Thanks guys. Again, please don't give me all the credit - I had a lot of help along the way from many people from many facets of life. (IIS members included).
Starting with the most important and awesome fellow, the structural engineer, none of this would have been possible without him. If I had done the structural design myself, it would have been more than adequate, but it would have had FAR TOO MUCH METAL in it and I would have spent a fortune. The structural engineer showed me how to get the most strength and rigidity without spending that fortune and wasting all the steel I was going to buy.
Sharing every little detail of the build has always been my way of thanking all those people as I have gleaned information and ideas from the world - so too I get to give it all back, (My triumphs, my failures, my frustrations) for the next generation of observatory builders.
Got a spare few dollars this week so I could afford the last two sheets of plasterboard for the ceiling downstairs.
This afternoon, it was a race for the light as the sun set after work. I lay all eight pieces down, built a new compass and drew the radius out to fit inside the round building.
As I ran out of light, I managed to score the paper then used a plasterboard hand-saw to cut one sheet to size.
I made a start today as I had a few hours of beautiful sunlight to work with this morning.
Rather than purchase or hire those expensive adjustable struts to hold up the plaster, I made up these two supports out of some scrap wood. They are just a fraction too long, which give me the ability to wedge them in under the plasterboard as I hold it up to the ceiling. Easy peasy.
I got half the ceiling up so I should be finished the rest by the end of this weekend.
Onya Mike. Yes, I get around 5 hours a night so I'm good.
The ceiling is all up. Now it's a matter of joining tape, joint filler and some trim around the exposed edge in the stairwell.
I bought some thick board today for the trap-doors that will seal the heat in downstairs by blocking off the stairwell.
I picked up all the gear today thanks to a wonderful donation by a fellow in Victoria. I'll be getting to work tonight and over the next week to get the ceiling finished and ready for a coat of paint.
The last part of the ceiling was the trickiest, as there were many angle involved, lots of things to get around and rebate for, plus the sheet can't fit in the gap in one piece. I ended up making a template out of 3mm craftwood scraps. I then traced the template onto the plasterboard sheet and cut it out. I had to cut it into four pieces to get it in there though. It's all done though and ready for finishing.
All I wanted to do today was apply paintbrush to timber. Unfortunately for my impatience, preparation prolonged my agony for an excruciating hour and a half before I could even wet the brush.
There was the bottom floor to clear of construction tools and materials, then peel up the temporary carpet and underlay. I gave the handrails and treads a final sanding then a meticulous vacuum of all surfaces.
The mix of mineral turpentine and boiled linseed oil was a 50/50 ratio, penetrating the wood deeper and hopefully causing the oil to set harder.
A few minutes after oiling the top couple of treads and stringers, the mix began to release aromas from the Cypress and Eucalypt. Unlike painting with paint, (which is a pain in the butt) oiling wood is a real pleasure. The speed at which the transformation occurs is gratifying and the colour change is stunning - it's richness paralleled only by the smell, which is akin to walking into an antique furniture shop.
It all looks incredibly good! I love the way you did the rings the dome rotate on (as shown on page 3). Can you tell us more about them. How or where did you get the rings fabricated?
I'd like to do the same for a custom 2.45metre track - what budget would you advise? The rest of my astro lab is built - but the track the dome runs on I would love to improve and I really like your solution.
A suggestion or two if you have an electrician friend coming over.
1. Consider running 2 cat 6 cables in 40mm PVC piping from your house to the astro lab (1 active and 1 spare). If you ever wish to control all your gear remotely - simply have a PC in the astro lab and one (or more in the house and run VNC or RadAdmin). On long, cold astro-imaging sessions in Winter that can be a boon. Set up one or more imaging runs then stay warm and enjoy your family and just periodically check your gear is doing the right thing by glancing at a monitor indoors!
2. Consider an online UPS to protect all the gear in your astro-lab from surges or brownouts! Surge protectors are nice, but I don't expect much will give a better quality current and voltage delivery to your gear than an Online (always inverted) UPS. Of you are powering 12V gears (e.g. mount - use a Lab power supply).
3. Have both set-up lighting and imaging ready lighting - either dimmers or white and separate red lights
4. Put one or two powered USB2 or USB3 hubs on the side of your pier - and cable it back to your PC with active USB extension leads. A high speed HUB or two on the pier itself saves a lot of long messy cables. Active extension leads are cheap nowadays and give much more reliable signals between devices and your PC.
5. Put a see-in-the-dark, IP controlled, rotating camera in your dome so you can observe what your scope is doing. They cost from $90 - $180 (low or high definition colour models) and really work well.
6. Store a pot of chemical dehumidifier near the pier; Optics don't like long exposure to moist air!
7. Keep a hair dryer in your lab and use (carefully) it to remove moisture from anything that gets dewy.
8. Put a plastic sheet over your gear when you finish for the night - both as a dust cover just in case something goes wrong with a drip in the wrong place.
Have spare parts handy - rotten when an imaging run is lost due to one cable or connector dying!
Wish I had learned those plan ahead tricks quite a while ago!
1. Consider running 2 cat 6 cables in 40mm PVC piping from your house to the astro lab (1 active and 1 spare). If you ever wish to control all your gear remotely - simply have a PC in the astro lab and one (or more in the house and run VNC or RadAdmin). On long, cold astro-imaging sessions in Winter that can be a boon. Set up one or more imaging runs then stay warm and enjoy your family and just periodically check your gear is doing the right thing by glancing at a monitor indoors!
I have the warm-room downstairs for that. As far as family is concerned, I spend the time I need with them, this man-cave is a place of peace, serenity and Baz-space that I need away from everybody else to just relax and chill out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
2. Consider an online UPS to protect all the gear in your astro-lab from surges or brownouts! Surge protectors are nice, but I don't expect much will give a better quality current and voltage delivery to your gear than an Online (always inverted) UPS. Of you are powering 12V gears (e.g. mount - use a Lab power supply).
Got it in-hand. The electrician has already run all the cabling and when the fittings and distribution board go in, all the relevant protection is going in with it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
3. Have both set-up lighting and imaging ready lighting - either dimmers or white and separate red lights.
As above, already implemented.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
4. Put one or two powered USB2 or USB3 hubs on the side of your pier - and cable it back to your PC with active USB extension leads. A high speed HUB or two on the pier itself saves a lot of long messy cables. Active extension leads are cheap nowadays and give much more reliable signals between devices and your PC.
Not sure what you mean here... do you mean hubs that send wireless signal, rather than having cables between the scope, cameras and PC? What's an active extension lead?
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
5. Put a see-in-the-dark, IP controlled, rotating camera in your dome so you can observe what your scope is doing. They cost from $90 - $180 (low or high definition colour models) and really work well.
Maybe when I can spare the cash.... not really necessary unless I'm going to remote desktop from in the house, which as above, is not my intent. I'd rather be with the telescope in the dome rather than an armchair astronomer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
6. Store a pot of chemical dehumidifier near the pier; Optics don't like long exposure to moist air!
So far the dome has provided interesting and favourable conditions for imaging. Dew just doesn't seem to form in there. So far it doesn't look like that is needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
7. Keep a hair dryer in your lab and use (carefully) it to remove moisture from anything that gets dewy.
Again, so far not needed. The last dome was also the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by g__day
8. Put a plastic sheet over your gear when you finish for the night - both as a dust cover just in case something goes wrong with a drip in the wrong place.
This is a good idea. I have been thinking about getting a custom fitted insulated bag that zips or velcro's over the gear not only for the possibility of leaks, but for the extreme heat in summer during the day in the dome.
Some great suggestions and ideas there thanks Matt. I see you got my PM and found the ring-fabrication information useful. Good stuff.
Sure did Baz - I ponder why you went with steel rather than lighter aluminum - I guess its the welding? If you were just bolting stuff together Aluminum would be okay - whilst welding Aluminum I believe takes special skills and gear!
An active extension USB cable looks like a normal USB extension cable but it has a bulb on the female head end. The bulb has circuitry that confirms timing of signals and makes it easier to daisy chain multiple lengths of USB cables together and still have a chance they will work! Active leads give better signals over distance than normal extension leads. A 5 metre USB2 cable costs around $8 - active ones cost around $17 for same length (used to be $50!).
For me I run an 5 metre active USB2 cable ($17) from PC to the Pier and its signal goes into a powered (5 volt 4 amp) 13 port USB2 hub ($53). I also send mains power to the pier where I have a individually selectable power board Velcro taped to the pier - to control camera's power supplies and those for my OTA's focusers.
So my pier has Velcro taped to it 1 power board, 1 * 13 port powered hub and two camera AC/DC power adapters.
I do this to separately aggregate USB and power lines at the pier - then send them back to the PC and the Astrolab's UPS power supply. In this way I am not running multiple 5 metre cable lengths back to my PC.
Cable count for me goes:
1. Power to the Pier's switchboard (via 1000VA Online UPS)
2. Power to the mount's SS2K-PC hand controller via a LAB 15V 10 amp regulated powersupply
3. Power from Switchboard to two AC/DC 12 volt adapters to power 2 modified Canon Cameras and 2 focusers
4. USB cables to 2 DSLR and 1 OAG guide camera
5. Bulb cable to DSUB box to USB cable to control older DSLR
6. Mount controller (modified LAN control cable from SS2K-PC to PC serial port via an earthed, serial surge protector - like cash registers on Gas stations use)
7. Signal cable for guiding from PC - USB -> GPUSB -> breakout box St4 -> SS2K pin format -> 6 pin cable to SS2K-PC hand controller's guide port
8. TempPerHUM USB cable back to PC
9. USB cables to two focusers on my OTAs
The point is you can quickly have a cable jungle! It's cleaner to Velcro tape 1 or 2 Power boards and one or two 13 port Hubs to your pier, then run short cable loops from your gear to the hubs and only have single active extension cables (plus spares on hand) from your 1-2 hubs back to your PCs. The caveat is most devices don't send high data streams to the gear simultaneously - else I could need multiple cables to multiple ports to preserve bandwidth. My Meade DSI will be using the most bandwidth of the USB2 port - the Canon cameras only send data at the end of an image acquisition - so every few minutes they send 10mb over a few seconds to my PC.
At one stage I had 2 serial + 12 USB2 ports engaged on my astro lab PC!
My astro lab keeps my gear remarkably dry - no matter how moist the night is outside (and mine is only one foot from a swimming pool) on the East side! The hair dryer is for just in case nights - a sudden shower gets you before you can close the lab.
The chemical dehumidifier cost around $15 - so far its lasted 6 months and I've gone thru about half the supplied bag of chemicals. It's drained about 5 cups of moisture from the lab. I notice on one of the OTAs I bought it has a dehumidifier satchel taped to the inside of the WO lens cap - which is a very clever idea!
Cheers,
Sure did Baz - I ponder why you went with steel rather than lighter aluminium - I guess its the welding? If you were just bolting stuff together Aluminium would be okay - whilst welding Aluminum I hear takes special skills and gear!
An active extension USB cable is looks like a normal USB extension cable but it has a bulb on the head. The bulb has circuitry that confirms timing of signals and makes it easier to daisy chain multiple lengths of USB cables together and still have a chance they will work!
For me I run an 5 metre active USB2 cable ($17) from PC to the Pier and loop it into a 5v 4 amp powered 13 port USB2 HUB ($53). I also send mains power to the pier where I have a individually selectable power switch - to control camera's power supplies and OTA's focusers.
In this way I am not running multiple 5 metre cable lengths back to my PC.
Cable count for me goes:
1. Power to the Pier's switchboard
2. Power to the mount
3. Power from Switchboard to two Cameras (2 DSLRs) and 2 focusers
4. USB cables to 2 DSLR and 1 OAG guide camera
5. Bulb cable to DSUB box to USB cable to control older DSLR
6. Mount controller (modified LAN control cable from SS2K-PC to PC)
7. Signal cable for guiding from PC via an earthed, surged protects serial port on PC to SS2K-PC hand controller
8. TempPerHUM USB cable back to PC
9. USB cables to two focusers on my OTAs
The point is you can quickly have a cable jungle! Its probably better to Velcro tape 1 or 2 Power boards and one or two 13 port Hubs to your pier, then run short cable loops from your gear to the hubs and only have single active extension cables (plus spares on hand) from your 1-2 hubs back to your PCs.
At one stage I had 2 serial + 12 USB2 ports engaged on my astrolab PC!
Steel is also WAAAAAAY cheaper than aluminium!!!!
For the other stuff, I'll work it all out in time mate. Thanks for the insights.
Today I got into plastering the joints of the plasterboard, a job I've never attempted. To tell the truth, it was childishly simple, helped by the fact that all the boards are level and flush.
Today I got into plastering the joints of the plasterboard, a job I've never attempted. To tell the truth, it was childishly simple, helped by the fact that all the boards are level and flush.
Always time to learn. The main thing with flushing (or as you east coasters call it setting) is to feather off between coats and apply an even pressure with your index and middle finger to the center of the broad knife (the spatula you are using in the image). Work the plaster with another larger trowel or a hawk in a pattern similar to kneading doe.
Are you using tape on the first coat? If not you will need to do this all again as the plaster will crack. The tape has to be applied with a firm mix (like whipped cream) with the air bubbles removed but also some plaster left underneath. In other words not to sloppy and not to firm.
Ceiling fixing is how I make my money now (well actually I don't work on the tools anymore; I run the business for the blokes I employ but I have worked on the tools before). If you can butter bread with a knife, you can flush.
If you feather between each coat you don't need to sand. Also each of the first two coats should have a tiny gap between the broad knife and the coats in the center of the flushing joint. The last coat (using topping coat) will fill that. Each coat also needs to cover the last coat, hence the need for larger knives between coats.
Also for butt joints you need to go two trowels wide for the second coat and a larger trowel width for the last coat.
Wow Baz! I am already having people at work come to me and ask if I know about a certain observatory being built in Canberra!!
Keep it up! Must come around and have a close up look some time!
Please do Grant!! The door is open mate!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
Always time to learn. The main thing with flushing (or as you east coasters call it setting) is to feather off between coats and apply an even pressure with your index and middle finger to the center of the broad knife (the spatula you are using in the image). Work the plaster with another larger trowel or a hawk in a pattern similar to kneading doe.
Are you using tape on the first coat? If not you will need to do this all again as the plaster will crack. The tape has to be applied with a firm mix (like whipped cream) with the air bubbles removed but also some plaster left underneath. In other words not to sloppy and not to firm.
Ceiling fixing is how I make my money now (well actually I don't work on the tools anymore; I run the business for the blokes I employ but I have worked on the tools before). If you can butter bread with a knife, you can flush.
If you feather between each coat you don't need to sand. Also each of the first two coats should have a tiny gap between the broad knife and the coats in the center of the flushing joint. The last coat (using topping coat) will fill that. Each coat also needs to cover the last coat, hence the need for larger knives between coats.
Also for butt joints you need to go two trowels wide for the second coat and a larger trowel width for the last coat.
Good luck.
Thanks for the great advice Paul, but I beat you to it. It's all finished about 20 minutes ago and ready for painting tomorrow.
If someone at church this weekend asks me, "How was your week? I would have to begin by saying, "WELL... WHERE DO I START - HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU GOT!?
I got some BIG NEWS last week that I can't yet let on about, but needless to say I have a very short time to get everything finished.
I've had a couple of friends over every day and every night working until late at night painting, plastering fixing wall-joiners and preparing for the carpet layers.
To add to our tight deadline, I have mysteriously injured my shoulder and am unable to lift anything heavy. It's been totally weird in that if I keep moving it feels ok, but if I stop and sit still I'm in agony.
anyway, one of my mates from work has been an absolute champion painting for me, even popping by at lunch time for half an hour on a work day to get things done.
We gave the inside of the dome a second coat of flat black paint, re-oiled the stairs and woodwork upstairs again and painted the plasterboard ceiling downstairs. At least I got to use my left arm a bit with the paint-brush and cut in the edges ahead of my friend with the roller.
My family electrician friend is away on holidays for a month, presenting me with the difficulty of finding another who can understand the wiring already routed and then finish the job - for the right price too!
The carpet layers arrived this morning, bringing with them WAAAAAY better carpet and underlay than the old stuff I had found second-hand.
These two guys were like magicians. They worked tirelessly throughout the day to lay, cut-in and join the carpets both upstairs on the observation deck and downstairs in the lounge area. Their skills were amazing to watch in action.
I couldn't believe how beautiful it turned out upstairs. The room is completely transformed. I was still reeling with pleasure when I saw the finished result downstairs! Wow.
With a final vacuum and a couple of Italian chairs tactically positioned, it looks good enough to live in.
Tomorrow I have a hardware tradie coming in to help me fix the two dome doors that roll sideways. The sliders I have used are not coping and have popped all their roller bearings all over the lawn below. Over the next few days I'll bring in the rest of the furniture and reinstall the telescopes and computer. The wiring leading from the house is not yet heavy duty enough to run heaters, kettle, toaster, fridge and everything else, so I will just get the lighting and power-points installed then upgrade the feed line later. I have to dig up the original 600mm deep trench and put in a thicker conduit plus add a data cable.
It's a' comin'!
