Gina

I can't find M3.5 bolts so it will have to be M3. Haven't got any long enough so just ordered some M3x30mm from Amazon due to arrive Monday.

Yes, I too have wondered about a dust cover for when I'm not using the printer (rare). Measured the rail holes and they were just over 3.5mm so I'm thinking of getting M3.5 bolts and nuts though I have some M3 nuts & bolts I could use to get going. Probably not enough though.

Thank you. I'm not using V-Slot but an 18mm thick plywood box. The rails will be bolted to the box sides.

@tekkydave I'm building a new printer using the Mini High Accurate Linear Rail like you have used I believe. I'm looking at mounting the rails. The description say these are mounted with M6 screws but the holes in the rail are much smaller that M6 and even smaller than M4 but larger than M3. So what I'm wondering is how you mounted the rails. Thanks.

Beautiful!

Well, I find binning the ASI1600MM-Cool increases sensitivity considerably!

I have 2" pipework for my cables which is adequate but bigger is probably better. Don't forget to run at least one draw string through the duct to allow for adding more cables - you will certainly need to, whatever you may think now! If you add bends make them wide radius and not a sharp elbow.

8 mins to go...

I've still got my marbles 🤣

Oh, I'm always losing and finding stuff!!!

I was 27 when they landed on the moon first time. WOW!!! Half a century ago!

It was pretty heart-stopping when I was in my obsy scope room and a very sudden extreme gust of wind caught the roof like a sail, lifted it high into the air and deposited it upside down on the boundary fence 20ft away!! Considering the roof weighs several hundredweight, that was pretty horrific!! Fence destroyed but not too much damage to the roof. Guess my over-engineering of the construction paid off...

I remember watching the first moon landing with Apollo 11. The moonwalk was on my birthday and I felt privileged to watch it.

Very nice indeed I'm dying to have another go at that myself.

Aha!! Clouds. 🤣

I'm very pleased with the result - wasn't expecting that with the moon.

Widefield view of the Sadr Region of Cygnus captured in H-Alpha with Astrodon 3nm Ha filter. Just under 3 hours total integration captured in the early hours of 7th June. Processed in PixInsight. Calibrated with darks and flats, star aligned and stacked (Image Integration). Post-processed using ABE (Automatic Background Extraction) to remove the background gradient resulting from a very bright moon then stretched using HistogramTransformation (levels). Finally the image was scaled for posting here.

Ridiculous??? Nah. When I put my single widefield imaging rig on the EQ8 - that looked ridiculous!! 🤣

Yes. Though it depends what you mount on it and what it's made of. My pier is 1.2m high 8" at the top and about 11" at the base where it joins the block..

"never throw anything away!!! " That's my mantra hence a house, garage and sheds full of clutter!!

You might be interested in my build threads but warning - a lot to read! Several attempts at ROR wheels and track but best (and has proved excellent) is FH Brundle 120mm rolling gate wheels and track. I used the half-round profile but others have used the V profile and there seems little difference in use. My roof moves easily by hand even though it's pretty heavy. There are a few more minor alterations but that's the main one. I've nearly finished remote controlled motor drive for the roof but that wouldn't be needed for visual as you would be there anyway.

Unless you have fold-down or roll off sides I would stick with 1.5m high and make it thicker. I built my pier too low and had to extend it. Just make sure you can close the roof with scope mounted.

I built my own from scratch. Obtained timber from a local timber yard and had it delivered which was free for the considerable amount of timber I bought (about £600 as I recall in two loads). That was for a two room observatory - scope and warm room. 8ft square scope room and slightly smaller warm room with ROR going over warm room. If I were to do it now I would go for something smaller as I do imaging only. I have certainly never regretted building it and it has been a godsend with the fickle weather we get in the UK. Everything ready to go - just open the roof. It's a very strong construction and nothing like the lightweight construction of the usual garden shed!

Just been out and done some running repairs on my observatory - fixed guttering and down pipe for warm room roof which also takes half the ROR rainwater. The other half goes the other way to it's own mini guttering and downpipe.

It's working!! Yippee!! Found it's own star, calibrated and started guiding.