SkySlab ..

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Has a new roof.

A few weeks ago we had a big blow over here and my Ob roof ended up in a neighbours back yard requiring major panel beating. It was just a flat tin construction that came with the shed that I had managed to convert so it swung away to open. Very light, very flimsy. And it had some balance and operational issues.
So the loss was an opportunity to redesign and improve. Construction is just 7mm exterior ply and 150mm x 25 mm H3 treated fence palings ripped for framings. But it splits in the middle and the two sections slide back onto supports on waxed rails. A couple of coats of paint to seal it. The paint was even a close match to the shed colour so it looks 100% better and it seals much better than the old roof ever did. I can partially open it in varying amounts which also means I can minimise dew fall in the Ob. Here's a pic of the new setup partially opened.

p.s: the big green lump behind it is our volcano, Mt Albert.\

p.p.s: That bit of green lawn to the lower right is where the old roof landed

[Octane (Humayun)]

Nice and easy! Looks good.

Does it seal completely so it's watertight? How do you do that?

I'm picking up bits of information from everywhere so I have a good model to work on when I start on my own skyslab.

H

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Hi H,
Plenty of overhang round the edges.
The top joint seal is yet to be tested fully but it is really a 100mm overlap with some locking tags underneath ( to be done ) but I'm also putting the old tin corrugated roof panels back on top to act as both an insulating layer and they will also overlapto prevent wind blowing water up under. I'm lucky in that where the Ob is located is protected from all but southerlies which is the door facing side.
If the top seal is not perfect I will add a rubber gasket under the overlap to squeeze down for a better seal.
For some reason it all just came together real easy, all squared and flat on the rails. In fact it is almost light tight inside.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Skyslab is functional again .. finally. !!!
A combination of weather, free time and modification work has delayed a new 'first light' but last night it finally came together. Clear skies last night so powered up about 20:30 and started turning things on. Was greeted by some very welcome lights and displays, no water damage.

Split the new roof system open and did some hardware alignment on the scopes and finders and then a quick drift check, close enough for testing. All seemed ok on stars up around Crux but spotted Mars was still available low in my NW sky so swung over for a look. Seeing was very bad, this direction is low over houses up the side of Mt Albert but got a reasonable coloured view but no details and a lot of movement.

Saturn was next, I've seen it many times but never at high magnification as both my scopes are low f. But I had bought from another IIS member a 2" 2 x Barlow which I was hoping would give me f14 on the Lunt so fiddled around with extenders and bits to finally get focus with a 20mm SV. Very clear although still small at 71x mag. Some hint of detail seen in the planet and possibly the rings. Switched to a 9mm TMB (159x) and got the best view I had ever seen. Central ring division quite plain to see, some soft banding of the planet and distinct shadows and separation of the rings and planet. Still quite a bit of movement of the image but I had about half an hour just looking at it. I tried the TMB 6mm ( 238x) but it went decidedly mushy although I got instances of clarity.
Still got things to do. I've modified the pier to reduce harmonics and it needs a scp tweak albeit minor. I'll run up another PC to separate imaging and guiding and get guiding working. I'll try and do a Saturn imaging run with the ZWO and the big Barlow before it gets too low.

The new roof system is an unqualified success. Previous system was designed with some space restrictions. The new system fits and works much better and is easier to open. It is also more flexible, I kept both ends partially closed last night which gave me dew protection over the back of the scopes and the PC's.

All in all a good starter night. Extremely happy !