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Narrowband

Aspic

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  1. That's some great and cosy looking observatory! I also was thinking about the third rail, but the cables hold the roof together very well. Yes the winching mechanism holds down against winds too, winch has a switch to change the direction, therefore it cannot unwind by itself.
  2. Thanks Merlin, I was trying to figure out how to use just one winch, but couldn't come up with anything decent. But I'm not really sure how to implement a winch in your idea, as currently one end of the cable is attached to the winch itself. If I just place the winch as a pulley, the cable will just slide when winching as the roof is quite heavy.
  3. Hi stargazers! I have read about many other great observatory builds here and this time I want to share my obsy build with you, it took a lot of effort and a more time than I initially planned, in total it took 3 summers to complete, I worked on it around 3 weeks each summer, as I could spare so much time, but finally it was completed to a fully preforming state at the end of the last summer. It's build in a hexagon shape... well I thought why not, it looks better than rectangular so I went with it, but it probably added twice as time as if it was just rectangular (I think I don't have a single angle which is exactly 120°!!!) There are still some bits left to finish but that's when the weather gets warmer! The goal for the obsy was to get more serious about imaging to spend less time on setup, as all my gear is located 2 hour drive from my main living place and add 1h of setup and it all adds up. Currently I have EQ-6 PRO mount and Skywatcher 200 reflector and have acquired ASI 294mm 2 months back, just have to hope for more clear sky now! Here are pictures from the build process: It all starts with a hole... for a pier. It is 120cm x 120cm x 140cm x. A bit of overkill, but better safe than sorry! preparations for the concrete base. (yes, these trees are gone now) Should have pulled sticks out when I could, but too late for that! Metal rods placed for the pier. The base and the main part of pier is finished! The main frame of walls. Later I discovered that structural durability is not enough and had to dismantle back to this stage (had walls already) to add diagonal planks. Not really sure it was needed but added insulation so frost doesn't get in. This was the view next summer. Basically after each winter had to do some repairs, even if it wasn't finished yet! walls are in place! Now the main part. The work on roll-off roof. One of the roof sections are used as a window. 6mm tempered glass with UV protection was placed. Initial plan was to make the roof all of the glass, but I'm glad I decided against it as it would add too much weight. Glass piece weights almost 70kg! Also I had to add metal cables to hold the roof together, actually these work very well, the middle horizontal plank wasn't probably needed. The last part (top) of the pier is added as well. I needed something lightweight for the roof, in the end I decided for metal roof panels without colour, so it reflects sunlight better. This is how it looks from the outside. Work on the floor, it's designed so it doesn't connect to the pier and you can freely walk around without risk of any vibration to the scope. The top of pier, the hole is to be able to screw the mount to the pier. The door. Probably have to make it tougher in future... security currently relies only on the remote location. Initially I planed to add winches the next year, but couldn't move the roof with hand anymore the with the glass and metal panels added. One winch to roll off, another - to roll back. Below are few more pics from the almost completed build (current progress)! Things left to do: Make shelfs! Paint it, haven't decided on the colour yet. Realign roof wheels better to prevent roof sometimes getting stuck when rolling. Add additional columns to support weight of rolled off roof, it works well now, but I'm not convicted about long term. Draw in mains electricity, have to dig 50m trench to connect it to the main building. Maybe make the door tougher! Some small bits, like cut off overextend roof beams. Switch to electric winch? (still considering this as manual winch makes you warm during these cold nights)
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