Finally getting close to completion of my tiny roll-off observatory to shelter the second pier and mount located on an unused slab at the rear of my main obs.
I'm cheap, old and lazy, and it shows in the construction standard.....but it will keep the equipment protected and it's all wi-fi'd to my house. I just finished today doing the lower sill surgery so it can roll back past the pier. Total cost was an Ebay tool shed $190, everything else is cast offs from around the house. Origin of name should be obvious.
Still lots of tidying up to do and some photos after I mount the scopes. Plan is a cf RC8 and a Sharpstar cf 150 2.8 HNT plus 5kg CW. Together with the GSO 250mm Newt in the main obs, I'm hoping this should cover most of my astro needs without forever swapping scopes around.
Some before and after pics included.
Excellent, looks like it'll do the trick, clearly a great use of available bits and pieces, love it ...nice looking mount too.
My past observing spot west of Newcastle in 2009/10 needed something exactly like this, it was on someone else's property however and while they indicated I could do it and I was planning it, I never got around to it and ended up moving to Canberra. Sick of the complete setup/pull down process, after just a couple of visits, I ended up leaving the mount on the pedestal, covered with some heavy bags (not the Astrophysics Starfire though ), so at least I didn't have to polar align every visit...
Thanks Mike, yes, the setup and midnight stripdown loses its magic pretty quickly, especially when it doesn't work after you set it up!
I have tested the RC8 and 150HNT on the AM5 mount, but with no CW. It slewed quite well but was hesitant to return from full meridian position looking to the horizon, pic attached. I expect the counterweight to solve that.
Total weight of the two scopes plus NUC and saddle probably doesn't exceed 20kg, so should be good.
That's a really neat little setup. As someone who either sets up in the back yard or who travels to locations with the gear, that has a certain appeal. Well done.
And now you'll be able to use your gear unde-turd by setup time! (sorry...)
Thanks for the supportive comments. I got my inspiration from a far tidier but similar roll off concept on IIS.
If it's only spiders, I don't mind, it's the Joe Blakes that tend to concern me, although not too many in this valley. Bit cold for them, plus I have two friendly goannas that live under my house slab....
The batteries in the pics are my present tie downs, using a ratchet strap over the roof, plan is to put a couple of strong ring bolts on the side walls and attach to existing bolts on the slab that were used for wind turbine pole guys in a previous slab life.
Now if I could only work out a remote close system.....
Thanks Alex, hope you're doing well. I follow your adventures/crises from the sidelines.
BTW, my family's from Drake, I was born in Tenterfield, been to Tabulam (pub) many times, even to the rodeo many years ago. After decades overseas, I'm now just a few mountains over from you and yer gotta love Bortle 2, eh?
Luckily most of the grass in the photo is my nearest neighbour's, although my ride-on gives me a workout about every two weeks in the summer time
Thanks Alex, hope you're doing well. I follow your adventures/crises from the sidelines.
BTW, my family's from Drake, I was born in Tenterfield, been to Tabulam (pub) many times, even to the rodeo many years ago. After decades overseas, I'm now just a few mountains over from you and yer gotta love Bortle 2, eh?
Luckily most of the grass in the photo is my nearest neighbour's, although my ride-on gives me a workout about every two weeks in the summer time
Cheers and clear skies.
I ride my mower to the observatory and just take a different route each time and as a result I don't cut my grass other than what gets cut in my travels...the neighbours probably wonder why they can hear me cutting the grass at 3 am.
Strange, I never considered what you could do if you just pull the right strings
At least the cotton reels would match the architectural beauty of the tiny obs.
Perhaps I can follow Alex's advice and use the ride on as well, it must be all of 40 metres from the house verandah to the obs over some very rugged grass. I could then use the string to find my way back.
Must admit I'm ancient enough to remember trips to the outside bombsight dunny on freezing nights in Drake, all the while carefully inspecting for spiders, frogs (and red belly blacks in summertime)
Back to telescopes, much more fun collimating Houghy's photon spiders and mirrors on the Newts
You could use a gate motor which comes with a remote ( 2)...I have been thru the hoops getting mine to work and the key is to have the roof in effect balance on the gear track...mine had issues because it ran on wheels either side..that mean the thing moves around and creates many issues..but mine was just not cut out for the instalation really in retrospect..however yours won't have the distance to travel so it should not be much of an issue...mine was expensive simply because I got the biggest as there were many unknowns so overkill was sensible..I expect there will be cheaper smaller units...I find I still need to be there both for opening and closing just for little things like switching stuff on or off and putting the covers on or off ...given you are so close seriously dont underestimate the "string" approach...but if you need to close because a storm is on its way you need to go there and secure the roof with what ever system you use..
Good luck...the main thing is you have a good functional set up so take some time before you jump into motorised roof things.
Thanks Mike, I'd never seen that motivational video before, now I REALLY know what to do.
Warren: Yes, definitely have insulation in the plan, condensation gets pretty bad here and if El Nino strikes as predicted, summer cooling will also be vital to longevity.
Plan is to fasten some battens on the inside, as the walls are paper thin (Great guillotines), then glue/screw a layer of blue sarking over that for standard condensation protection a la house roofing. On top of that a layer of 5mm silver/foam/silver insulation sheeting. As the bottom is open, I'll put a decent top ventilator in get some circulation. Also a towel and waterproof plastic sheet over the mount for backup protection, as I presently do.
Alex: I most definitely won't be going past the string and cotton reel level, and there will be many months of consideration before I even start that!
There's a Powerbox Mini on top of the mount NUC, so I'll be able to keep an eye on summer performance while I'm hiding in my extremely well-insulated totally off-grid house with a cool G&T, stirred not shaken.
Well, that's the plan, anyway
Oh, and my apologies to all spanish and french viewers, I have no idea on how to add diacriticals to my typing.
Last edited by mldee; 09-06-2023 at 04:43 PM.
Reason: Added forAlex
I thought I'd try a few test snaps of the Rho Ophiuchi area last night using the ARM5, ACL200 and Touptek 294mc pro equivalent, all on the Dunny doo pier. Mainly interested in wifi performance and dew formation. All worked well, so I've included an uncalibrated shot of ic4605 more to show how the little Askar f4 200mm lens performs. I'm very happy with it. 15x 240s in NINA then APP stack and touch up. The Touptek will be my lone OSC. Also added a 2.5kg CW using threaded rod to the ARM5.
As Ebay garden sheds are not renowned for their anti-rust qualities, I sprayed the shiny bits with surplus spray can paint. I'll eventually paint the whole thing in my standard camouflage scheme.
Added wood bracing on the internal walls to take the external tiedown hooks and used a simple tiedown strap, which worked well and doesn't require any ratchet mechanism. Next step will be internal sarking and insulation, then on to the heavy weight scopes.
I love this contraption more every time I see it..its'a got'a me'a thinking...I have an NJP mount and a 152EDF Starfire and a spare Starlightxpress CCD camera, all sitting around idle...(sacrilege I know )...and a good close to 6m X 6m space at the observatory, for something..?.. cheap (ie wife friendly ) quick and easy...hmmm?...not sure I have as many useful bits and pieces around like you clearly had though ...hmmm?
Well, have had a month or so of use with the little second pier obs, very happy with it. Makes it very easy to setup for the night's imaging and then tidy things up when completed. The RC8 imaging train is too long to fit into the shed, but simple disconnect of USB3 and DC from the camera and it slides off as a unit for storage in the adjacent main obs. Easy Peasy, even for an old fart at 1am.
I found my wifi setup from the pier back to the main obs then onwards via the AP/bridge and cat5 to LAN switch then ethernet over powerline to my house was a bit flaky, so eventually decided to just run cat 5e from the pier to the main obs LAN router/bridge. 100% reliable connectivity now. WAN 30 down, 40 up at the pier.
Presently numbingly cold when doing PA and collimation star tests at the mount using a tablet with local hot spot for remote desktop, but I guess a lot of us have to do that on a regular basis anyway when not fortunate to have an obs.
The RC8 is performing well on the AM5, averaging about .9", with some wind-related spikes, probably due to the rather large surface area of the side by side arrangement. I'm about to write up my RC8 + OCAL pimp/collimation experiences, which are very positive, so all in all, a happy camper at the moment, with clear Bortle 2 skies almost every night
Really pleased to hear that its all worked out so well. I have to admit I've looked at what you've done a couple of times and thought "Hmmm...Could I / should I?"
...nice looking mount too.
), so at least I didn't have to polar align every visit...
) quick and easy...hmmm?...not sure I have as many useful bits and pieces around like you clearly had though 
