I have had an observatory since I was 16 on the farm; now my wife and I have bourght a block of land and built a house just north of Port Lincoln. I am in the process of building a roll off roof observatory, after thinking through all the alternatives; making another dome or getting a mass produced dome.
The roll off roof type offers views of larger areas of the night sky than a dome. This one will have 3 walls that can fold down from 2 metres to 1 metre to allow views down to the horizon. It will be all steel frame with colour bond cladding and no insulation. The floor will be timber and off of the ground to allow quick cool down time.
I just finished the cement pier yesterday. It has 9 sides and is 1250mm above ground and will be 800mm above the observatory floor. The hole has a depth of 1.5m. The mold will come in a few days time.
I am waiting for a Losmandy Titan mount to arrive that I ordered in April 2008.
What a magnificent looking site Lester. You can open the roof during the day and sit under it with a cold one and take in the view then at night take in a different view. I hope it is big enough for a bed. If it were mine I wouldn't want to go home.
Today I welded the fixed walls into place. I changed the design from having three folding walls to only 2. The wall on the right is towards the west and house, so to have it folding down to only 1 metre in height would give me a good view of the house and rainwater tank; not necessary. Also the west is where most of the winter rain comes from and easier to keep it weather proof when it is in one piece.
What a magnificent looking site Lester. You can open the roof during the day and sit under it with a cold one and take in the view then at night take in a different view. I hope it is big enough for a bed. If it were mine I wouldn't want to go home.
Looking Good.
NOW !!!! that's a thought .... wonder how much a hammock costs ???
Under the roof when it's rolled off will be a very nice breezey and shadey place in summer when my ROR Shed is built.
A little bit more progress has taken place. The timber mold has been removed from the pier. Today I cemented in the sliding roof supports. The roof guides are 150mm galv C channel and are long enough to allow it to move 1 metre past the south wall to help access southern objects.
I got a shock on steel price after getting some more RHS galv lengths. The price has gone up 300% since I last purchased this material 4 years ago. Don't think I will be getting this locally again.
I finished the frame welding yesterday. I have had to wait for the wind to subside, as welding in this dry area isn't something I like doing, even with a good fire break around. The wind can blow sparks for many metres especially when welding over 2 metres above ground.
The roof frame is supported by 8 poly wheels each with a carrying capacity of 50kgs. At each end of the wheel assembley there is a smaller 40kg wheel fixed horizontally to stop any crabbing and jamming.
Looks fantastic Lester. I can really appreciate how your feeling atm, waiting to get in!!! I love the folding wall idea. Certainly looks like a pretty straight forward construction. Wish you'd done yours before I started mine.
That is superb Lester. Really superb. The steel-frame walls look super strong, which makes them an effective barrier to thievery as well as flexible in their positioning. The fold-down idea is fantastic. You lucky sod - I wish I was down in Cooma more often so that I could justify building something similar. There's no point building one of these in suburbia where I am. Can't wait to see a night shot of your imaging system up and running and a dim red glow coming from within.
.. wonder how much a hammock costs ???
lovely outlook
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