New observatory build

[gregbradley]

This will be the 3rd observatory I have built. I have moved out of the Sydney
area down to the south coast of NSW (very beautiful).

The seeing here can be exceptional being so close to the ocean and thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean.

Slab poured today. I start construction in about 2 weeks or less.

Getting excited. It's been a while since I've done a serious image.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Gee, that was a tease Greg :face: :lol:

Still, I look forward to seeing and hearing about all the progress :thumbsup:

Mike

[TrevorW]

All the best Greg :)

[g__day]

Good luck Greg - will be interested to see your designs? Are you far enough from the coast so that sea spray and salt deposits won't be a huge problem?

[gregbradley]

Hehe. It will probably be another 6 weeks.

I am also planning to build a 2nd observatory at my dark site. I have a mount ready for that.



Cheers Trev.



Thanks. I haven't noticed salt spray and deposits on anything and am about 2kms from a large basin and about around 3kms from the ocean. Something like that.

Design will be something simple and that fits in with the house. A slab with a pier anchor bolted to it. Then something like a 3 x 3.5 metre shed with colorbond or Hardiplank walls. The roof will be an A frame possibly using aluminium roofing to keep the weight down. Sliding gate rails from Bunnings with concave wheels for the roll off. Not sure if the whole roof will roll off or only 2 metres of the roof as trees mean I only image from the zenith down to low in the west. It would make the roll off frame more compact. Probably will use aluminium sections to build the frame of the roof and the roll off frame to prevent wood warping and rot over time like my last observatory.

I put a PVC pipe and conduit in the slab to run cables through from the pier to where I will put a desk, so no cables on the floor.

I will do the A frame roof in a direction that will protect from prevailing winds when opened and the A frame will be steep enough to direct the wind over the top of a telescope rig.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

Congratulations on the new project Greg. I’m looking forward to the updates.

[marc4darkskies]

Any progress Greg? Pictures would be noice!

[Startrek]

Congratulations Greg
Welcome to the South Coast !!
I’m 150m from the beach , up at 50m above sea level on a hill and so far I haven’t had any issues with equipment in regard to salt , rust , mould etc… The mirrors on my Newts are still in good shape
Only one of my unplugged USB cables sitting on my NexDome workstation desk has signs of fine rust spots appearing but that’s after 2 years.
Plus we had the deluge this time last year as well and apart from some mould on the inside walls of the Dome , everything survived that miserable weather. Just a rag and spray and cleaned up nicely

Good luck and hope everything goes well ( photos of your progress would be great )

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Thanks Martin.

I finally finished upgrading the interior of the new house with timber flooring, wainscoting, VJ board feature walls and other work. All very time consuming but it came out great.

I have had a slab out the back ready for the new observatory for some time.
I just added a walkway slab to where the front door will be for easier access.

In the meantime, I set up a pier I have had for some time made for me by a guy in WA. It was a prototype and extremely well made. I set that up over the last 2 days and made an adapter plate to mount an iOptron CEM 70 with ipolar on it. I finished that yesterday and installed the mount. I got out my CFF 105 F6 last night and mounted it and did a small amount of visual on the moon. Lots of holes drilled and tapped.

Its a smallish mount, quite portable and somewhat light and it seems well made. It has Paramount MX type locks on the 2 axes which I like. Its centre weighted and may give it an advantage. It came with a PE graph which is very low, around 4 arc secs and quite smooth. The remaining PE may PEC out. Time will tell.

I intend to get the portable pier for it so I can do a small slab at my dark site observatory so I can have 2 imaging rigs going at the same time (3 rigs if I setup my mirrorless camera gear). I will use ir for my refractors the CFF 105 F6 and AP 130 GT F6 with its quad TCC reducer/flattener making it F4.5. I have a Riccardi reducer for the CFF but I still need to tune that.

My dark site I will mount my AP Riccardi Honders 305mm F3.8 astrograph. I need something large aperture and fast as my dark site in the last few years has mostly been cloudy and in a 4 day trip perhaps only one or two clear nights so you've got to have a setup that is fast.

The new observatory at my house I am planning to be about 2.8 to 3 metres x the same or close to it. I back onto a golf course so I need to plan out the roll off roof carefully for maximum protection from wayward golf balls (a solar panel has been smashed and I got 2 dents in the ceilings of my alrefresco. Fortunately they don't play at night or early morning so its more a matter of setting up the best park position.

I am thinking simpla colorbond cladding on a light timber or metal frame with a door and a roll off roof frame hidden with some decorative cutout panels. Sliding gate metal tracks (Bunnings) and a lightweight roof perhaps just flat or maybe pitched for extra clearance and perhaps better protection.

In the meantime I have my temporary setup and a Telegizmo cover. I want to get that setup and working in the next week or so. AP130 at F4.5 and QHY600m for that. CFF 105 F6 and FLI Proline 16803 for the other widefield setup. CCD is not gone yet.

Also a Canon EOSRa on a Vixen tripod and Fornax Lightrack 11 with a QHY Polemaster for polar alignment. There are tons of super scenic spots to do Milky Way nightscapes around here.

Seeing here at times can be great. Other times just average but I think overall its better seeing than at my last home which was at 170 metres. This one is at 20 metres or so but close to the ocean - around 2kms away
So not a lot of landscape to cause local poor seeing.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

All sounds like a great plan Greg, one to watch with interest :) :thumbsup:

Mike

[Startrek]

Greg,
It’s going to be great set up and location
If you back onto the old Sussex golf course , I first played there in 1976 , a real dog track back then , a tin shed as a club house , no toilets and the greens were full of weeds. I imagine it’s a real golf course nowadays.
Your a zillion miles away from the ocean compared to me , I’m only 150m or so up on the lee side of a hill but protected by a reserve with large gums which don’t impede my view at all , my view is 360deg from 20 deg up
You will have no issue with salt etc.., even when a nor’easter blows
Can’t wait to see photos of your set up
Good luck with everything
Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

The golf course is very well maintained and quite scenic really.

I am looking at different design possibiiities. Currently I am thinking of using a horizontal roof roll off shutter. I don't want the backyard observatory rising above the fence line if I can avoid it.

So about 2.8 metres square with a roll off roof shutter being a bit wider and around 2.4 metres tall.

I notice the seeing is superior looking to the north than towards the east.

I plan on building it in the next month.
Greg.

[TrevorW]

Well if you can build it in a month you'll beat my record :)

[strongmanmike]

I think that stat might just stand right next to the famous 99.94....:question:

Mike

[gregbradley]

The last observatory I built took me a 10 days.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

I once just got a tarpaulin and some hockey straps from Bunnings..bingo, observatory! :D

:lol:

Mike

[Startrek]

Mike,
In my surfing days mid to late 70’s we called em Occy straps as they came with either a single strap , quad or eight bungy tentacles with hooks
But no prob with Hockey straps

Retired Surf bum now avid Amateur Astronomer
Cheers
M

[SimmoW]

So, how did the build go Greg? 😂 Following your build closely, as it matches our own plans closely. I’ve been away from Astro far too long, largely due to other farm and life priorities taking over, but I feel things are balancing off a bit so have decided to think long term and get going on my own RoR shed, along with another buddy. We will certainly take more than a month! Might be finished before the Westgate tunnel…

[gregbradley]

Hi Simo,

Just about to start.
I had other work to do first like laying
marble floor tiles which I have now finished.

So observatory construction starts in about a week.

I’ll mark out the size of it first then lay a colorbond flashing
fixed and sealed to the slab ti make it vermin proof
and water tight.

Then I’ll build a frame. I would like to do that in true core
like my house.
That makes it fireproof.

Roof frame I’ll use 50 x 50mm x 3mm thick aluminium
square section to keep it light yet strong.
Bunnings sells sliding gate tracks so I’ll be using them as well.

More later with photos as I start.

Greg

[gregbradley]

As far as the roll off roof I am leaning towards a split in the middle so half rolls off one way and half the other. That way I minimise the ugly roll off roof frame.

I olan to put some garden stainless steel cable system and some vines to soften
the look of that frame.

I also plan to use Hardie Plank cladding and paint it shale grey to blend in with the house.

That might mean I have to use timber framing but I should be able to screw the planks down?

Greg

[xelasnave]

That is a great idea...not only for appearance but for easy of construction and later management. The thing that you are probably thinking about is water proofing the join...I would suggest felt or similar to prevent driving rain entering..let over kill guide you.

Also you could enclose the area between the supports with shade cloth or similar and use the enclosed ( and covered) area as a green house.

Good luck.

alex

[gregbradley]

Thanks Alex.

Where the roof halves join i’ll do a colorbond flashing where one side of rhe roof goes under it by 200mm.
Did that in the last observatory and it worked well.

Greg

[gregbradley]

Prety much designed my new home observatory today.

Bought the sliding gate tracks and wheels to suit from Bunnings today.

I start construction tomorrow.

I'll post some photos as I finish the diffferent phases of the construction.


Greg.

[gregbradley]

Gone for a slightly sloped flat roof that is split in the middle and rolls off each way 1 metre,

I had to consider where the observatory is with regards to my new house and smaller land plot (no longer on acreage).

Today is mostly about collecting materials and getting them onsite.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

All sounds very exciting..canni wait for some photos :jump:

Mike

[Startrek]

Greg,
Enjoy building the new Obs
I’ll have to drop by some time in the future to meet up and check out your new site.
My retirement getaway with Dome is only 30mins further south

Looking forward to seeing your progress

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

I agree, it’s an enjoyable process building an observatory.

Yes we should meet up some time. I am familiar with
Your area.

I changed the design back to an up and over roof.
Steel framing mostly done today.
Start cladding and roof structure tomorrow.

Greg

[LonelySpoon]

Looking forward to progress reports!

Neville
LSO

[gregbradley]

Well it's been a few hard days and the framing is complete, the Hardi Primelok cladding is complete and the roll off roof structure is complete.

I ended up getting a bifold window worth $3000 for $1000 and installed it and it makes it look very good as it's right at the back of my new house.
Now just the roofing sheets and a door and some flashings/cappings to finish it off.

The frame is all steel so the whole building is fire proof.

I will also need electricity connected to it.

Pier is ready to be fixed (it's heavy).

The roll off roof is a dream and the framing is lightweight aluminium 50mm square section. Sliding gate rails and matching wheels roll easily. The roof is split into 2 halves and can roll off either way or together to reveal the whole available sky (limited).

Should have it 100% done this week.

I'll post some photos tomorrow.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

Good news Greg. Looking forward to photos :D

[strongmanmike]

Yeah, me too :party:...one needs to live vicariously through others, to keep the dream alive :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Here are some photos.

100mm 1.6mm galvanised C purlin. Bought from Edon steel but a very common product from roofing companies.

L brackets from Bunnings and 25mm Tek screws into metal. Predrill holes with a rivet drill bit (#30 or 3mm). Then screw off.

L brackets are anchor bolted to the 100mm thick slab with 50mm x 10mm anchor bolts.

The bottom of the observatory walls has a colorbond flashing, 100mm up the frame and 50mm across the slab at 95 degrees to shed water and sealed to the slab with a thick bead of Sikaflex Pro set back from the edge about 20mm so it doesn't squish out.

The window I picked up 2nd hand off Facebook Market from a local who ordered the wrong size. It cost them $3,000 and I got it for $1,000. It's a bifold window 2 metres by about 700 and extremely well made. Same brand and colour as ther sliding stacker doors on my house.

Added benefit it opens up a more panoramic view behind the house when viewing inside the observatory. I plan on putting a blind on it to shield from light but it also makes the building prettier and perhaps more future saleable as a craft room, work at home space etc, etc.

Cladding is James Hardi Primelok preprimed fibre cement cladding. I got it halfo price as a clearance item from Bunnings. $1300 for 52 x 4.2metre x 145mm cover.

It is screwed to the purlins with 30mm M8 metal screws. We predrilled the holes so the screwing off was easy and no damage to the cladding.

I'll send some more photos of the roll off roof which is now framed and some details on that.

Tomorrow I plan to install chicken wire across the roof frame, insulation blanket and colorbond corrugated (custom orb). I'll then order some cappings. and a flashing to join the 2 halves of the roof. I found the roll off roof also works very well if the whole roof is rolled off. It exposes almost all the sky my limited view at this site has. It's still a large swath of the sky.

The sliding gate track and the matching sliding gate wheels from Bunnings worked really well. My son and I worked together on this. He has high standards and I am very happy with it. The roof rolls off effortlessly. One important tip there was to fit the wheels on both sides then lay the track loose and let the wheels push the track into the ideal spot then screw it off rather than trying to measure where it should be and screw it off and probably getting some misalignment error.

The roof rolls off easily. The colorbond roof should only weigh about 15-25kgs each side.

The trusses were made out of 50 x 50mm 3mm walled aluminium square section. Strong and light and easy to handle. My son was able to hang his bodyweight off the trussed with no problem so they are very strong.

This is 6 days work. Probably another 4 days to finish it off, painting, clad the gables of the roll off roof, another board of cladding to hide the wheels etc.

I have the pier in the room so just need to orient it to true south and anchor bolt it down. Then the mount - a PME.

More to come.

Greg.

[Ryderscope]

Now we’re talking. Taking shape very nicely. I love how close it is the golf course. Should be able to pick up a few free golf ball me thinks :)

[Dave882]

Looking fantastic!

[strongmanmike]

Great progress Greg :thumbsup:

How much do the surrounding trees restrict sky access?

Mike

[gregbradley]

Hehe, yes a few. Luckily the golf course has moved the tee off point so I don't get many golf balls in the backyard at all now which was a worry for the scopes.

But I don't see anyone playing golf until about 9am or so and I would have closed the roof by then.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

They restrict a fair bit, can't really pick up an object until its close to the zenith but can see it all the way down.

Also the block is NNW/SSE oriented so I get a good view of the south and at the moment about 20 degrees past the galactic centre. So it's not unrestricted like Bigga.

Today I put on the roof with insulation under it and one more board of cladding plus order the cappings.

Not quite sure how to orient the pier. I may set up a temporary scope and mount and do a rough polar alignment so I bolt the pier in the correct orientation.

Greg.

[LonelySpoon]

That's looking great, Greg

Are you planning on local control or from in the house?

Neville
LSO

[strongmanmike]

Nothing a bit of target planning can't deal with :thumbsup:

So you will still have Bigga, awesome, best of both Worlds :thumbsup:...you a surfy? :)

Mike

[gregbradley]

I have an Asi air




Hehe, no not a surfie but like boating and plan on kayaking around the many waterways of the south coast. Endlessly beautiful spots down here.

Yes, I figure planning should take care of that plus I want to start with the CDK17 and its reducer giving F4.8 or so.

At Bigga planning on extending the observatory or perhaps even a 2nd one so I can run a refractor setup using an iOptron CEM70 and the AP1`30 or CFF105 as well as the Honders in the main observatory. As you know 12inches of aperture at F3.8 is a wondeful thing!

Been getting a lot of clear nights down here in the last few months.
Bodes well.

Greg.

[AstroViking]

Looking great, Greg!

[gregbradley]

The roll off frame which is 2 frames that roll off either together or in opposite directions.

The metal plate reinforcing for the truss is an important feature.
Its cut out using a grionder and a thin metal cutting disc from a sheet of 1.6mm galvabond plate you can get from Bunnings. I think it was 500 x 400 or so plus lots of screws. This means plenty of room for the telescope not hitting the bottom of the truss. Normally you would have a horizontal beam at wall height which the scope would hit.

Its strong too. My son hung his whole weight off this truss and it didn't budge at all.

The frame is made out of 50 x50 and 40 x 40 aluminium square section to keep the weight down. You currently can roll these sections effortlessly and smoothly a major upgrade from my last observatory where the roll off frame was a real problem. That was with treated pine. Metal is far superior in this application. Timber is not strong enough, is heavy and can give a bit over time.

My other observatory has a surprisingly heavy flat roof made of treated pine and Kliplok roofing. Its a bit hard to opena nd close but that suits the area which can be bombarded with very strong winds.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Ok, ok...I better come down and reeeally test it for you! :face: :P

Mike

[gregbradley]

Hehe.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
Looks like the Obs is well underway, nice solid construction too ( yep steer away from timber , termites are a problem down our way , regular inspections and treatment )
You have a lovely location too.
In regards to kayaking, my wife and I kayak occasionally at the Inlet , Burrill and other places, she’s also a member of mollymook outriggers ( casual group ) They have a group at Conjolla if you’re interested. Plenty of water ways from Conjolla to Durras, a great part of the South Coast.
Cheers
Martin

[strongmanmike]

Stop it! You're making me jealous, for what I don't have :sadeyes:..and sounds like what my wife has been, not so subtly, mentioning since we acquired Eagleview "house by the sea this, house by the sea that"... geeezus woman, look at that panoramic 83km view! will ya?! Maama Mia! :rolleyes: :scared:...

:lol:

Mike
Will likely end up Martones and Gregs Neighbour....

[gregbradley]

My new house has a steel frame and that is comforting to know it won't burn or be affected by termites. Also very strong.

Sounds good Martin. More of a warmer weather activity though.

Observatory moved along today. I got more materials yesterday.
Today I did final work on the frame and tracks, moved the rear wheels further in so I can roll it off just a bit more to take in all the available field of view. Also installed some stops so the roll off roof will stop when rolled off.

Install some overlatches to hold the roof down when I've finished imaging. Installed some chicken wire to hold up the insulation blanket.

I out the roof on tomorrow and another board of cladding to hide the wheel and close up that gap.

Then colorbond mini orb for the gables and its install time for the pier and mount and a table.

Then install a door I bought. Then wire it up. Then painting.

I should be imaging in it within 2 weeks.
The attached photo is from Sunday. The new work done today doesn'y really look much different to this but it's work that has to be done.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Put chicken wire on the roof sections and roofed one half of the roof. I have 55mm insulation blanket under the roof sheets. An awkward job.

I'll probably insulate the walls at a later date.

Planning to roof the other half today and pick up some more materials.

I want to order the cappings to finish off the roof and clad the gables.

Getting closer to imaging. Once the roof is on then I can install the pier and mount.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

You know anyone who's good at doing this..? :question: will you use copper or lead? :P

Mike

[gregbradley]

Hahaha. Yes good question.

Roof sheets are now on and about to order the cappings to finish it off.

Installing pier and some cables today. I intend to pin the pier down with 2 anchor bolts so if I have to rotate it to match south more accurately I can.
I'll install the PME mount today as well and tonight if I get all that done I'll do a rough polar alignment and if the pier is in the right orientation I'll anchor bolt it thoroughly tomorrow.

The roll off roof glides effortlessly - a first for my observatories. These wheels and the sliding gate tracks are terrific. First heard of them on this site so that paid dividends.

The combo is flexible, I can lock the 2 halves together as one and roll it off (maximum view) or split and have half roll off (similar view but a tad less).

I installed 6 overlatches to create that. Bunnings sells them. Well made and work well and easily.

I have quite a bit of left over beautiful Blackbutt engineered floor boards. I intend to lay that on the floor once everything it watertight.
It looked like I would have enough left over lovely marble floor tiles but I used them up.

Going for Australia's most luxurious observatory!

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Some up to date photos.

Showing the roof sheets.
Showing the overlatch system
A look inside.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Excellent, a luxury observatory needs a bar and bar fridge :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

Hehe. Perhaps a cappucino machine?

Greg.

[LonelySpoon]

I've got a pod coffee maker and a microwave in mine.
I haven't used them yet, though. Scared they'll draw too much power and ruin a 3 hour session!

Neville
LSO

[gregbradley]

That's a nice bit of luxury!

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Hey Greg, in the photo of the observatory showing the window and closed roof, what's the box shaped object, with the circles (?) on the top, to the left on the outside of the house?

Mike

[AstroViking]

Looks like a very large split-system heating/cooling unit to me.

V.

[gregbradley]

Yes its a reverse cycle ducted air condtioner for the house. Behind the observatory is a 4500litre water tank that takes rainwater and services the toilets and washing machine.

I built a neat little flat pad next to my observatory at my dark site this week.
It has a really well made pier that one of the members here made for me from Perth as a prototype. Very solid.

I'll primarily use this pad for an iOptron CEM70 mount that I have gone through setting up (firmware, debugs etc etc - new gear same story).
I now have that mount up and running. I plan to use AP130 F4.5 and CFF 105 F6 on this mount.

Next time there I hope to be very productive imaging wise. 4 clear nights this week went to waste.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Are those A/C fans likely to affect local seeing..?

Mike

[gregbradley]

I don’t think so as I will be mostly pointing away from them,
but it’s something to consider.

Greg

[gregbradley]

This took me about an hour and a half to build. I wasn't able to get the new mount setup as I needed faster internet to get all the info I needed.

It is setup now so next time it will be imaging. So I can have 2 setups going at the same time.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Far out man, multi observatory builder :eyepop: awesome :thumbsup:

Mike

[LonelySpoon]

That is an impressive plinth, Greg!

Neville,
LSO

[gregbradley]

As you are probably finding, when you have a remote observatory lots of things get in the way of visiting it and getting imaging time in. So the 2 setups is an attempt to make each trip more productive.



Yes it was a protoype by a guy from Perth.
He only charged me $600. It’s extremely well made.

Greg

[strongmanmike]

Indeed, only last night, while my current rig was purring away, I was strolling around the observing area, in the dark, (complete with resident wombat), contemplating where to setup the NJP mount :question:... to take the Starfire EDF...or maybe a camera lens, for wider field imaging :question: your photo was encouraging :D

Mike

[Nikolas]

Love your work Mike it is an inspiration, Pity my wife won't let me build something smaller in our yard :(

[gregbradley]

I spent an hour in Bunnings and less than $120 and it took about an hour to hour and a half to dig out the area (1.2 x 1.2 metres) lay and level some road base (4 x 20kg bags from Bunnings) and lay the pavers.

The 75 x 35mm treated pine is 2 x 2.7 metre lengths. I got some thick 75 x 75mm L brackets and some 25mm roofing screws to form the square.

If you do it make the lengths about 1.25-1.30 metres to allow for the thickness of 2 of the lengths that go inside the square and 2 that go outside the square. Plus your pavers have to clear the top of the screws in the L brackets, so give yourself a bit of room for that.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Installed the pier and the PME mount yesterday.
Installed some colorbond mini orb on one of the gables.

Hope to install the cappings today so its all waterproof. Perhaps even clad the other gable. 2 days work should see the structural side finished and then that just leaves painting, installing a desk, setting up a computer.

Then a rough polar alignment so I know the pier is in the correct position to allow fine tuning for a precise polar alignment.

I should be imaging in less than a week.

Later I intend to install insulation in the walls and black colorbond cladding on the inside.

I may put a vent in the cladding of the both gables to get some cooling on hot days. Or perhaps a cheap AC unit from Bunnings may be a good thing.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Ooooh getting close Greg :2thumbs:

Mike

[LonelySpoon]

A/C is a good idea.. You can use it to pre-cool everything for those hot summer nights...

I found a need for a de-humidifier during the winter months in my dome in Southern Tablelands. WAs getting black mould on things at one time.

Can't wait to see the finished set-up Greg!

Neville
LSO

[gregbradley]

Yes, back at it today. Didn't do much the last 2 days.



Thanks for that. Bunnings has some cheap portable AC units.

Greg.

[SimmoW]

Great updates and work Greg! A buddy and I are starting work on our 2 sheds very soon, so your approach and update is much appreciated! Stand by for more questions possibly.

We are in Bortle 2-1 skies here near Violet town in Vic, can’t wait to get back into Astro after a heap of catching up!! A shed is perfect for me, as I’m often too stuffed from farm work to bother setting up each night, so set n forget will be most enjoyed . Your posts are inspiring. The forum posts I mean 😂

[gregbradley]

It rained last night and no water got in except one small area where I haven't clad the other gable yet.

I put the first of the flashings where the 2 halves of the roof meet. I'll do the other side this afternoon and see how well it works. I'll post a photo of the flashing so you can see the design.

Basically it goes across 2 ribs and folds down slightly on the top of a corrugation. Then steps up 20mm and continues across another 150mm,
The step up is to allow one of the roofs to roll under the flashing.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
I’ve been following your progress and looks like a great Obs, well designed and constructed
Won’t be long now until your imaging hey
Ive been down at my Dome for a week and weather hasn’t been too kind
Might get some clear nights over the next few nights but unfortunately high humidity and a full moon
Oh well it’s nice to get a way from the big smoke for a couple of weeks and enjoy the peace and serenity

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Thanks Martin.

It was mostly clear nights during the new moon period about a week and a half ago. Looked like good seeing as well.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

The roof splits into 2 halves so it needed a flashing to cover the joint when the 2 halves are closed together.

Here is a photo of it. It works well and is fixed on one side and sits up a bit higher than the roof on the 2nd side which slides under it by about 100mm.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Looks very flashy :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

Hehe, clever boy.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Pretty clear who the clever one is in this case :lol: :thumbsup:

Looking good Greg

Mike

[gregbradley]

Got the roll top ridge capping on one side and all the cappings on the left side done.

Bit of a tricky bit where I flattened off the last 150mm of the roll top ridge capping and made a little cap to close it off so the right side flashing would fit over the roll top ridge capping. Goit it in the end though.

Now the gable cladding and cappings on the right side tomorrow morning hopefully beating the rain that is forecast. The roof is pretty water tight anyway.

Once the cappings are finished then it's the door and it's flashings,painting
and door knob/latch.

Then it just leaves painting the outisde and repairing my PME mount and I am good to start imaging again.

Later I'll probably put insulation on the inside walls plus black colorbond cladding.

Also at some point lay a timber floor. I have left overs from doing the main house.

I saw some softish mat material at Bunnings that would make a good safety matt around the pier in case something ever drops. I'll put some of that down too.

Made a cool looking little cap for the end of the roll top ridge capping. I watched a You Tube video about how to close off the end of roll top ridge capping. I'll post some more photos tomorrow.

Greg.

[LonelySpoon]

I put that Bunnies interlocking squares soft flooring in my dome to damp down walking vibrations, even though the pier is isolated.

Works a treat in the dome room, but I found that it squished under the office chair in the warm room, and I had to take a big square of it out to roll the chair around.

I haven't tried dropping something fragile to test that yet. Will report later.

Neville

[gregbradley]

Thanks for that Neville.

I only intend to put it in the observatory which is outside of the house.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Got the roof fully finished off before the heavy rain yesterday.

Nothing like a deadline to get things done!

I checked it the next morning and no roof leaks.


Greg.

[gregbradley]

Started painting the door yesterday. A 2nd coat today and will install colorbond flashings around the door frame.

Once done that just leaves painting the outside of the observatory and a timber floor. Oh and insulating and cladding the inside walls!

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Hey Greg, following your observatory build is a bit like playing the original "Adventure Game" on computer from the 1970's...all words, no pictures! :sadeyes: :lol:

Nah, he he, it's still cool to hear the progress ;) :P

Mike

[gregbradley]

Yes I did have some photos but they were all displaying in sideways.

Today, finished painting the door and hanging it.

Next step is framing the door with some colorbond cappings.

Then paint the cladding and rails.

Its operational now though. I also plan on laying a timber floor and perhaps
insulating the walls and installing colorbond cladding sheets in black.

Here'e a photo:P

[strongmanmike]

Ah excellent...rather quaint, nicely done, astro hut that :thumbsup:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike.

It's rather cosy inside too.

Greg.

[LonelySpoon]

Looks like a well designed and well camouflaged little observatory, Greg.

Well done mate.

I hope my next one (to be made when I move back into civilization) looks half as good.

Neville
LSO

[strongmanmike]

Add a TV, X-Box seriesX, a dart board and a bar fridge, oh and the obligatory framed and signed, rugby league jersey... and it will be the ultimate Man Cave :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Neville. It has come together nicely and I am looking forward to many images coming from it.



My grandson has a dedicated TV for his X Box ion the house.
A few nice touches makes spending time in it a lot more pleasant.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
Nice job , quality construct and finish
Well done !!
Like me you’ll probably spend your nights inside the house controlling your imaging ( or remotely) to escape the cold of winter and the mozzies in summer. I was going to stick some Astro pictures around the walls of my Dome but I’m never in there.
A side question, I’m assuming those trees lining the fairway don’t obstruct your view ?
Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

[QUOTE=Startrek;1600017]Greg,
Nice job , quality construct and finish
Well done !!
Like me you’ll probably spend your nights inside the house controlling your imaging ( or remotely) to escape the cold of winter and the mozzies in summer. I was going to stick some Astro pictures around the walls of my Dome but I’m never in there.

Yes I plan on doing the same. Luckily there aren't many mossies here. My last house in Kurrajong had heaps of mossies at night as the next door neighbour had a dam near the observatory.

A side question, I’m assuming those trees lining the fairway don’t obstruct your view ?

Yes they do. I can only image from the zenith to about 25 degrees up from the southeast. But that is still a fairly wide view for most objects.

I also have a remote location dark site that has 360 degree views and also a pad and plinth for a 2nd setup and iOptron CEM70 mount. Plus very dark skies, some of the darkest anywhere. The Milky Way throbs overhead this time of year and the stars take on a fiery aspect.

Greg.

[Startrek]

[QUOTE=gregbradley;1600019]

That’s a pretty good view of the sky anyway plus you have your other darker site
In Sydney my view is dreadful, no view of the southwest to southeast up to 70 degrees, view of the east and north east from 30 degrees up with a big 16m melaleuca tree on the north meridian, no view of the north west to west up to 40 degrees. I’m surrounded by 2 story houses ( mine included ) plus huge melaleuca trees and Bortle 8 skies.
Down south at my Dome it’s Nirvana , 360 degree views from 25 degrees up to zenith and Bortle 3 skies.
Chalk and cheese both my locations

[gregbradley]

Painting started.

Greg.

[xelasnave]

I have been following and very happy to see your sucess.

alex

[gregbradley]

Thanks Alex and very nice of you to say.

Greg

[gregbradley]

I did some more work on my new observatory.

Finished painting it and installing colorbond flashings around the door.

That pretty much completes the building. I now will install a timber floor and it will be ready for imaging.

I am going to call it "Viewpoint Observatory".

Greg.

[LonelySpoon]

It's looking very neat and unobtrusive, Greg.

A job well done. Good name for it, too.


Now you only have to worry about bats (I have a personal story there) and midnight golfers with glowing balls!

Cheers,

Neville
LSO

[strongmanmike]

Ha! Looks like it was always there, lovely bit of work mate...you should consider entering the building game :P :thumbsup:

I like your point of view regarding the name, sounds very focused and clear, you obviously did some reflecting before forming that image in your mind.. :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Neville.

Luckily the golf course is being altered and the tee off point for the hole behind the observatory has changed. We used to get regular golf balls now they are rare as the line of trees is more in line with the tee of point forming more of a barrier and the golfers are hitting further awayt from our property.

No bats around here that I have seen but lots of Rosellas and Kookaburras.

Greg.



Thanks Mike.

Yes that's true, I did contemplate it for a while.

I hope to get first light shortly.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Maybe just stick to roofs.... :question:

Mike

[gregbradley]

Huh?

I thought you liked the name.:P

I guess its a matter of viewpoint - hahaha.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

An update.

Going to do a few final tweaks of the building today to make the openings where the wheels go past the gable walls more weather proof.

I need to rotate the pier a bit now I know where the SCP is and to get the mount within it's adjustment movement for the pole.

I got my AP160GTO mount up and running again after a little mini disaster where several months ago by mistake I plugged the Software Bisque 48 volt transformer into the 12 volts AP1600 electronics and something blew in them.

I got a new upgraded GTO CP4 control board and installed it and it's all working well.

It took a few clear nights to get past the confusions that usually turn up when handle gear. But it's now nearly back to running nicely. Just need to do a new PE curve and install it and a new T Point model (not so needed when you do a closed loop slew that uses Plate Solving to get the target object in the middle of the screen).

I took my AP Honders to my dark site (only done that once before) and imaged with it. Wow, a new appreciation of it. 12 inch aperture at F3.8 with no need for collimation is lovely to work with. The FLI Atlas focuser is also great to work with. Joshua Bunn did a terrific job on a new adapter to replace a missing one.

At my home observatory my PME mount has been lying idle. I thought I'd damaged it by cutting off some redundant cabling to the dovetail outlets.
On closer inspection I saw that the power supply for the PME is 48 volts not the 12 I tried with. It's been years since I set it up so I'd forgotten about that.

I got a new 48 volt transformer power supply and was ecstatic to find the mount starts up like normal.

So today I finish the little fine points of cladding and waterproofing and then I install a dovetail bar and rotate the mount to closer to the SCP.

Then mount the scope, camera, computer etc ready for the next clear night.

The moving house, the blowing of the AP1600 board and then what I thought was damaging the PME's wiring all were a significant setback but it's all resolved now.

I also did some visual observing with an AP130 GT on an iOptron CEM70 mount. It was great on one night. Next night I discovered the dec axis has a metal pin that stops it from rotating past a certain point. It's not mentioned in the manual.

You have to rotate the dovetail until it hits that stop then rotate back 180 degrees then mount your scope otherwise on some slews the mount hits this metal pin stop. Annoying.

Otherwise that mount seems to be very good. I haven't imaged with it yet but next trip I will. I wanted to concentrate on getting the AP1600 operational - one battle at a time.

I have learnt to work on a problem and if it's not resolving not to get frustrated but to leave it overnight and get back to it fresh or check the forums for advice. It cost a few clear nights but I got there and most of the little tricks came back to me after quite a hiatus in imaging.

So my imaging setups are:

1. Astro-Physics Riccardi Honders 305 F3.8 on a Software Bisque PME mount (a reliable and simple to use mount).
2. AP 130 GT APO with Quad TCC or flattener giving either F4.5 or F6.4 and iOptron CEM 70 with iPolar on a pier outside my dark site observatory.
Imaging with either a QHY600M, FLI Proline 16803 or FLI MIcroline 16200 (probably, mostly the 16803.
3. Honders on the AP1600 at my dark site (taken there and taken home afterwards which is a bit of a chore as it's heavy). But those 800 metre altitude very dark skies are a continual source of wonder plus 12 inch aperture at F3.8 helps overcome limited imaging time. I found out the Honders sits a bit lower in my observatory and is not wind affected which is a huge plus.
4. Planewave CDK17 at F6.8 or with reducer F4.5 on the PME at my home observatory. It's a 2 man job mounting it though so it will be a while before I set it up.
5. CFF 105 F6 with flattener and FLI Proline 16803 or possibly QHY600M for either at home or my dark site where it could sit on the CEM70 mount so I could have this imaging whilst the Honders on the AP1600 is imaging (2 separate setups).
6. Mirrorless camera setups - Canon EOS R(a) - Ha modded EOS R and Sigma Art 14mm F1.8 or Samyang 21mm F1.8 or Samyang 135mm F2. Mount would be piggybacking on the CEM70 or Skywatcher GTi mount or Unitec Swat 330 tracker or Fornax Lighttrack 11 on a Vixen tripod and William Optics wedge. The Lighttrack is handy as it's light and works well for nightscapes where weight does come into it. I haven't used the GTi yet but I will. The Swat 330 gave me fairly round stars in a ASIAIR plus polar alignment and 14mm F1.8 x 5 minute exposures. 2 minutes at F4 or F5.6 and ISO1600 will most likely be my default for tracked nightscapes. There are endless beautiful coastal scenes down here on the south coast of NSW.

A lot to get on top of but a lot of fun too (well, mostly!).

I plan to be back in full swing imaging as of this week. I already did 2 successful nights of imaging the last few days at my dark site.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
Great news your almost finished your Obs and set up
Wow you have a comprehensive set of quality imaging rigs to choose from which covers the whole hobby.

Yes the South Cost of NSW is a beautiful part of Australia , I’ve been down at my place since Boxing Day with family ( kids and grandkids) heading back to Sydney on Sunday.

Only managed 1 clear night on Tuesday. Endless cloudy nights have been with us for months here on the mid to south coast of NSW and I guess in VIC and parts of QLD too, but this pattern is suppose to break by late February/ early March.

Good luck and post some images when this weather gives us all a break

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Thanks Martin.

Yes the number of clear sky nights has been very very low.

I also hope that patern breaks. You've been down here for a while - what is the usual % of clear nights?

I installed the AP Honders astrograph this after noon. Nearly ready for action.

I am not sure if the pier is positioned close enough to the SCP to get a good polar alignment. I'll know that within half an hour of a clear night.

Greg.

If you click on the image it shows it the right way up.

[Leo.G]

What do you shoot down with that canon Greg?
It's huge, I can see how a permanent set up would be of benefit.
I can only lift 65 Kg, my own body weight one handed, wouldn't want to be carrying that canon around and trying to get it mounted too often.
In saying that I'm always worried lifting my RC 8 or 8" Newt onto my mount, more cumbersome than heavy but always concerned.

[Startrek]

I’ve had my holiday home down here since 2016 and retired in 2017. My wife is still teaching 2 days a week and doesn’t want to give it away yet at 65. So we spend about 3 to 4 months of the year down here ( spread out through the year including school holidays when the kids and grandkids often visit )

I’d say it’s about on par with Sydney as far as % of clear nights over a year , the difference being generally lower daytime and nighttime temperatures and humidity as well. The skies however are chalk and cheese , in Sydney at my main residence it’s Bortle 8 with neighbours lights blasting my yard and restricted views from the south east to the south west , down here it’s Bortle 3 no neighbours lights and almost 360 degree views from 25 degrees up . So when I come down here and image it’s like unbelievable , the data is so clean. Sydney’s a challenge but I still enjoy it . I don’t observe in Sydney it’s a waist of time , I have a 12” goto dob in the garage down here which provides some great views.

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Yes it is pretty heavy and about the limit for me.

The tube is actually 14 inches which allows thermal currents to "drain off" to the sides of the tube. I think that was a clever design.

The scope is also provided with some lifting straps and also a video on how to best load and unload it onto the mount. So that helps a lot.


Greg.



Thanks for the write up Martin. I have been here now a bit over a year and there has been a couple of stretches of clear sky but apart from that it's been a bit uncommon.

I have noticed though that when it is clear and calm the seeing can be fantastic.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Got everything powered up and all connected.

Cables are a mess though. Need to tidy it up more. I did install an underfloor
50mm PVC pipe to be able to feed cables under the floor and out next to the computer. Have to use that next.

Greg.

[Startrek]

A bet your glad it’s almost finished , now for some clear skies please

When I built my deck for the NexDome I made sure the floor was clear of obstructions like cables etc…,
2x 50mm conduits did the trick ( see photo )
My only disappointment was the centre concrete pier was too narrow to mount a steel riser pier to support my EQ8-R mount head. Had to use the EQ8 tripod pier which is a behemoth and didn’t take too much floor space in the end.

Martin

[LonelySpoon]

Glad it's coming together Martin.

When I look at other people's concrete footers for EQ8 pier-pods I realise I could have saved some concrete if I'd thought it through a bit more...

Neville
LSO

[Startrek]

Neville ,
Thanks
These photos are 3 years old , my Obs was finished in April 2021
Although I had to use an EQ8 tripod pier she’s rock solid and I have plenty of walking space around the rig when the OTA is pointing towards zenith.
Sidereal is no longer bringing these NexDomes into Australia anymore , mine was probably the last shipment. They are now supplying ScopeDome which are more than double the price but are a more quality product , more towards the professional rather than amateur user like me.

Cheers
Martin

[strongmanmike]

Oooh neeearly there Greg, all looks eeeexcellent, hoping it all works like clockwork (digital clock that is) :thumbsup::thumbsup: looking forward to some cool images coming out of that APH

With our recent run of bad luck, a serious health issue and major op for Angie, a house purchase gone bad (cost us big time) and then the death of Ben, I"m hoping that's our three things :( and it is largely behind us and I can get back out under the stars more this year... :prey:

Clear coastal skies to you :)

Mike

[gregbradley]

Thanks Mike,

You have my wishes for a turn of luck.

Greg.

[strongmanmike]

Once not thaaat long ago, OTA's were not a problem for me, upto..?..pretty big!...now?.. dang, arthritis has set in, my right shoulder, sooo can't reeeally do this (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/134140809/original) anymore...:sadeyes:

Still stronger than the average 56 year old but age is creeping fast now....:sadeyes: have to use levers, lifting aids and tricks of phyiscs, much more often now :lol:

Mike

[TrevorW]

Yeah I think my build record still stands, nice work Greg :)

[gregbradley]

Yes I think so. The bulk of it went up fast and the little fine touches took a while.

Greg.

[RobF]

Thanks for sharing the journey Greg. What a wonderful new set up. You have much to be proud of there. Hope you get plenty of fun nights and great shots from the new home base :)

[gregbradley]

Thanks Rob.

Always learning new things. For example I took the saddle of my PME mount when I moved to a new house. I should have left it on. It has an exact orientation on how it is attached to the mount. It has an arrow machined into it to show you which way it goes.

Well I didn't read that bit in the manual and I had it 90 degrees away from where it should be. Wasted 2 clear nights with that trying to understand why it wouldn't slew anywhere near where it was supposed to!

Same with my AP1600 mount. I had to replace the electronics due to a dumb mistake of plugging in the 48 volt PME power supply into the 12 volt AP1600 electronics. It forced an upgrade to the latest controller which is better but cost $2500.

Again I couldn't get it to slew properly and read the manual and found out it needed a specific position on startup. Once I did that I was good. That cost 3 clear nights at my dark site! ouch.

I've learned to be patient with astro gear these days. Plus, don't swap and change too much. Using the same rig for a while is a very practical approach.

By the way I am loving this sliding gate rail with matching concave wheels. The roof rolls off with very light hand pressure and it fairly quiet which is important when neighbours are close by and sometimes you need to close the roof late at night.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Marked the north-south line from a shadow off a level at solar noon the other day. I confirmed it again today.

I then lined up my pier with that north south line and the mounting holes for the PME mount. This was from advice by Paul Haese - thanks Paul!

I then levelled using metal washers as packers. Then I installed 6 x 10mm x 50mm anchor bolts into the slab and the pier.

Then I put grout under the bottom of the pier where it had minor gaps.

Then installed the PME now with the saddle in the correct orientation fixed on the mount.

Then reinstalled the scope and camera etc. Then gave it a bit of test run in the daylight and it all looks good ready for a polar alignment tweak then start imaging.

Cloudy though of course but I am happy everything is ready to go next clear night.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I finally installed an extra primary mirror baffle Astro-Physics sent me about 2-3 years ago or longer. Meant to suppress reflection arcs from bright out of field stars. I virtually never saw this anyway but it's an upgrade so I installed it.

I then gave the optics and mirrors a clean.

Put it all back together and on the mount ready to go.

Hopefully the current clear skies last to the night!

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
Congratulations on the new Obs
Well done !!
Is that 12” f3 / f4 or a 10” f3 / f4 ?
Looks great what ever it is

Yeh I used the solar noon shadow method as well to scribe my True N/S line on my deck prior to building my NexDome on it.
Luckily I was only a degree or two out so I didn’t need to move the Azimuth too much for polar alignment. All my concrete piers lined up spot on too for the EQ8 pier tripod legs and feet , whooosh. It paid dividends to quadruple check things months and months prior to final install

I bet your pumped at the moment with the new set up and can’t wait to get your teeth into some imaging !!

Clear Skies
Martin

[gregbradley]

The scope is an AstroPhysics Riccardi Honders astrograph. Its 305mm aperture and F3.8. The mirrors are fixed it never needs collimation - a big plus.

The tube is 14 inches and is oversized I think to help eliminate tube currents. It has a wetsuit type materials thermal blanket around the main body and dewshield. It holds focus reasonably well with a small shift with termperature.

I have a FLI Atlas focuser on it which is very good and needed as the critical focus zone is very small.

I did a T Point run last night to improve polar alignment but autoguiding showed one axis to be off. Then clouds rolled in. I am close to imaging with it.

I like the fact that the roll off roof is rather quiet and moves with hand pressure. The observatory is close to the fence with one of my neighbours.
I closed it up last night at 12:45am so that is important.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
Gee that’s a quality bit of kit in your Obs
I believe those Honders came out around 2009 / 2010 and sold in Oz for around $20K ??
The minister of finance wouldn’t approve those sort of funds in retirement to splurge on a rig so I have to be content with my humble gear.

Monday and Tuesday night are looking good at this stage

Hope you get some sky time

Cheers
Martin

[strongmanmike]

Please stop posting astro porn like this Greg, disgustipating :mad2:

Mike :P

[gregbradley]

Hehehe :lol:

[gregbradley]

Managed to do 2 shortish TPoint models tonight through the clouds that were rolling in. I got a decent polar alignment and brief autoguiding showed low errors.

It's supposed to be clear on Sunday and Monday night.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

2 clear nights and started imaging. All going well and then the autoguider starting getting time out and device not detected messages.
Checked the cable again and it was fine. Swapped out the autoguider with a new one I have and it worked fine.

Later it seemed the problem was too large a shift in dithering. I backed it off and the guiding was stable.

Just another thing to get right to make the system stable. I got about 4 -5 hours of images from each night.

Greg.

[Retrograde]

Congratulations Greg it looks great!
Looking forward to seeing the first images from it. :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Would be good to know what sliding gate track and wheels you used from Bunnings please Greg. Were they metal roller wheels that you find smooth and quiet, or rubber coated in some way? Agree every little noise in wee hours of the morning makes you feel guilty when neighbours are close by.

[gregbradley]

Hi Rob,

Sorry was away on a cruise to NZ.

Here is the link to the sliding gate rail and wheels:

https://www.bunnings.com.au/richmond-bolt-down-gate-track-3m-for-sliding-gates_p3962446

I have already started imaging and the skies are quite dark and the seeing at times is excellent. Cloudy nights has been the norm though but a few clear ones are starting to appear.

I should have the data for a decent image by Monday.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Thanks Pete.

I have started imaging and gotten data for 4 objects so far. I would like more data and replace some RGB that was not ideal on some.

First thing next clear night is a larger T Point model and more accurate Polar Alignment just to tighten up the guiding a bit more.

I am enjoying it.

I as looking at the stars a few times and they are not that different to what I see at my dark site apart from the unlimited field of view I have at my dark site.
My dark site shows stars as fiery pinpoints. I am not sure how much more that enables an image from a few steps away from that. Imaging at home is a lot more convenient.

I suspect darkness is important up to a point then it becomes diminishing returns and your processing becomes the key thing.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

The observatory has been operational now for a little while. Been accumulating data sets.

The seeing here on the South Coast of NSW can be exceptional sometimes.

The restricted view means I can get about 3 - 3.5 hours of data per night when clear.

Access to my desk is a bit tight sometimes with the counterweights of the mount otherwise it's all working well.

The Bunnings sliding gate rail and wheels are particularly good and I can comfortably close the roof halves by hand late at night without disturbing anyone. The central latches work well too in heavy winds.

The skies here are darker than I thought. Not far off my dark site's darkness (but not field of view) and darker than at Kurrajong so overall better off. Not sure about the predominance of cloud though. So far it's been very cloudy but have had 5 nights of clear skies in the last 2 weeks.

A few minor finishing off touches and I would consider the observatory complete and a succcess.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Hi Greg,
I bet you’re glad the Obs is now up and running.
Yes the skies in the Shoalhaven coastal region can be excellent ( like any dark location I suppose ) although in summer you do get salty air from those strong nor’easter’s hanging around a bit, plus some local cloud from the south at times.
The sky brightness around my Dome location is around 21.50 ( Bortle 3 ) , a little worse to the south where I can just make out the sky glow dome from Ulladulla.
It’s a shame about your FOV at your Obs but we make good use of clear skies , it just takes a bit longer to collect data
Enjoy your new site , you will be impressed during the Winter and into Spring , especially July to September, best nights down here ( a tad colder than Sydney too )

All the best
Martin
PS: Last weekend down at my Dome was great ( about a 7/10 ) Nice to see some clear skies again

[strongmanmike]

All sounds like your in business to me, excellent, looking forward to your results :thumbsup: Re the, a bit tight to get to your desk, that's one thing I don't miss about the Sirius dome, I had to crawl around in the dark to get to the laptop quite often as when the counterweight shaft was anywhere near horizontal, my (arhem) stomach bones (and thick jacket of course :whistle:), were juuuust a bit too big, to fit between its end and the side walls, even after inhaling and sucking it in :lol:, soooo, the only way to pass was to crawl underneath it and the large counterweights, in the dark :P...no such problem in the 3M Scopedome now though...should be able to sink plenty more beer and pasta yet, before having to worry again :D

Mike

[gregbradley]

After using the observatory now for about 6 weeks I have been able to review it's performance.


Areas to improve: I should have made ther roof overhang at each side of the
observatory to make it more weatherproof there. There are cutouts in the fibre cement cladding for the wheels to pass through and 2 of these leaked when it rained. I have since added some more flashings and probably that is fixed now.

I was limited to the size of the observatory and overall it's fine but the counterweights can be a bit in the road of easy movement around the observatory at times. The observatory is 2.8 metres square so 3 metres square would have been nice.

Other than that it's working out great. I particularly like the sliding gate track and wheels from Bunnings. I can move the half roof segments with my finger. It also rolls very quietly which is important when neighbours aren't that far away.

In terms of how it looks in the backyard of new modern house, it looks good. The bifold window I picked up second hand makes it look a lot better and also assists in cool downs.

The joining flashing where the 2 roof halves meet works well and has not been a problem.

The centre locking latches have also been quite easy to use but they need to be positioned accurately otherwise they can be a harder to engage.

The metal purlin frame and aluminium 50mm square tube trusses for the roof work really well. The fibre cement cladding looks modern and matches parts of the house.

So yeah overall I am very happy with it and it is very practical and comfortable. It's optimised the viewing angle as I have a line of trees to the north which block my view. But then that is not much different to my last observatory at Kurrajong NSW where the light dome form Sydney to the east meant you really had to wait until the object was high and near the zenith. My dark site observatory is at the top of a hill so it has virtually any angle to view.

The floor is simply a slab about 100mm thick. The frame is metal purlin, the walls are Hardi Plank and the roof is corrugated colorbond matching the house. The roof frame is made out of 50mm x 3mm thick aluminium square tube. I laid a pvc tube in the slab when it was poured to get access to power which is just outside the observatory on the house wall.

Next step would be to run a cat 5 cable form the observatory computer to inside the house like I did for my last observatory which meant I could monitor an imaging run very easily from inside the house using remote desktop in Windows.

I thought I would do a write up as it might help someone who is looking to build a home observatory.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

Greg

[Startrek]

Greg,
Great report
Glad it’s all worked out well for you and you now have a fully operational Obs on the South Coast.
I too had some minor water ingress issues in my Dome where the workstation bay is located. I corked around the wall and floor joints with bathroom clear silicon and problem resolved.
Yes Windows Remote Desktop is excellent, I use it in Sydney with my backyard open rig ( Cat 5e data outlet in weatherproof housing located on back wall of house , just run a 5m Cat5e patch cord from external outlet to outdoor workstation ) and also at my Dome on the South Coast ( ran Cat 5e data cables from Dome underground to house and have a wall outlet in my Study )
Both have worked flawlessly for 3 years now.

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Good idea about Cat 5 outlet outside.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I had rain leaking in mainly in one corner. Finally handled it. It was the metal track on top of the metal purlin was sucking in water underneath it and tracking back inside the observatory. I sealed it up and in the recent 2 weeks of rains showed it was fixed.

Now to install a timber floor from left over floor boards from the house.

A bit of luxury.

Greg,

[Paul Haese]

Time to get rid of the laptop in the observatory Greg. We use Mele computers at Swan Reach Imaging. They get 3M taped onto the telescope and then run a cat 5 or cat 6 cable to a cisco or smaller 8 port switch. Power is one cable from a ground box up to something like a pegasus ultimate which then powers all the other equipment. You can use an IP switch to turn off all the equipment which is all plugged into it in the ground box. You access the IP switch via it's webpage, it has a ethernet cable port for coms too. Then just run a cat 5 cable from the 9 port switch to the house. No more issues with having to go inside the observatory to operate a laptop.

BTW just watch the moisture levels with regard to the cameras you use. When I had the observatory at Clayton Bay I had to conformal coat the exposed boards in the SBIG cameras. I think Atik has this same problem too. Without the coating corrosion takes place very quickly.

[gregbradley]

Good advice Paul. Thanks.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

I've ordered some conformal spray from ebay.

Greg.

[gregbradley]

Had to seal the gates tracks to the purlin that supports them and sticks out from the building to hold the roll off roof as water was getting under the tracks and making it's way inside. Just thought I would make a note of it.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Greg,
Just a heads up on remote access.
I use Windows Remote Desktop in my Dome on the South Coast
Windows Remote Desktop is included when you purchase Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro
I do use 2 laptops , one temporarily inside the Dome and the other permanently located in my Study in the house 20m away. I have full control of my imaging in the Dome from the Study and could easily connect it via internet with IP address to control it from Sydney but I have no interest in that , I’m a hands on person.
You could set up a Windows Remote Desktop with 1 laptop or PC inside the house and just a NUC inside your Obs either mounted to the base of the mount or an a shelf with your other Astro hardware.
When building my Obs , I ran 2 x Cat5e data cables from Dome to my Study and fitted a wall plate with 2 x RJ45 Cat5e sockets , adjacent is 2 x DGPO’s ( power points)
I’ve had this running since 2021 and no issues at all

Cheers
Martin

[gregbradley]

Thanks Martin.

I have wifi internet in the observatory can I somehow connect using remote desktop via the internet? Otherwise I would have to run a cat 5 cable to the house.

Greg.

[Startrek]

Yes you can connect Windows Remote Desktop over the internet with a secured connection using a VPN ( Virtual Private Network ) buts it’s a painful exercise if your not computer tech savvy and there’s ongoing costs !!

See link below …
https://blog.helpwire.app/remote-desktop-over-internet/

How far is your Obs from the house ?

Cat5 e cable is good for up to say 85 to 90m ( including patch cords to sockets ) between devices plus it’s permanent and not reliant upon wifi signal strength etc…

If it’s a relatively short distance like mine ( up to 30m ) I’d recommend to trench it from house to Obs like I did and future proof your Obs . Or if you have a wall or fence you could run it in conduit along that wall or fence.
I ran mine underground, did it myself with a small trench digger ,Conduit and fittings , Cat 5e cable , sand etc.. Cost me $380 in materials and $450 for hire (3 years ago ) , took me 2 or 3 days to complete. I ran 2 cables , 1 additional for redundancy.
Alternatively get a quote from a local electrical contractor in the area

Cheers
Martin

[TrevorW]

I use Anydesk its free and works well :)