DIY Ob

[Karlzburg]

I'm in a few minds on what to build...

I looked at what's here and I debating whether to build a ror, domed roof on a hexagonal base or round base, a yurt style with 8 sided roof. I have drawn up plans for the observa-yurt and the dome roof.
We have people stay at our farm in the cottage and the other half is thrilled at the idea of an observatory here ( I think more for the talking point ).
I do have cabinet making/ metal fab background and I'm up for a challenge.

Cheers
Karl

[glend]

RORs are pretty easy to build. Any sort of round structure gets complicated imho.

[Karlzburg]

I get into minus temps up here quite a bit through the winter and ror seemed a little to exposed for myself mainly

[glend]

It is hard to avoid the cold in any sort of observatory as warm air will rise and try to escape through any opening in the roof. Yes a dome may have a smaller opening but it still vents and some rotation has to be provided in some way. A ROR, of adequate size, can have a warm room towards the back, and you don't need to roll the roof back entirely, depending on your location and how you orient the building. For imagers, it does not take much effort to provide for remote monitoring or operation from your main house. I run a WiFi local area network which reaches the Obs and allows Teamviewer to link the house PC with the Obs system.

[speach]

I've decided to build a very small obs, just large enough for the scope and computer, and then control it all from the warmth or air conditioned comfort of the house. Fed up with sitting out there freezing my man bits off. The ob will be completely roll away so the whole sky is my oyster. There will be a small water tight cupboard that will house the computer, monitor etc. The only times I'll have to go out is to focus, change filters things like that so the time out side will be short, and I can see that It wont be long before an automated filter wheel and focuser will be arriving via Aust Post! BTW I don't look through eyepieces the last time was about 2 months ago and that was to align my finder scope. That's the design stage now it's in the drawing office (head) soon to go to construction (hammer) just a few networking problems to figure out.