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  #21  
Old 01-01-2013, 06:35 PM
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scagman (John)
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A bit of advancement on "The Tank" obs.

I was able to get a lend of a demolition saw over the new year break, so have cut a hole in the wall of the tank to put a door in.

The cuts aren't to straight as it was hard holding the saw straight.
The torque when 1st turned on was huge and had a big kick. But the hardest part was combating the gyroscopic effect from the 14" blade.

Unfortunatly I had to cut from both sides as the wall ranged from 12.5cm(5") at the top, to 14.5cm(5 3/4") at the bottom and I only had 10cm(4") cutting depth.

Doing the bottom cut, I destoyed the blade on a piece of reo running right across where I was cutting. Of course i couldn't see it till I had pushed the slab out. So a quick trip to Just Tools to get a new blade. Those blades are a lot more expensive than I imagined.
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  #22  
Old 01-01-2013, 06:43 PM
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And a couple more pics looking in. And 1 of the side of the slabe.
Anyone need a door for a bunker?

The door will lead into the office/warm room, with a partition running from the left of the door, thru the center post to other wall, and my scope sitting in the far qtr, between the broom and spray can. With room for another scope in the qrt to the left of the door way.

thanks for looking
Cheers
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  #23  
Old 01-01-2013, 06:49 PM
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Thats some neat bit of cutting John,
Did you cut the bottom before the top? How tall is the opening?
since its curved how will the door frame sit? maybe a curved door??
Looking good.
Cheers
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  #24  
Old 01-01-2013, 08:56 PM
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Hi Alistair,
Thanks but they're not to good up close.
No I cut the inside top last. I cut the outside 1st then the 2 inside verticles then bottom then top. Since its quite thick I should be able to build a door jam inside the hole.
The hole dimensions are 1900 x 1050. Allowing 50mm thick doorjab all the way round will bring it down to about 1800x1000mm. The door I have is 2030x900mm so will have to make the verticels thicker to match and trim it down a bit.
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  #25  
Old 02-01-2013, 02:10 AM
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Won't it be 1800 x 950 if its 50mm all around?
For the warm room, are you adding insulation in the roof and sides?
You could have a glass window in the partition to keep an eye on things and still keep warm
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  #26  
Old 02-01-2013, 09:11 AM
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Ops yes it should.

I hadn't considered a glass partiton. Might have to look into that idea. See what available 2nd hand.
Yes the warm room will be insulated eventually.
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  #27  
Old 20-03-2013, 02:04 PM
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Bit more of an undate.

I have most of the roof on now but have to make a few changes. I need to cut the 3 longest lenghts of roofing, (the middle length and the ones left and right of the openings) so they end at the opening. Then raise the short pieces to match the pitch of the peices at the north end of the openings. Then I'll attach some marine ply around the opening giving me a 100mm lip all the way around the opening. I will use flashing to make it water proof. The roll off sections will close up against this lip on the northern end where the roof of the roll off section will over hang 200-300 mm all around.

Here are a couple more pics showing the roof before amendments.

Cheers
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  #28  
Old 20-03-2013, 02:44 PM
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Looks really good John. I can see you spending a lot of long nights in there. I'm pretty sure you have already told me, but how are you going to operate the roof, manual or electric?

Next step is to have it all operating remotely, while you are sitting in by the cosy log fire.


Clear skies

Rod
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  #29  
Old 20-03-2013, 03:03 PM
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Thanks Rod,

At some stage a long way down the track I might go electric, but for the time being it will be manually operated.

Cheers
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  #30  
Old 24-06-2013, 11:43 AM
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A bit more more of an update.

Pic 1 and 2 show the frames for the roll of sections.
Pic 5 shows my first attempt at flashing using .3mm aluminium flashing, but I couldn't get it to form to the shape of the roof so I ditched that idea and bought some "Waka-Flex"
Pic 3 shows the first section with the "Waka-Flex" flashing. A much dearer option but worked well.
Pic 4 shows one of the roll off sections with the roof on.
Pic 6 Fitted door.
Pic 7 shows both roll off sections finished.
Pic 8 Looking thru the doorway.
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  #31  
Old 24-06-2013, 12:02 PM
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Some more internat pics.

I've still got a lot of work to do to get it comfortable, but its waterproof and as you can see, useable..

I will put insulation in the roof and line the walls as funds become available. Also a wall between the telescope and where I am set up.
Once I get a few of the gaps closed I'll be able to get a heater in there, which it needs as the last few nights have been freezing out there.

But very happy with it.

Cheers
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  #32  
Old 24-06-2013, 05:38 PM
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Looking really good John. Great work.

Love the blocks under the tripod.


Clear skies

Rod
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  #33  
Old 25-06-2013, 09:02 AM
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Thanks Rod,

Yeah the blocks were a last minute thing. Thier not really high enough, I can go another 4-5" higher before the the ota gets in the way of the roof. But they work and I havn't noticed any vibartions yet.

Cheers
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  #34  
Old 14-10-2015, 09:47 AM
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This is an old thread but I just got to use John's observatory for a remote setup so thought it best to post some pics.

Inside walls are now insulated and it really helped when it was cold outside.
This is my scope on the left on my home built tripod. The two roof openings work a treat.

Wooden blocks under mine were to get sufficient clearance, and thanks to a few blocks screwed to the bigger ones, I have around 20 deg west and 30deg east, around 30deg north visibility.

Cheers
Alistair
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  #35  
Old 14-10-2015, 07:33 PM
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That is an awesome home made tripod. I'm blown away by that.

Any chance you could send through some detailed pics of where the legs attach to the head.
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  #36  
Old 15-10-2015, 01:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN View Post
That is an awesome home made tripod. I'm blown away by that.

Any chance you could send through some detailed pics of where the legs attach to the head.
Thanks Alex,

I've attached a few old pics.
I'd built this for my fork mount, but adapted it for the MyT.
as the spread was too big, I just moved the flat connecting the legs to under the central piece instead of on top. that allowed me to reduce the spread to around 45deg and my OTA is clear of the legs on the MyT.

the legs are just Al channels and I use an M10 bolt and nyloc nut through each vertical ply section. its basically 2 x 18mm ply sandwiched for strength.

John needs to post some updated pics of his Obs.

it was really windy last night, but the scopes were protected inside the Obs and I was able to image.

Edit: added a recent pic of the tripod and ota

Cheers
Alistair
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  #37  
Old 15-10-2015, 08:37 PM
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Wow. Now I'm even more intrigued. Got any pics on the build of that fork mount? Was it RA driven? I am looking at building a small eq fork for a project I'm contemplating and that looks like it would do the trick. Once I get the idea under control I'd like to build a large one for a different project. Would love to compare notes.
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  #38  
Old 09-10-2017, 03:08 PM
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A bit more work done over the last couple of years.
I have insulated the walls by adding insulation behind some cardboard panels I got from bunnings. The panels are about 4mm thick. I went with the cardboard as I was able to curve it around the walls.
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  #39  
Old 09-10-2017, 03:30 PM
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In the last couple of months I then put in a dividing wall, which is only half finished at the moment.
Need to run power and internet cables in the wall yet so haven't
I will put insulatation in once cabling is in place and put the cardboard panels up on the telescope side.

I will eventually insulate the ceiling as time permits
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