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Well, since the moon is out in full glory tonight, I have some time for a quick update - see pictures attached.
I was actually surprised at how much the structure wobbles when the roof is open. I had two options for the flooring - keep it solid and simply put the tripod inside or cut a hole for each tripod leg and mount on a bessa brick to the appropriate height. Needless to say I'll be cutting the spaces in the tongue and groove decking next opportunity.
Just added the door this afternoon - single swing not shown in photos.
Things to complete:
- the floor!
- weather seal the gaps in the ROR with some foam
- weather seal all other gaps with expansion foam.
- add a layer of plastic on the inside of the roof to catch dew drips
- wire up an extension lead from the house
- install my wireless webcam inside so I can watch for clouds and rain.
- add a lock and bolt for the roof (interrim)
- ultimately, add an electric gate opener and if I feel lucky, write an ascom driver to liaise with an arduino nano so that SGP can control the roof directly.
A neat idea I had last week - I bought a powerline-ethernet adapter to network the intel NUC to the home router. So, now I can wake the NUC from inside the house without having to head out. My next problem was how to turn on the rest of the gear via my 12V lab power supply. I bought a programmable energy saving power board that I can now use to switch on the rest of the gear when the NUC powers up. And, it all switches off when the computer does at the end of the session.
I'd say more than half way to a remote back yard observatory! All I need is another week of holidays... :-)
Tim
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