Gonzo
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Everything posted by Gonzo
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One thing that I had on my previous box were four adjustable feet, as the balcony tiles are not 100% at the same level the box was wobbly, the adjustable feet fixed that
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Just an update on the new box. I've added the floor, the internal side walls and I'm currently busy working on the lid. I will keep it simple and follow roughly the old one (minus the flaws from last time...lol). Still LOTS and LOTS to do....
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Had a similar issue in my last box, when the lid is closed... well if the electronic within went pop... I would had to get the screwdriver, move the box (forget the alignment then), remove the hinges then struggle with the lid etc... I'm still in the thinking process to solve this issue on my new box, I might get myself an electrical enclosure IP65 and stuff all the electronic within. The door to the box will flush(ish) to the outside of the box.
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Are you going to go live as soon as it's on the balcony or are you going to wait a few days in case you discover a water leak or else?
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I was in the same boat as you when I started planning for my box, the humidity/damp/dew question that we all ask ourselves... Shall I seal the box, shall I insulate it, do I run a dehumidifier etc...? Spent days and days on Astro forums and Google. What has worked for me is the ventilation within the box, it's key. A passive vent at the bottom and an active vent (ie: solar fan) at the top. A constant air flow As for the breathable membrane, I'm sure it helped somehow.
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I wouldn't use a waterproof membrane, use a breathable one if you can.
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Hi poogle, take a look at my remote observatory thread lots of info, you could also instead of using that "Kitchen Cupboard Door Flap Hinge" use a gas strut.
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Hi Patrik, I've never had any condensation issues (there was a big water leak due to a design flaw... but that's a difference story lol), the key really is air flow. There is an opening at the bottom (vent) and a solar powered fan at the top. This creates a constant airflow, removing any moisture. My box has been up for a while, dry, no issues on any metal parts within the box.
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The scope is above the main part of the box yes, the sliding mini roof will be clearing it. One side of the box will have a raised wall. The mini roof will have a 3 sided wall if you know what I mean.
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a sneak peek of the new box... (still a work in progress...) The pier has been shorten by 10 cm, the box has a foot print of 90cm by 95cm (about the same as the previous box), the height has yet to be set but it should not be more than 70cm (give or take a cm or two, was about 90cm or so before). It's going to be a roll on roof, mounted on telescoping rails. Outside walls will be ACM panels, then a breathable membrane then the inside walls of the box will be 5 mm plywood. My tried and tested simple ventilation system will be put back, with some improvements. I did notice that the solar powered fan vent wasn't running at all on overcast days despite having a battery (I will sort this out).
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When you set the horizon correctly (still haven't figure it out how to do it....), and you enable it, the mount will not slew past the set limits. I've figured this will be important to have in our cases as one side of the box is obstructed (lid), and you do not want the mount to carry on slewing when it reaches the top of one side of the wall. If you see what I mean.
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I was talking about this: http://www.indilib.org/forum/ekos/856-horizon-manager.html
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Within Ekos, are you going to use the horizon limits? If you are, let me know how you do it please.
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Today's trip to a proper timber merchant is way better than B&Q.... they have all the wood you can dream off to build anything and they can cut absolutely anything. Bought a saw (lost my good one ), proper screws and some wood glue at the same time. After crawling YouTube looking at shed building, box building and other stuff made of wood videos I've tackled my new box. Built the base, used WAY less screws than before, and it's stronger. Just by using the right method. One challenge is that I am downsizing the box and it also has to be flat packed for easy transport AND must fit in the car.... no pressure... lol Stay tuned, new box will soon be up. As for the lid of this box, can't make up my mind if I go flat of more like a real roof to avoid having some standing water on top.
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I was talking to someone I know and he told me today: I've started to anodise some aluminium parts. Conversation got on-going and then I remembered the following below picture. Check out the bottom leg and also the second one. wood might be a better option after all...
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So I'm currently re-designing the new box, a slightly more compact one (this is not for my widefield project previously mentioned). Can't make my mind up if I build out of aluminium profiles (also known as aluminium extrusions or t-slot) or traditional wood. Some examples (full size obs) at http://rolloffobservatory.com/ Just not 100% convinced about the weatherproof of such box. The cost involved is also quite a lot higher than wood. Or maybe, I could build the frame out of wood and with ACM panels (aluminium composite panels) for walls.
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I've attempted today to use Sketchup... oh dear. Give me a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and a ruler any day
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I've noticed that your mount, the RA is aligned with the box, as in parallel to the side walls. See the picture of my box, green line is my RA and orange line is yours. I designed my box with this in mind (mount straight in the middle, parallel to side walls), however after installing the box which could only be in a very specific position, as I didn't factor the relative position of Polaris I had to rotate my all pier/mount so it ended up as per the green line you see. With the mount parked as in your video, horizontal, the end of the telescope and the camera were very close to one corner of the box (bottom corner. in that picture), bear that in mind if you cannot position your box directly toward Polaris.
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I'm reading this thread again from the start and saw you mentioned about polar alignment, I highly recommend that you give Themos polar align tool a go https://github.com/ThemosTsikas/PhotoPolarAlign I was involved in the first version of this tool then it got moved over to python, it's very easy to use and accurate. Like me, in my box you can't get in and look through the polarscope...
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yes it does, everything you need (except coffee ...). It's quite an advanced software now.
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Hi Gina, Apart from my own bash script to open/close the box and turn on the power on the devices, I do everything from the Ekos VM http://www.indilib.org/download/virtual-machines.html (well, I have my own indi driver for the box, but I prefer my script). Ekos/Kstars has everything you need build in, from taking pictures, moving the mount, weather, focuser, guiding, etc.... It's in constant development, I'm Gonzothegreat on the indi forum at http://www.indilib.org/forum.html
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As I said, once it's done, stick it outside and leave it there untouched for a few days (even a few weeks)... stars are not going away any time soon see how the box behave.
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I have now taken down the observatory, the box has been entirely recycled. I'm going to move on onto something ever so slightly different (keeping this under wrap for the time being), just a hint... "Widefield Imaging", still at the same location... Learnt quite a lot from it and amazed to see a few people were inspired by it, it is a huge challenge to run such compact obs 100's of miles away I can tell you that. But it's not impossible, in fact astronomy with Linux is easy now and there is a growing community with great support (you can break free from Windows....)
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The solar vent I used (yes, I said used as I have taken down my observatory now... the box has been recycled, I will open a new post soon... for version 2), was running whenever the sun was hitting and running off the battery. I wanted to be able to control it but I had no time when I installed it, so it's been running just like that... 0 moisture in the box !!!!! not even dew on any metal parts within. Bone dry. ah yeah and the spiders.... they loved my box...
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ah yeah, here's another thing for you, (hope you don't mind giving you tips based on my experience), the wood I see you are using doesn't appear to be treated as such (I know you're going to paint it) but it will shrink slightly over the course of months of sun exposure (wet, dry, hot, cold cycle). I had to use sealant to block off the exposed gaps...
