Did some more work on the Observatory today, also took some pictures of the progress, but I accidentaly deleted them off my camera before putting them on the computer... oops...
So here is a 30s exposure I did of the Framework of the Observatory as it is now...
The Observatory almost has a roof now and it works. Only the frame of it up so far, checking the distances between wheels etc.... Runs smooth in 99% of it's travel, a couple of little bumps here and there, where it goes off track a little, but this will be corrected once I get the side rollers on to keep it on track.
Here is a short animation of the roof opening and closing...
Apparently everyone in the area thought it was great I finally had some sort of roof on, they even celebrated by letting off a few fireworks and yelling with joy...
Here is a quick plan done with google sketchup, still a few things to add to it yet, like a way to hold down the roof. I was going with side rails but this will be easier with the materials I have available.
My split roll off roof is held on by padlocks .... 4 per roof side and one each end .... so 10 all up ..... I'll see if I can find a photo of the setup .... I passed it on to another member last year. Where I live (on top of a hill) I get very strong easterly winds and I haven't had any problems .... with the padlock idea the roof can be locked down open or closed.
Cheers .... I'll look for photos if you want me to.
My split roll off roof is held on by padlocks .... 4 per roof side and one each end .... so 10 all up ..... I'll see if I can find a photo of the setup .... I passed it on to another member last year. Where I live (on top of a hill) I get very strong easterly winds and I haven't had any problems .... with the padlock idea the roof can be locked down open or closed.
Cheers .... I'll look for photos if you want me to.
Thanks for the info Steve, I'll be interested in the pics, sounds like it's quite secure. We would be lucky to get a couple of days of really strong winds, but in winter we get some pretty nast fronts sometimes so better to be safe I think..
Here are a couple of pics of the padlock setup .... you would have to adapt it to your observatory as you have all steel frame and different tracks to me .... you may just need to use latch fittings as I have used for the ends. I used off the shelf parts from Bunnings that could be assembled and disassembled as I knew I would be moving house soon after I built it. There are other photos of the observatory on my picasaweb site .... the link is in my signature.
I hope this helps.
Okay, did a bit more today, got cooked doing it, but all worth it in the end.
Managed to make half the roof up and plan out the next stage for that, also added some reinforcement gussets to the inside of the observatory to prevent twisting. Also panelled up the sides. Will be getting the flashings made and add them in the next couple of days, so that should look good and prevent water coming in. Still a few problems with the roof but not major and certainly doesn't prevent the thing from opening.
working with this stuff all day, I don't notice the cuts anymore, so one thing to be thankful for. Yes the walls went uo reasonably quick and was good to have some help. Going to be putting the flashings on today, so will post images up after that is done...
Okay bit more done today, added the flashings to the corners and added the inner roofing panels. Also added a bit to the front to flush the front of the roof with the bottom bit. I am slowly getting the hang of Arc welding with this project. Rollers are still running a little rough, but I have an idea on fixing this, I was going to add side rollers but unfortunately the sides of the c section were not flat so I had to resort to other means.. Stay tuned more thinking on the way...
Hey not a great deal done due to time and money, but I was photographed working on the Observatory with a mate of mine.. Thought it would be interesting..
Here is the latest pic with roof almost completed. Not a great deal of work done, but I am in no rush at this stage. Best to get things right as I do them.
A little bit done since the last post, I have made the reo for the pier hole and that is almost ready to be concreted in. Also got the end Capping made up for the northern side of the Observatory, but unfortunately the capping did not match the drawings I made and as a result they were not right, so out with the tin snips and modified it to suit. I now need more flashings to make this look reasonable.
Slowly it is coming along, here is a couple of pics of the reo and the Capping...
Okay a quick update since not much has happened... Ran into a few issues putting the big pier in so have decided to go with a smaller one. I will be ordering the concrete soon for the base, but in the mean time I will be prepping the base for it, adding rebar and boarding it up. Getting closer to finish now, although Still a few cosmetic things need to be done. I have made a Steel Pier for my HEQ5Pro which works great. I will be bolting this directly to the slab. Since I wont be inside the observatory while imaging, this will be quite stable.
I like..
