Astrolounge Observatory

[mick pinner]

As some may know l am in the process of building a split roll -off roof observatory and thought l would post a few pics of the progress.
If anybody has any questions l would be happy to help in any way l can so they can avoid some of the pitfalls that l found along the way.
The pictures won't be in any particular order but l'm sure you'll get the idea.
The floor is actually over 2m above the ground so the pier itself is around 3.3m long this meant that as well as being on a concrete base it required 4 stainless steel guide wires to be placed about a metre from the top, lwas concerned about the pier being so long but once the guide wires were tensioned with turnbuckles there is no obvious movement when using the scope.
The top mounting plates are 8mm thick and levelled using 18mm allthread.
Underneath the observatory there is also a seperate room built to house the imaging equipment on those really cold wintery nights, that is if and when l get the hang of it.
I'll post more as things progress and hope that some of you can learn from my mistakes. l

[mick pinner]

One side of the roof

[Striker]

Gee...that looks like a big job......cant wait to see the final pictures......

[mick pinner]

Top of pier

[silvinator]

wow excellent mick! i'm very impressed (and insanely jealous of both you and paul h now :D ) I would definitely like for you to post your progress reports so that we can all see how it's supposed to be done.

[mick pinner]

This is the other roof frame waiting to be lined with .6mm galvanised steel and then painted with baked enamel.
Building something like this should be done with galvanised steel to ensure that it will never rust.
The baked enamel that l used to paint the roof had a flattening base added for the inside to reduce any chance of glare.

[iceman]

That's looking fantastic Mick.. I'm envious of you guys who have homes where such an observatory can be made without worrying about neighbours houses, trees etc.

I've got big gumtrees in my backyard (or my neighbours yard) which block out the northwest and south skies.. so there's no 1 spot I can leave my scope, I have to shuffle it around the yard when I want views in particular directions.

[rumples riot]

Nice Mick, much larger scale project that mine. Interesting design features too. Keep those shots coming.

One comment though, I do think that you ought to go with a wedge. You will find imaging a lot easier. If you don't want to though I have a field derotator for sale and this would help you a lot with your current setup. Let me know if you are interested.

[mick pinner]

Thanks Paul, l am interested in the field de-rotator so let me know the details.
The reason l haven't put the LX on a wedge was because l was still pondering between actually putting it on an EQ mount, and doing away with the fork.
There seems to be a lot of divided opinion on the matter, fork stability and balance etc verses the advantage of the EQ although the viewing angles of the EQ sometimes leave a lot to be desired.
Secondly, l am considering a 14"RCX, l actually spoke to Michael at Bintel today about one and they are about 2-3 months away although buying a new model and hoping all the bugs are ironed out worries me a little, anyway the de rotator does interest me so let me know.

[mick pinner]

A few more shots of the ob.
This shot gives the perspective of how high the floor is and shows the channels that support the roof when it is split

[mick pinner]

4 of these runners allow the roof to roll apart quite smoothly, they're 50mm diameter and will support 40kg each although each roof section only weighs 65kg.

[[1ponders]]

Looking good mick. :cool2: Better make sure you've got endcaps on those runner rails. Looks like a long way up to lift that if it runs off the end :)

[mick pinner]

Well it's nearly finished, only half a roof to finish and then some electrical connections which will hopefully happen this weekend.

[mick pinner]

Inside it's new home.

[mojo]

That is truly impressive.

I can see daylight through some gaps there. What are you doing about dust flying in? Or are you just going to keep everything covered when not being used?

[MiG]

So you're ready for snow then :)

[rumples riot]

Looking very nice Mick, great stuff. More inspiration to do some more work. The scope looks really lovely in there mate.

[mick pinner]

Well another weekend went by and l got a little closer to finished, just a couple of progress pics.

[mick pinner]

from outside

[mick pinner]

top view

[mick pinner]

from the front

[rumples riot]

Looking wicked mate. What is the maximum aperture of the roll of roof? Does it go wider than shown?

[mick pinner]

RR, the roof will roll out to the end of the railings which gives an opening of 2.6m or just over 9 feet.

[rumples riot]

Wow cool.

[mick pinner]

Just some final photos of the observatory, it's finished, l think.

[mick pinner]

This shows it fully opened

[mick pinner]

This shows the opening span from the front

[wavelandscott]

That is really nifty!

[h0ughy]

Mick,

given the aspect that this seems to be looking at (south), what weather problems do you have? How much overlap is there inthe roof and what viewing angle is available above the horizon for the scope? Thanks for the post that lead me here. Great effort!

Houghy:astron:

[MiG]

What are you taking the photos with? It looks very out of focus.

[mick pinner]

Houghy,
The scope faces south and has access all the way to the horizon, to the other points of the compass it is about 15 degrees above, this is because of trees and such like, the roof has a double rubber seal where it meets and seals very well, the observatory is pretty well protected on all sides so any severe weather isn't a problem.

[mick pinner]

Mig,
A cheap self focusing digital, l hate digital cameras.

[h0ughy]

Mick,

thanks for the info.

Houghy

[Rohan]

i want an observatory!!!!

hehe one day, when i finally buy my own house (im only 22) i'm going to have so many factors to consider. 1 been sky views for my observatory (im already sick of the 30min set up time of my LX90 in the back yard) and the other major one is a sound proof room as i'm a DJ so am constantly creating alot of noise. Not to mention a room to house all my s**t (they call me inspector gadget for a reason) hehe.

"Your post was edited by Rumples Riot, please don't use words that are considered swearing, thanks."

[mick pinner]

the observatory has been up nearly a year now and it is working a treat, l thought it may have been a little small at the beginning but l think it is pretty right, these are some pics of the nightly set-up. there's a photo of the dvd recorder that l am downloading to at the moment with the tv as a focusing aid, the usual tray of ep goodies and the scope set-up in general.

[Astroman]

Awesome stuff there, I like the Sidchrome eyepiece set, gotta have top quality :D