timfrench14

Hi, Sorry to come a bit late in the conversion. I’m close to finishing a longtime planned and 17 month build of a 12ft x12ft square to 10 ft wide DIY dome. The build is actually 18 ft in length as my “warm Room” is part of the overall build being 12 ft x 6 ft fully insulated with a picture window between the two. A standard 12 inch by 8 ft concrete pillar goes down into a 2 x 2 x 4 ft concrete filled foundation. When in operation the observatory will have Celestron C-14 edge hd on CGE - pro mount sitting on specially made (and too expensive!) plate. After the snow disappears the dome will be installed on the top of the square telescope room. I want to get the shutter powered up before installation. Mains power is pretty much up and ready via a 100 ft long 2 ft deep trench with cabling ready to go. My electrical contractor who has very generously donated all equipment and his time for free will do the installation. The shutter rolls very easily on the rails, weighs about 30lbs +/- 5lbs but I don’t know which type or where to find the 12V DC motor, geared to drive an exploradome type wheel plus track. Any ideas? Also, how about the wire guides etc? If you’re interested, this was my first serious telescope; University College London Observatory Observatory when I was doing Astronomy and Physics degree.................no, GO-TO no CCD or even digital cameras, no pc’s! Happy days! Link www.ulo.ucl.ac.uk

www.ulo.ucl.ac.uk