollers. I hate to think what this work is going to cost!

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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