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Old 04-05-2018, 05:46 PM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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Another roll off in a Melbourne Suburb. will it FLY?

I have sold my Dome in order to cover the cost of some important documents i am getting, so, after having an observatory, it is not easy to go back to set up and pack up every imaging night.........

I moved houses not long ago and had for two months a disassembled 3x3 shed, i am renting here and don't want anything permanently fixed to the ground, and, it needs to be cheap........ so budget is less than 800 for everything....

It helps that i have some material left from the deck that was holding the dome on the other house....


This are my build photos....

Test of the tiny wheels i found...

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The Build Starts!!!

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  #2  
Old 04-05-2018, 05:50 PM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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Photos part 2

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Cloudwatcher!!!

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Floor comes in!!!!

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I can close the roof without Parking the scope!!!!1

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  #3  
Old 04-05-2018, 05:54 PM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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Photos Part 3

Carpet happening!!!

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Tripod isolated from the floor....

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Motor Goes In!!!!

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The Motor controller is wired to the Cloudwatcher relay, so it will always close after an unsafe status has been detected...

I also have a Drafonfly, it controls the power on my gear and will Open And Close the Roof....

But Now, the best part is, i am scared! i feel the roof will fly away with the wind!!!!! Will it fly?

i have attached some hooks to the 4 corners so they are there preventing the roof to lift when the roof is closed...

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and yesterday i tightened them all because od the windy weather...

my cuestion is...

If i don't get them tight down, Can it lift and fly away?

Am i over reacting???? , should i design another way of rolling support that holds down????

Last edited by diegocolonnello; 04-05-2018 at 06:10 PM.
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  #4  
Old 04-05-2018, 06:49 PM
Wilso
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A couple of screws doesn't cut it, you need to fill every hole in the brackets with structural clouts or screws.
But what is holding the shed down is a concern also!
Roof - walls - to foundation to hold everything down
(Looking good though)
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Old 05-05-2018, 11:42 AM
DJT (David)
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HiDiego

Nice build! Where did you source the motor etc from? Looking to retrofit something on mine.

D
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  #6  
Old 05-05-2018, 04:49 PM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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Quote:
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HiDiego

Nice build! Where did you source the motor etc from? Looking to retrofit something on mine.

D

Gumtree, there is a guy here that sells the kit for 400 aud, comes with motor, 4 remotes and 4 mtrs of rack...
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Old 06-05-2018, 06:32 AM
DJT (David)
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Cheers! Will take a look.
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  #8  
Old 07-05-2018, 05:57 PM
Gnat (Natalie)
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tiny wheels

Hi Diego,
Where did you find the tiny wheels? They look good.
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  #9  
Old 07-05-2018, 07:17 PM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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Quote:
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Hi Diego,
Where did you find the tiny wheels? They look good.
Bunnings
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  #10  
Old 20-05-2018, 01:52 PM
markas (Mark)
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Diego,


Can it fly? You bet! The major lift force is the wind blowing across the top surface, and it can get significant. Theoretically the best way to minimise the lift is to present an irregular surface to any wind direction ie a set of baffles running in cross directions.


Of course you need solid anchoring to the walls/ ground anyway!


Mark
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  #11  
Old 20-05-2018, 08:29 PM
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Looking good Diego'
Just wondering, do you know how much weight can those motors handle ???
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Old 22-05-2018, 05:21 PM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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Quote:
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Looking good Diego'
Just wondering, do you know how much weight can those motors handle ???
this motor says 1200 kg..... i guess it is 1200 kg in nice wheels, soft start and soft stopping the gate.....
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Old 22-05-2018, 08:11 PM
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  #14  
Old 10-11-2018, 01:01 AM
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diegocolonnello (Diego)
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I am so happy, today was the first time ever that i see my observatory run unatended, no intervention from me.....

the fact that it can stop and start by itself is a dream....

it did this today:

Power up all the equipment

Connect to the equipment

Start the automatic secuences prodecures using astronomical darkness time

Open the roof

Unpark and Slew the scope

Blind plate solve and sync

Start a sequence

When clouds came:

Close roof

stop tracking

wait for clouds to go...

wait 1 minute after clouds left

reopen the roof

start tracking

platesolve and restart the sequence....

Clouds Again

Close roof

stop tracking

wait for clouds to go...

wait 1 minute after clouds left

reopen the roof

start tracking

platesolve and restart the sequence....


THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!
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Old 14-11-2018, 06:26 PM
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  #16  
Old 27-02-2019, 10:33 PM
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Joshua Bunn (Joshua)
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It's fantastic Diego! What automation software were you using?
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  #17  
Old 28-02-2019, 08:07 PM
gb44 (Glenn)
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Diego
Get it tied down quick fast mate!

Dig 4 holes or more say 300x300 x500 deep under the frame edging. Drill 12mm hole thru the bottom plate of the wall. Use say 12mm thread bar. One big washer and nut and pass the thread bar through the timber into the hole in the dirt. Let it touch the dirt at the bottom of the hole. The thread bar could be 650mm long by the look of it.

Place post hole concrete into the hole stopping 100mm from the surface. No mixing required. When you leave the rental just cut the threadbar off at the concrete and place new grass sod in the hole. Say no more.

Quick job. Bunnings have all this stuff.

Cheers
GlennB
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