Just starting this thread as I am sure I will need more advice. Thanks to Neville at Lonely Spoon for letting me inspect his setup for inspiration and ideas.
I live in the bush west of the NSW Central Coast so not perfect conditions but it will have to do. Our paddock floods so the observatory needs to be at least 1.5m up to keep dry if situated with a reasonable arc of sky to view. Will need remote power which I plan to supply via battery and a couple of repurposed solar panels. Roll-off roof not supported by management due to footprint, so a dome it is.
A bit slow getting out of the ground with a progress pic here if I can work the upload. Started just before Christmas.
I printed these as something of an experiment (PETG, fairly solid infill). They support roller skate bearings sitting radially on a 34mm rolled steel tube - which will be attached to the underside of the dome ring.
I was going to use Aluminium angle, but the geometry is not optimal to clear the peak of the angle.
They look pretty solid in printed plastic but just wondering if anyone out there has tried this - and what filament did you use?
Pity about the rain but hoping for better weather when back from a trip in a few weeks. Will be exciting to actually get some optics installed.
I am very impressed by the occasional blog mention of observatories built in as little as a week. Clearly I have spent too much time head scratching.
Next to automate the dome rotation. I am thinking 3d printed gears, perhaps with the lonely spoon option of a plywood ring gear if the plastic cannot cut it.