DaveS

Oh [Many very bad removed words]. I've just come back from the planning clinic where the young lady (Emma by name) confirmed my worst fears, that the only way to get the 4m height I need without planning is to go with the double pitched roof I had thought of originally. If I have a dome it either has to be under 3m or else I have to go through the planning rigmarole, 8 weeks for approval plus a likely 2 weeks more for "validation" at a cost of £209.

Thanks William. I'm reading your post several times to get the full gist. I'll be emailing OOUK to let them know which camera I'll be using, and making further enquiries regarding the heaters, specifically as to fitting. The 'scope will eventually be going in a Pulsar dome, but I'm thinking that it might be used in the open air until I get the obsy constructed. I'm wondering if standard Kendrick dew tapes around the tube might be enough, though CF might not have the thermal conductivity to pass the heat through. My location is pretty much all sheep farming, so no plowing dust (I hope).

Thanks Sara. If I don't need extra dew control I can use the money to get a G3 16200 rather than the Atik.

Yes, looks a lot better than the Skywatcher one, and don't have to use an allen key to loosen off the azimuth adjustment. Wonder if FLO will be stocking them? That little apo is looking increasingly attractive.

Thanks John. Yes, I remember reading that thread when I was still looking at GSO RC telescopes. I will need to give it some thought, as I doubt the dew heater is a retrofit. May be able to get away with Kendrick / Astrozap dew tapes.

Has anyone in these damp climes had experience with dewing on an ODK telescope (Of any aperture)? I've just had a quote for dew heaters to be fitted to an ODK12, and as expected with OOUK, not cheap! I'm now trying to decide whether to have them fitted during the assembly, but if dew isn't a big problem I may forgo them, possibly adding Kendrick tapes later if I find dew occuring. I know Sara @swag72 had an ODK10 at one point, but she is in sunny, dry Spain, not damp grey UK .

Many thanks for that John, I'll have to investigate further, mainly with respect to size.

Thanks for the warning John. This is rather concerning, given the cost and advertised robustness of 365 covers. TBH I've only had condensation under the two I have, remedied by an electric pet bed and a light dusting of silicone water repellent. Do you have a link for the taped breathable membrane cover?

Things are underway (Well, sort of) I have an electrician and roofer booked in for this coming Thursday (21st) to attend to the garage roof, and put in safe electrical power to the garage, with feeds out to the small platform, which is also on the way (May take 4-5 weeks lead time), and obsy The big platform and obsy will have to wait until I've sold my bungalow (Just had a sale fall through. Blummin' chains), so the electrician will just cap off the end of the cable and coil it up. Oh, and I'm glad I got the roof done before Storm Eric came along. The Obsy isn't quite as urgent as it was, since I'm getting an ODK12 instead of a GSO RC12, which can be carried by the DDM60 until I can budget for a DDM85. The ODK12 can sit under a big Telegizmos cover, designed for 12-14" SCTs

I'm going on Saturday so will have a look.

And with a ZWO, or Atik camera on the end.

Only if "L" is for Leica. I think it will have to be going some to beat my 180 mm f/3.4 Leitz Apo-Telyt-R. Having said which, if I didn't already have that lens it would be on my hit-list.

The Anycubic printer is a bit cheaper, with better delivery options as far as I can see. How much it costs to run depends on how much, or how big you want to print. For my needs both are quite small.

As a (Retired) chemist with a background in photochemical organic synthesis, these UV SLA printers have a certain attraction. Yes, the resin monomer is a bit expensive and requires careful handling, but I'm OK with that.

Really looking forward to seeing your images Gina. It's been a while.

I'm not spending any money just yet, and I still think I'll get the resin printer to start with, but I haven't ruled out a conventional printer later.

Well, several reasons 1) I'm notoriously cack-handed and likely to make a complete bodge-up. 2) I don't, as yet, have a workshop where I can build stuff. 1+2 also means I probably need to print the parts I need, rather than make them. 3) Being a contrary cuss, the idea of going "the other way" with printing holds a certain attractiveness. 4) I'm seeing plenty of comments regarding bed temperature, hot-ends and the risk of fire from thermal runaway. I don't want to go there. Maybe when I've got the garage properly insulated and condensation free I'll put in a work bench and power tools and be able to have a go at building a 3D printer, but not yet.

Sorry, tried to link from my 'phone didn't work. On the main computer now, so maybe I can do it. I was browsing this thread, and the couple of posts about resin printers sent me off up that long river, where I found this: Anycubic 3D Printer Can't justify it yet, got too many serious expenses, and even some more "urgent" frivolities, but any thoughts? Edit: I'm not looking to print massive stuff, but small precise parts. I've an Amici prism that I'd like to build into a spectroscope, and this looks like it could be precise enough for printing components.

Changed my mind.

Not quite that bad, I hope, though I'm in some dread as to what else is lying in wait for me. Oh yes, I had to get plumbers in quickly a while back, as the booster pump for the two showers refused to shut down when the water was turned off.

Yeah, the engineer thinks it might have been a poor DIY (BIY (Bodge-it-yourself)) job. As an example, the pressure tank was installed upside down, and had no vent pipe from the pressure relief valve to the outside, so if it *had* blown, I'd have had a flood. The electrics were / are in just as parlous a state, the 45A cable to the garage comes off a bit of 2.5mm square twin-and-earth, and goes direct to a couple of sockets and a light switch, and is running loose along the ground. A new distribution board is in order. *sigh* more money....

Thanks for the reminder, yes mellons need netting support, cucumbers might wel be an idea. Possibly the greenhouse is a bit small to take a vine. Funds have taken a beating lately, as I've just had a new boiler and oil tank installed, you can just see the tank in the second photo. I hoped we could have "accidentally" killed off the palm, but I may need to take an axe to it. I'm a bit frightened about the size of the final invoice, as the engineer had to put right a complete bodgit-and-scarper job on the old boiler installation, and the roof over the boiler house and shower room was just as bad. I had the roofers in to make good where the old flue was taken out, but hey've had to replace some dodgy polythene sheeting under the tiles with the correct breathable membrane, scaffolding comes in tomorrow, then the roofers come on Tue to put back the tiles the ols roof had maybe 2 nails holding the entire roof .

Hope so. It's quite a good greenhouse, I'm looking forward to putting it to productive use. Toms, and possibly mellons.

Another quick update. I've had a landscape gardener in to quote for major garden work, he also does hard landscaping / building, so he's also going to quote for two platforms, the big one to go in later, but a small one to go here The big Bay tree next to it Will be getting a short back and sides. This platform will just have a pier and the small rig under a Telegizmos cover. Local computers and ethernet connections are already planned.

Actually, according to the map, down the road a bit (Not saying how far or what direction) the West Bexington beach car park hits 21.72, or Bortle 3 with a deep sea-horizon