New observatory

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

Gee, you have been very busy Alex, any photos of any of the changes/work you have been doing?...that hammock over the dam with boat sounds cool

Mike

Hi Mike
The photos of work in progress are of the work in progress and show a very disorganised situation but I will put them up as I find them..I take heaps of photos so it will take some time...however here is me in the hamock and one from the hamock looking towards the dam which I have handy because I sent these to a friend r cently...and one of the bow.
I will see what else I can find.
Alex

Here are some taken during repainting.
Alex

Some more showing the food preparation bench and yhe computer / microscope bench in place but still being set up...the microscope has been moved to the other day nd and the second one added since these were taken and things tidied...these were just progress reports for my daughter I had not intended making them public.

I just noticed I thought you wanted a photo of the bow..but it was the boat..I dont have a photo but I will take one and put it here..it is just a tinnie..well not just a tinnie in so far it was a special build many years ago and a very robust unit..it is in a mess cause I cant get in it to clean it and it is half full of water which I only started pumping out earlier...I will get one with water and one without.
Alex

The first photo was showing her the new chair I had just assembled...the microscope is under its plastic cover if you look hard...and the food preparation bench is being used as a work bench here with multiple projects and stuff being sorted ..the fan for example was being adjusted to go in the observatory...its all neat and tidy now..the photo of the ramp was to show the hand rail I had put it but you can see the blue barrel which holds wash up water and acts as a wash stand..I use a gold pan as a hand basin..it has a bilge pump inside to supply water at the flick of a switch..very flash..the cheap car port was for the MX5 but the poor thing has been out in all this rain..but I found that it did not leak so it stays out....the car port is being used temporarily now for other things.

The photos dont tell the story really..like the work to put in each of those benches you would not believe...I had no one to help so when cutting them I had to build a special jig so they did not fall and damage themselves splitting at the last cut..then getting them from the work bench into the van was something ...lucky they fitted firdt go.

Alex

[leon]

Very calming place you have Alex and seem very content with what you have achieved, stay well my friend, and I look forward to the progress.
By the way nice hammock, what a place to relax.

Leon

[xelasnave]

Hi Leon...I am always content and happy as I appreciate that is the only true success.

I wont waste time or energy feeling sad angry or envious ...well why should I as I really am the luckiest man on the planet... .the hamock is wonderful as happily there is always a gentle breeze that comes from the dam even on very hot days.

The bottom wrinkle across my neck is the scar from the thiroid cancer removal ...it looks as if my throat was cut..well I guess it was really..looks dramatic in real life.

Someone once said to me that I must be either a good fighter or a good talker because I did not have one scar on my face...I wonder what they would say now.

I do hope that both you and Alice are safe and well as I do think about the two of you often.
Alex

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

You've made me want a hammock now...

Mike

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by strongmanmike

You've made me want a hammock now...

Mike

Nothing like hopping in/on after working cause you can swing and fan yourself with out a fan

OK I am taking a break and will take my meds and see how the blood pressure coped with a couple of hours doing light work.
So here are more photos...
1. A shot of part of the dam showing a little of the jetty and boat.
2. The boat after 39 minutes ( or more) of pumping.
3.The stationary gutter set up...not secured other than by ropes so as to be able to move after selecting the best spot.
4. The gutter drains into this tank as does a collection tarp..I took a photo of it with a wallaby eating grass alongside but it was a video so no photo unfortunately. You can see the two stroke pump I fixed that pumps to the bin in the next photo.
5. Here is a bin that I use to hold the vans water supply..it has a 12 vlt pressure pump to give me running water and has its own little battery now but I will be wirering it to the vans 12vlt supply in time...had to do it this way for a good reason at the time.
6.An other photo of the boat full of water and the jetty and dam.
Alex

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Definitely has that, back to nature, Bushman feel to it all, excellent

Mike

[xelasnave]

Thank you Mike
It lacks elevation unfortunately but I did have the choice ... I was going to do all this on one of the hills but our hill tops get more lighting strikes than I find acceptable. ...lightning has already blown up the electrical system in the main house...well the inverter was all that had to be replaced...and given I was struck at the other place and found it most unpleasant I can accept less altitude...I was going to refurbish a very neat two storey shack on the highest point on the property that has electrics etc but the lightning just worried me too much.

It probably seems odd that I prefer living here rather than in my nice two storey house in a flash Sydney suburb but I love being alone and well out of town...I have a mate in it to look after the stuff so it is all ok.

I am so happy to see it all coming together with your enterprise ... Good on you for going for it ..from your biggest fan.
Alex

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Thank you Mike
It lacks elevation unfortunately but I did have the choice ... I was going to do all this on one of the hills but our hill tops get more lighting strikes than I find acceptable. ...lightning has already blown up the electrical system in the main house...well the inverter was all that had to be replaced...and given I was struck at the other place and found it most unpleasant I can accept less altitude...I was going to refurbish a very neat two storey shack on the highest point on the property that has electrics etc but the lightning just worried me too much.

It probably seems odd that I prefer living here rather than in my nice two storey house in a flash Sydney suburb but I love being alone and well out of town...I have a mate in it to look after the stuff so it is all ok.

I am so happy to see it all coming together with your enterprise ... Good on you for going for it ..from your biggest fan.
Alex

Thanks Alex, sounds like a nice arrangement ...we are both livin the dream as it were

Mike

[xelasnave]

Yes and that is the way it should be.

As you know most people approach things on the basis of why it can not work..they havent got the money..or their wife would not approve...I think both you and I take the opposite approach looking for why it can be done.

The world gets out of the way of a man who knows where he is going.

Just to round off the photos, and this is a good idea which no one uses...and you may find it useful...if you need water just keep buying tarps... a distant shot of my tarp water collection unit...which having done its job might now become a temporary "shed".

The way you connect the 19mm pipe is my idea and as such very clever...I post a photo showing how easy it is...

Alex

Thinking about my comments I meant the lack of money or the wife's thoughts should not be used as an excuse...they are considerations certainly but for many are the Goto excuses when they should really confess that they are too lazy to make the effort.

Alex

[xelasnave]

The camp shower has arrived..talk about fast shipping.. out of this world.

I got it from Kings the 4wd folk ..I have purchased trail cameras, jump starters, a camp fridge freezer and can not recommend them too highly...and they throw in stuff...with the jump starters they threw in tyre deflators.. handy for folk into 4wd....and with the gas hot water service a canvass toiletries bag with a 12 month warranty...Honestly I dont know where else you could get a 12 mth warranty on a toiletries bag..I am impressed.

When set up this will be fantastic... pure luxury.

I am so very lucky.

Alex

[xelasnave]

Sometimes I think astro photography is there to build your character by extending your patience beyond that of other humans.

Last night I started on the long road to pulling it all together.

I have three mounts and scopes in the observatory ( four actually but one is not standing so I wont count it at the moment) and rather than starting at the top in the hair pulling game on the RASA I thought to start small and build skills with doing the 80mm set up first..It has been more than 12 months and I have forgotten most everything ... Simple stuff like what this cable is for and where the cables attach to the roll off roof after the resort due to the storm damage..my goal last night was simple..polar align the 80mm sitting on the HEQ 5 mount...cant take more than 30 minutes then off to bed ..with the cloud imaging was not going to happen but even with the cloud this was the best night for ages..

Happily the roll off roof now opens smoothly thanks to my mate grinding the tracks and taking off the "BHP" humps... note..need fittings to hook cables onto..mmm yes I remember buying the bits but where are they now..ok later. So happy that it opens smoothly as before it was worrying the way it lurched side to side due to those little bumps.

I had the HEQ 5 mount pointing in the general direction but cause of cloud coming in and out off the sharpcap screen and the Moon light I just could not get a long time exposure to show those arcs that help me narrow in...in the end I used the live view blew up the image by 600 and looked at the stars, now very pixilated, in each corner...finally I could see the direction to move the mount and where I should find Octane

So now open Polemaster ... I could get the first part done but when I got to the second part the clouds gave me white out...so I would start over while waiting for them to clear and again got thru the first step but a white out preventing precision...
OK close enough will do at least that is something ..the mount does not have to be moved which was my concern...I can at least try each of the new cameras..the one shot colour zwo 2600 was to go on this rig so open sharp cap to play around...after trying a relatively short exposure I get a message saying the camera has disconnected..so I go through my usual routine..restart the computer..mmm no..try another cable..mmm no..ok lets try the mono camera..mm same problem...do a goggle..Cloudy Nights happyily has a thread..you need to power the camera as usb power is not enough..but I thought that was for the cooler and as I didnt not need the cooler I didnt add power besides which damn power box is it..I have a few a box full and reading amps near impossible in the available light..why cant they put that on in huge letters..I will as I am sick of going through the damn things with a magnifying glass..anyways adding power got things going... reasonable and at least I have the power sorted.

So lets take a snap something..no star alignment yet (no goto) or finder scope ( maybe I should have done that but no too much of a hurry) but it cant be too hard to frame up M42 just point the scope and watch it appear on screen...well it was not so easy cause I could not get it on screen... lets add a finder scope..now which one? This one ok but then the cloud played with me again...it must have taken an hour setting up the finder scope..unbelievable..

Seeing I have the mono camera with its filter drawer lets change the filters...damn it all the filter drawers except one are the wrong size...by now it was 1 am and all I had captured was 20 subs of 8 seconds using iv cut filter...but that will be helpful as I am using a new computer so I can go through the motions.. inspection, stack even run the image thru Startools and see what unexpected problems I find...I like to tidy up but last night I could not I was near colapse. I only pushed it because earlier I had a good blood pressure reading ..there are open boxes of cables, power boxes, finder scopes, cords, ropes bed sheets ..you name it...BUT it was fun..I felt so happy to be doing something..just playing around adjusting etc made me just so incredibly happy...and if I get a sharp image of M42 core to show a result from the new camera it will be great...oh I could not find my focuser mask cause it has been do long...ironically the thing I opened the observatory to do, namely do a polar align on the HEQ 5 mount, was not achieved but close enough in this case is a big deal as next time getting precision will only take minutes..the mount will not need to be moved..

I have so much to do I am near overwhelmed but I take the approach to just keep on keeping on and at least I am busy and interested in getting out of bed.

Alex

[xelasnave]

What I forgot to mention...

Before I even opened the observatory I went to start the genny..odd I seem to have left the choke on when it ran last..how could I do that ..how could I not notice???? oh well no matter..but now it wont start..mmm maybe the plug is now stuffed..yes it was sooty as.. but lucky last shop I had bought two new ones...
But getting at the damn thing set up so you need to take it to the dealer just to change a plug I feel.

Such things may not seem like a big deal until you have limited movement so you may not appreciate just what a pain it was changing that damn plug ...anyways that set the tone for the night and really I should have know right then that nothing was going to be easy.

Maybe today if I can recover I will unpack the new gas camp shower and get it set up but in truth I just feel like taking it easy today.
Alex

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

Sometimes I think astro photography is there to build your character by extending your patience beyond that of other humans.

Last night I started on the long road to pulling it all together.

I have three mounts and scopes in the observatory ( four actually but one is not standing so I wont count it at the moment) and rather than starting at the top in the hair pulling game on the RASA I thought to start small and build skills with doing the 80mm set up first..It has been more than 12 months and I have forgotten most everything ... Simple stuff like what this cable is for and where the cables attach to the roll off roof after the resort due to the storm damage..my goal last night was simple..polar align the 80mm sitting on the HEQ 5 mount...cant take more than 30 minutes then off to bed ..with the cloud imaging was not going to happen but even with the cloud this was the best night for ages..

Happily the roll off roof now opens smoothly thanks to my mate grinding the tracks and taking off the "BHP" humps... note..need fittings to hook cables onto..mmm yes I remember buying the bits but where are they now..ok later. So happy that it opens smoothly as before it was worrying the way it lurched side to side due to those little bumps.

I had the HEQ 5 mount pointing in the general direction but cause of cloud coming in and out off the sharpcap screen and the Moon light I just could not get a long time exposure to show those arcs that help me narrow in...in the end I used the live view blew up the image by 600 and looked at the stars, now very pixilated, in each corner...finally I could see the direction to move the mount and where I should find Octane

So now open Polemaster ... I could get the first part done but when I got to the second part the clouds gave me white out...so I would start over while waiting for them to clear and again got thru the first step but a white out preventing precision...
OK close enough will do at least that is something ..the mount does not have to be moved which was my concern...I can at least try each of the new cameras..the one shot colour zwo 2600 was to go on this rig so open sharp cap to play around...after trying a relatively short exposure I get a message saying the camera has disconnected..so I go through my usual routine..restart the computer..mmm no..try another cable..mmm no..ok lets try the mono camera..mm same problem...do a goggle..Cloudy Nights happyily has a thread..you need to power the camera as usb power is not enough..but I thought that was for the cooler and as I didnt not need the cooler I didnt add power besides which damn power box is it..I have a few a box full and reading amps near impossible in the available light..why cant they put that on in huge letters..I will as I am sick of going through the damn things with a magnifying glass..anyways adding power got things going... reasonable and at least I have the power sorted.

So lets take a snap something..no star alignment yet (no goto) or finder scope ( maybe I should have done that but no too much of a hurry) but it cant be too hard to frame up M42 just point the scope and watch it appear on screen...well it was not so easy cause I could not get it on screen... lets add a finder scope..now which one? This one ok but then the cloud played with me again...it must have taken an hour setting up the finder scope..unbelievable..

Seeing I have the mono camera with its filter drawer lets change the filters...damn it all the filter drawers except one are the wrong size...by now it was 1 am and all I had captured was 20 subs of 8 seconds using iv cut filter...but that will be helpful as I am using a new computer so I can go through the motions.. inspection, stack even run the image thru Startools and see what unexpected problems I find...I like to tidy up but last night I could not I was near colapse. I only pushed it because earlier I had a good blood pressure reading ..there are open boxes of cables, power boxes, finder scopes, cords, ropes bed sheets ..you name it...BUT it was fun..I felt so happy to be doing something..just playing around adjusting etc made me just so incredibly happy...and if I get a sharp image of M42 core to show a result from the new camera it will be great...oh I could not find my focuser mask cause it has been do long...ironically the thing I opened the observatory to do, namely do a polar align on the HEQ 5 mount, was not achieved but close enough in this case is a big deal as next time getting precision will only take minutes..the mount will not need to be moved..

I have so much to do I am near overwhelmed but I take the approach to just keep on keeping on and at least I am busy and interested in getting out of bed.

Alex

Alex
With a any new set up as you know, issues are part of the deal and yes it’s a pain in the butt. However once resolved you forget about them very quickly
In regard to the 2600MC and 2600MM they do require separate 12V power supplies. Relying on the USB just doesn’t cut it
I just made up my own 5m lead with 2 core 1mm black flex from Jaycar, 2.1 mm centre positive plug , cigarette plug and Powertech MP3575 12v to 230v power adapter. The camera has ran perfect and cooled for 18 months
Just address and tick each problem off and in no time you’ll be up and running
Wishing you clear skies up there at Tabby
Best
Martin

[xelasnave]

Thank you Martin you are so helpful and an inspiration to everyone.

I wont let small things ( or big things) stand in my way.

Ordinarily I would have had the power supply available and I actually spent the early part of the day putting a plug on a 240 to 12 vlt power box to power the mount..I am trying to run everything from a 240 supply which actually comes initially from a 12 vlt system..my main reason is to avoid accidents via reverse polarity which,even though one is careful, do happen..it can be a devestating accident sometimes ..and if the electrical system fails, and they do, I can just turn the genny key and continue.

It seems only like last month, to me, that you got that "new" camera...and your images are most impressive..you probably dont need to go narrow band but it is just one of those things you need to do..playing with the 80mm last night I wondered why I went past it . so easy ro manage and great captures...I fear the RASA may not deliver ..I already suspect I will need new filters..anyways I will give it a decent run
But the manufacturer leaving off a cable management system given the camera placement for such a scope and to sell it with a manual focuser is unforgiveable in my view.

Anyways back to work.

Thanks again for your input I always greatly appreciate it very much.
Alex

[xelasnave]

OK got moving and have near set up the shower and I hit Bunnings at opening this morning to get the gas bottle and a small 7 amp battery that as small as it is will run the pump I expect..I have the same battery for the boat pump and it runs for hours and I dont expect to dpend hours in the shower...
I also purchased another garbage bin to hold water...in time I will do away with the garbage bins approach with a decent pressure pump that can bring water from the main storage tank...the things that become redundant with all my systems electrical or plumbing then serve as back up systems...when in the bush the more back ups the better as I hate having to drop everything and rsce off to town to getting something working...
Alex

[leon]

Gee Alex I read your post with great anticipation of what I might read next.
You sure are a man on a mission and don't waste a second of life, I reckon many a fitter man than you would find it hard to keep up.

Stay well my friend, you are doing a fantastic job.

Leon

[xelasnave]

Hi Leon...you only get out of life what you take out of it...
Alex

[xelasnave]

Progress today...tidied up the observatory which means it now looks a mess but it is a challenge to make a place for everything ... But getting there.

However I did, on top of that, set up the gas camp shower.

A simple thing to do but surprisingly time consuming..I selected the tree that one end of the hamock is attached to and I expect that I should be able to shower laying in the hamock...that seems strange but oddly appealing.

I got everything in place, even the water storage, a lovely Bunnings garbage bin but my feet are playing up and the pain took me out before I could finish and fill the bin and do a test run...these feet are so demoralising as they totally stop me ..in my tracks...but it is up and the suffering was worth it

Folk take having a shower for granted but unless I go to the main house I have to boil water on my little stove and sit on a chair with a cake of soap and a washer.. oddly you get a great wash..but a shower in a hamock will be hard to beat I bet
Alex.

[xelasnave]

My foot pain is back unfortunately and rather debilitating but with all the talk of batteries and charging etc I realised I had forgotten to install the voltmeter my assistant had wired into the system to let me know the volts in the battery bank.

It was hanging by two wires ... Not ideal

So I found some masonite and set up to make the housing using the jig saw however I saw a facebook video this morning showing cutting a square hole with an angle grinder so I went that way. Lucky there was a square hole in the board that housed something in its pripr life but perfect for the voltmeter.

After some filing it finally fitted so I screwed it in...what there is no reading!!!???...what could it be???..something major?...no it turned out due to the constant handling both wires on the voltmeter had come off only after I had screwed it in..however whew...that could have been a message of something very very bad.. so I fixed it and screwed it back in place...looks great and I can tell at a glance if I need to start the genny..

Lucky I purchased a new inverter when I did .it has been sitting on my bench still in its box but I find the fan in the current inverter in the van has stopped .it still works but prolonged use poses a fire risk so it must get changed today.

I went to the main house for lunch and the wind picked up dramatically and when I get back to the van the tarp that I have covering it has been ripped down the middle so it must have been rather wild down here.
The annoying thing is the time it will take to tie down a new one...it is not an easy job for one person as you have to run around getting everything lined up..
I may just leave that one there and drag a new one over it..I can use the rain water gathering tarp...although best to leave it set up for its job.

So although slow the show moves forward.

Alex

[xelasnave]

So I figured that I needed to cover the van just in case of a leak so dismantled the rain catching tarp..I did not realise just how many ropes and tie downs but it takes a fair bit to tue it up to hold water for obvious reasons.
But the main problem was as I had not used it for s couple of weeks it had leaves and a fair few tad poles swimming around...so I had to catch them all and move them to a new home... I can not snuff out a little life as most folk must know.
So I dragged it to the van and got it up and tied down on four corners which is a bit slack as it needs more tie downs really but I was exhausted by this stage and hoped that it will do until tomorrow.

But I could not change the inverter...but as I was trying to recover sitting alongside the inverter I heard the fan start up.. do things were not as bad as I thought..I meant to turn it off anyways but I can't remember ...I had taken out the last steak and there were just vegies which will be ok..so I guess all you folk reading this must be very envious of the exciting life I lead.
And as promised here are photos of the way you can fix a pipe to a tarp..two pieces of wood which hold the tarp is place secured by some screws thru the timber...saves buying an expensive thru the skin fitting...sure it is not high but it is collecting and the water drains to another tank. ( Having trouble loading the photos..but I will try later)
Alex