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  #1  
Old 25-03-2011, 02:57 PM
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Starry Night Observatory

one day to go

Last edited by steve000; 26-03-2011 at 03:08 PM.
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  #2  
Old 26-03-2011, 03:28 PM
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Its finally here!!!!

She has arrived, Starry Night Observatory.

IceInSpace's loved member jjjnettie has donated her old observatory to a good home.

With much bartering and millions of emails later I finally got it transported from Kilcoy to Hattonvale.. a 1.5hour trip that took nerly 2.5 hours on the day.

It was transported by Warren from Zenith Transport. He was legendary!, we had to balance it on its roof to be under size, it took forever but was worth it in the end. I highly recommend Warren, he was very professional yet a nice easy going bloke. His rates were very decent as well.

Now starts the work, this old observatory has seen its fair share of weather but with a bit of work, in a year or so it will be as good as new.

Stay tuned as I will post updates as I go.. when complete, some members, make sure you have an empty belly because I will officially "open" it with a bbq and campout.

attached are some pics.

Again many thanks to jjjnettie and Warren from Zenith.
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  #3  
Old 26-03-2011, 03:51 PM
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jjjnettie (Jeanette)
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Fantastic news. Glad you got it there in 3 pieces.
I'm looking forward to watching the rebuild.
So happy it's gone to a good home.
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Old 26-03-2011, 05:37 PM
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Congratulations. That took courage and determination. Ironically, I was driving up that road just 2 days ago and noted that the old observatory was still sitting there with a jungle growing out of it. While you'll certainly have plenty of work to do, you can be sure it will reward your effort many times over.

Peter
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Old 26-03-2011, 06:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jjjnettie View Post
Fantastic news. Glad you got it there in 3 pieces.
I'm looking forward to watching the rebuild.
So happy it's gone to a good home.
Well done to have got it there in Three pieces
I too will be watching the rebuild as I have been involved with this Dome from the start
Cheers
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Old 26-03-2011, 06:43 PM
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yep amazing

yep 3 pieces plus the door piece for measurements., it was so nerve wracking the entire way untlll we got off Brisbane valley highway i would watch it every bump rock side by side. it moved to the right a bit.

I did it upside down to keep under or near legal limit because pilots cost more then the truck!

unfortunately the left hand side of the top door/lid support collapsed a bit.. no big deal, 90% of it is ok, easy fix.

I gave it a good inspection this arvo, new rollers, very minimal structural, some steel bashing, the rest is cosmetic wash, paint, some patching etc.. all achievable. ohh and a new door something thick and tough maybe a dead lock or 2.

Peter, Funny you drove past it 2 days ago , strange how the world works.

Ron im sure I will have many questions

Does anyone have any pics of it when it was in operation at the astro club? i found an old website but it was empty
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Old 26-03-2011, 09:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steve000 View Post
yep 3 pieces plus the door piece for measurements., it was so nerve wracking the entire way untlll we got off Brisbane valley highway i would watch it every bump rock side by side. it moved to the right a bit.

I did it upside down to keep under or near legal limit because pilots cost more then the truck!

unfortunately the left hand side of the top door/lid support collapsed a bit.. no big deal, 90% of it is ok, easy fix.

I gave it a good inspection this arvo, new rollers, very minimal structural, some steel bashing, the rest is cosmetic wash, paint, some patching etc.. all achievable. ohh and a new door something thick and tough maybe a dead lock or 2.

Peter, Funny you drove past it 2 days ago , strange how the world works.

Ron im sure I will have many questions

Does anyone have any pics of it when it was in operation at the astro club? i found an old website but it was empty
Hi Steve, here is a short history of the dome
Built by a friend at Morayfield about 1988.
Sold to the Sunshine Coast Astronomical Society (SCAS) about 1996
and moved to a property in Mapleton ,but never assembled
Bought by the president of the club about 1998 and assembled at Beerburrum and used for a few years .
Dismantled and moved to Kilcoy about 2005
Obtained by Jeanette a couple or so years later
And now you have it
Jeanette may want to put in some dates as well
I hope you get some good use out of it
I maybe even tempted to travel to the opening when you have it
Cheers

PS No pics as it was never assembled when owned by the club.
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Old 27-03-2011, 05:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron View Post
Hi Steve, here is a short history of the dome
Built by a friend at Morayfield about 1988.
Sold to the Sunshine Coast Astronomical Society (SCAS) about 1996
and moved to a property in Mapleton ,but never assembled
Bought by the president of the club about 1998 and assembled at Beerburrum and used for a few years .
Dismantled and moved to Kilcoy about 2005
Obtained by Jeanette a couple or so years later
And now you have it
Jeanette may want to put in some dates as well
I hope you get some good use out of it
I maybe even tempted to travel to the opening when you have it
Cheers

PS No pics as it was never assembled when owned by the club.
Oh wow! what a history. Jeanette said from 2007 till a few days ago she had it i think. but that is really fantastic even more motivation for me to get it pristine and working again.

Any other pics of it throughout history? maybe from your friend?

thanks again

steve
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Old 27-03-2011, 09:10 PM
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I also forgot, We had an extra passenger that day.

take a look at the attachment. I nearly got him in a pic with a fly but just missed it.

That piece of steel is about 40mm wide
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Old 02-04-2011, 03:45 PM
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Video

Hey all,

i have uploaded a part 1 of 2 of the video of the delivery .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YIyLthzPiI
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  #11  
Old 02-04-2011, 05:47 PM
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Steve,
Nice to have captured the recent history. Good luck with the project.

Chris
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  #12  
Old 02-04-2011, 09:33 PM
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Steve,
Nice to have captured the recent history. Good luck with the project.

Chris

Thanks mate,

Part 2 uploaded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUF-ubNsR-U
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  #13  
Old 02-04-2011, 09:42 PM
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Cool, thanks for that.
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Old 02-04-2011, 11:26 PM
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great to see things coming together
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  #15  
Old 03-04-2011, 10:22 AM
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Awww good on ya Steve cant wait to see her all done up
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Old 03-04-2011, 10:47 AM
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Steve,I showed the original builder the video of the truck unloading the dome last night
He is happy it has gone to start another chapter in its hopefully long life
Unfortunatly he has no pics of the construction or when it was in use,as he is not much into taking photographs
Jeanette may be ble to ask the owner before if he has any pictures of it set upin his place
Best of luck with the reconstruction
Cheers
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Old 04-04-2011, 10:35 AM
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That's great Ron, thanks for that, glad to get his approval.

Progress might be slow as its at mums and im short on cash.

I have gotten the steel for the pier, but i need to get 2 plates replaced as they were cut wrong.
I have also sorted out the electronics.

I will have a solar panel outside on a frame so its off the ground about 1m. The panel will be mounted in a way that will allow it to track the sun, a little circuit from ebay and a low rpm motor will allow tracking. I will also have the back of the frame notched with a pin so I can adjust the tracker assembly up and down to follow the approximate height of the sun.
Deg's Mon actual deg mon actual deg
40 jul 38 jun 40
45 aug 44 may 47
55 sep 53 apr 58
65 oct 65
70 mar 70
75 nov 75
80 Feb 80 dec 82
85 Jan 85

This array via a charger will recharge a 50-80 Ah deep cycle battery.
this will provide power to LED lighting as well as a DC-DC adapter for my eee, 12v cigarette sockets for my scope and usb hub as well as a dc regulator to step down 12v to 7.4 v to power my DSLR, the sockets will be installed in the center of the pier. I will run conduit under the concrete up the center of the pier to keep all cables hidden and away from tripping over.

I will have RED on the floor lighting (attached is what someone else did)
as well as other red lights for stuff. and maybe a bright white light setup of some sort for other purposes.. I like LED's and have 1000's
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Old 24-04-2011, 06:42 PM
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Quick update

Hey All,

I have taken some pics of the damage that needs repair.

Attached are 5 pics

1 Wide view of the obs on a beautiful easter sunday morning.
2 pics of the hinge joining the lower, what id call the pivit. This piece will need to be replaced along with maybe some repair of the lower door
1 pic of the inner roof door support. i recken remove the panel, cut the damaged out, get replacement ply and shape it to match, then reattach.
1 pic of the roller mounts.. not sure on this, i was thinking of casters as its hard 2 find bearings that are wide. or in steel pipe
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Click for full-size image (IMG_6722.JPG)
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Old 26-04-2011, 04:19 AM
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Steve, I have 8 roller blade wheels here I bought but didn't use in mine. They are about 80mm in diameter, come to a taper point and have bearings installed with a 9mm I/D. PM if interested.
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  #20  
Old 26-04-2011, 10:17 AM
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Steve, I have 8 roller blade wheels here I bought but didn't use in mine. They are about 80mm in diameter, come to a taper point and have bearings installed with a 9mm I/D. PM if interested.
Thanks heaps for the offer. unfortunatly i dont think they will work. the guides are about the size of skateboard bearings and the rollers are about 50mm dia by 80mm wide. they are weird
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