Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave
First of all I compliment you upon working on the matter.
I have been thinking about your design in an effort to contribute without critism, and I find none, however perhaps you could give some consideration to including something to tie the unit to the ground to make sure it does not come off in a very strong wind or if it acts as a sail in a strong wind is incapable of tipping over due to some system of tie down. I recall very early reading of a chap you was having a night out camping at a dark site where he covered up his prize dob telescope to be secure in the rain that interupted the night, as he said very securely, only to find that it was blown over in the very strong wind. I often would have tent pegs available because of that story being in the back of my mind particularly when I was imaging up here at the main house which being on top of the hill can be rather windy.
Alex
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Thanks, Alex, We have had almost continual strong winds and rain at the moment, so it is getting a really good workout. I have the mount inside I am experimenting on Peltier cooling my DSLR at the moment.
The reason why it hasn't blown down is that it is fairly heavy, although I have thought of that, I instead on the next iteration to get place hook on the plate under the mount with tie-downs.
The top dome is currently held down with 3 x tie-down straps underneath. (See image). As this is only ever expected to be a way of storing outside my home or on an extended camping trip, I never intend to leave it untethered if strong winds are expected. The highest winds we have had so far while testing has been up to 100kph recently, although based on my house orientation, I only experienced about 60kph. My wife tricked me in the morning saying it fell down, but it was fine.
It is heavier than I like it, I intend the next iteration to use a different composite material for the dome. I am now waiting on Lockdown to subside to get the parts together.