SkyShed POD Arrived!

[fatwoul]

Do you really move your mount/scope around when it's raining and you have the roof closed?

Yes, for lots of reasons. For one thing, if I'm trying a new piece of software. I want to mess around with EQMod soon, and that will be something that I'm sure I'll need to spend at least a bit of time fiddling with before trying it on a night sky. I'll also be able to spend a lot of time fine tuning the balance of the scope. With a D3 hanging off it, I've found this process to be really tiresome; at 1240g, it's three times the weight of most astro CCDs, so much so that I've found my Crayford struggles with it, and can jam sometimes. I am counting the days to my CCD purchase...

Yes if you don't the rain runs through the grooves of the decking into the POD...

Sure, but I didn't realise people used Lexel for it. I figured there was some other cheaper alternative for applications like that. Did you put it on the outside edge, or the inside edge, or both?

Another tip as you have a white roof.

After I have finished imaging in the early hours I leave the camera running doing darks while I go to bed and in the morning I still have the camera in place and can do my flats through the dome roof. I have noticed those with different coloured domes are not able to do this...

Ha! I was thinking this when I first had it set up! Actually, my train of thought was "shame about the stars, if it was a flat surface I could do my flat frames through it. I then realised that, of course, the spaces between the stars are plenty big enough to do that. I've been doing my flats at the end of the session, though. Bit nervous about leaving my SLR out in the dome overnight!

Nice one Fatwolf ..... Mow I'm really jealous , if wasn't for the fact I'll be moving very soon I would have bought one by now. They are soooo cooool

Well done and enjoy !

Thanks Horus. I might be moving, too, which is why the POD appealed to me, as it seems far better designed for that purpose.

I am still very tempted by one of these in the future.

So far, so good. As I am writing this, the POD is experiencing its first night of use.

The things I've discovered so far:

The rumbling of the dome is not a problem. As long as I'm not silly with it, and do it carefully, the noise the dome makes is minimal, and shouldn't cause any disturbance to the neighbours.

Not only does the some serve as a windbreak and light baffle (depending on wind and light direction of course), but it also has a psychological benefit for me, in that it concentrates my eyes on the part of the sky I am imaging, and helps me focus (no pun) on the job in hand.

Now the bad points (although all of them are simply things I need to get used to)...

The space I have to move around in is now quite confined. Not prohibitively so, but for example getting to the back of the scope to look through and focus the guide scope is quite cramped. In addition, while fairly short, I'm not the most delicate of people, and I am going to have to learn to move around the dome carefully. No accidents yet, but I can see myself stumbling at some point!

The space is disorientating. Because of the dome's movement, the door, bay, and my chair are seldom where I expect them to be.

Exiting and entering the dome can be tricky depending on where the scope is pointing. Right now, targeting Hercules, the scope's rear end is close to the door, and I have to be careful not to knock it.

I didn't appreciate until now how much I depended on the faint light from our conservatory to do things around the scope and mount. I am having to rely on my headlamp most of the time, which stops me wearing my SkyShed cap!

Once I get some red ropelights fitted to the base of the walls, I'll be able to see perfectly well whenever I need to. The movement issues are something I'm sure I'll get used to with practice.

I'm imaging M13 again, trying to improve my technique and workflow. We'll see how it's gone tomorrow!

[cgarry]

I didn't appreciate until now how much I depended on the faint light from our conservatory to do things around the scope and mount. I am having to rely on my headlamp most of the time, which stops me wearing my SkyShed cap!

If you wear the cap backwards you could still use your headlamp. Just an idea!

Chris

[fatwoul]

If M13 was any higher in the sky, I'd be in danger of losing it behind the top of the dome. I may have to do as others have done, and off-centre the pier a little. Either that or just be selective with my targets!

[malc-c]

It's very nice... my only reservation about putting one in my garden (other than cost) is that it advertises the fact you have a few grands worth of scope and associated electronics inside it because it looks like everyone's (including the local numpty's) perception of an observatory !

[TheThing]

About how much does one of these cost please?

[fatwoul]

It's very nice... my only reservation about putting one in my garden (other than cost) is that it advertises the fact you have a few grands worth of scope and associated electronics inside it because it looks like everyone's (including the local numpty's) perception of an observatory !

This is my main concern, too. I live in an OK area (not Crime Central), but it still worries me a little. However, I rarely go away for any length of time, and if I do, I'll remove all the valuables before I go. Even then, it'd be a shame to have the POD ruined by some ne'er-do-well trying to gain access. It is visible from outside the garden, but only barely, and not in a way that I think makes it obvious what it is. I guess time will tell on this issue, as well.

About how much does one of these cost please?

Too much, but that's not really anybody's fault. In the US/Canada, they are priced at $1995 upwards (with free shipping depending where you are) but by the time they reach the UK, and get import duty and overseas shipping (and Altair's overheads, etc) slapped on them, they are a minimum of £2295 PLUS shipping. Mine was £2395 because of the additional bay, and the shipping was £340. It's still less than the Pulsar domes, and more flexible for those with GEMs. But it's still a big number to swallow when you think they're half as much across the pond.

Here are the first results from last night's four-hour assault on M13:

Pesky satellites!

[Earl]

"The space I have to move around in is now quite confined. Not prohibitively so, but for example getting to the back of the scope to look through and focus the guide scope is quite cramped. In addition, while fairly short, I'm not the most delicate of people, and I am going to have to learn to move around the dome carefully. No accidents yet, but I can see myself stumbling at some point!"

I have to admit space is my biggest concern, most things I find in the world are made for the smaller size members of the species, I am unfortunately not one of those LOL at 6"4 and claustrophobic I need space otherwise i do start to get mild panic attacks......

[carastro]

You'll soon get used to the space inside the dome.

I have found the dome gets in the way it the object is high up, but this has only happened occasionally. i.e. I can't do M51 or M101 at the moment, and M27 was a problem back in the summer, but on the whole it has not been a problem. To some extent this is academic anyway as I also have the Skypod pier and there is clash between the scope/camera and the pier plate anyway if the object gets too high.

I have my pier offset slightly towards the South and West.

Regarding the Observatory contents, have you chatted with your insurance company? Mine say they will insure the contents provided I keep it locked.

Carole

[ambermyst]

Hi Fatwoul

Snap! our pod arrived Saturday 23rd April. Your pictures are great. We too have a week off work this week so will get the pod assembled and useable by next weekend.

It's good news that you found it not too difficult to assemble. We are watching the dvd tonight but have to wait for the decking boards to arrive before we can get on with it. We had plans to do the assembly and then lift the pod on ...er not going to happen now as we have felt the weight and dont want to pull it around too much. It was a lovely surprise as it wasnt expected to be delivered until Tuesday.

We hope you have years of happy observing

Regards

Trish & Colin (Hull)

[Gina]

Where I am a dome (particularly a white one) would be visible for miles around and even if you haven't got a lot of expensive equipment in it, people might think so. What dreadful times we live in. This is a rural area and not as bad as in the towns and cities but we still have crime, particularly theft. We have had chain saws, strimmers and other things stolen in the past so have installed lots of security. But not providing temptation is a good crime prevention measure.

[fatwoul]

Good advice, Carole, as per your PM to me a few days ago. I'll definitely have a chat with some insurers.

I'm having zenith problems, too, and it seems like every object I want to image is in Ursa Major at the moment! This is just something I'll have to get used to, because the benefits of the dome - specifically the clamshell POD - outweigh the drawbacks.

I can't off-centre the pier by more than a couple of inches to the SE, so it's barely worth it.

What I might do, if it continues to be a problem, is install a zenith table (PZT). It would need to be to the north, which would mean overhanging a flowerbed and depriving it of light, but if the PZT is only erected during the winter months, this wouldn't matter anyway.

It's a shame the PZT is so large. A smaller one would be enough to clear zenith for me.

In the meantime, I'll just start to familiarise myself with other parts of the sky, and go for other objects.

Right now, I'm running 240 minutes of Bode's Nebula, which is skimming the edge of the dome roof, so we'll see what luck I have tomorrow!

Hi Fatwoul

Snap! our pod arrived Saturday 23rd April. Your pictures are great. We too have a week off work this week so will get the pod assembled and useable by next weekend...

I'm no expert, but now that mine is built, if you have any questions I'd be happy to help where I can.

...It's good news that you found it not too difficult to assemble. We are watching the dvd tonight but have to wait for the decking boards to arrive before we can get on with it. We had plans to do the assembly and then lift the pod on ...er not going to happen now as we have felt the weight and dont want to pull it around too much. It was a lovely surprise as it wasnt expected to be delivered until Tuesday.

We hope you have years of happy observing

Regards

Trish & Colin (Hull)

Thanks guys.

You're right not to try lift it once built. The dome halves alone are manageable but awkward for two people to lift, but the whole thing would be very difficult. The walls really don't take long to erect, so once your deck is built, just lift off the dome(s), dismantle the walls, and move them to your deck.

The most difficult part of assembly is attaching the gasket along the inside edge of the larger dome. My girlfriend helped me with that, by holding it taught as I screwed it in place. Doing this by myself would have been impossible. Besides the lifting, I found most of the rest of it was easy to do without help.

Take your time building your deck. I spent a lot of time on that part, and apart from some minor vibration transmission problems that have virtually disappeared, that was time well spent.

Are you installing a pier/concrete block, or simply placing a tripod on the deck?

[ollypenrice]

Oh, I would not put a tripod on a deck. Certainly not.

Olly

[ambermyst]

Thanks for your advice. We are like a couple of kids and can't wait to get on with it all before we have to go back to work.

We have dug a metre deep hole and filled it with concrete, bought the Altair Astro pier & kit so it should be a good stable mount for our EQ6. Our only fear at the moment is have we offset the pier enough (but not too much). Any way all will become clear very soon.

Hope you have lots of clear skies

Trish & Colin

[Horus]

Hi Trish / Colin..............Just realised you are from Hull ! Love to see when its assembled pls?

Hi Fatwoul

Snap! our pod arrived Saturday 23rd April. Your pictures are great. We too have a week off work this week so will get the pod assembled and useable by next weekend.

It's good news that you found it not too difficult to assemble. We are watching the dvd tonight but have to wait for the decking boards to arrive before we can get on with it. We had plans to do the assembly and then lift the pod on ...er not going to happen now as we have felt the weight and dont want to pull it around too much. It was a lovely surprise as it wasnt expected to be delivered until Tuesday.

We hope you have years of happy observing

Regards

Trish & Colin (Hull)

[fatwoul]

Oh, I would not put a tripod on a deck. Certainly not.

Olly

Neither would I, but I've seen many PODs used that way in the SkyShed website gallery.

...We have dug a metre deep hole and filled it with concrete, bought the Altair Astro pier & kit so it should be a good stable mount for our EQ6...

Mine is certainly secure enough with an EQ6 and a MN190 on it.

...Our only fear at the moment is have we offset the pier enough (but not too much)...

I, too, worried about the offset issue. In the end I decided to position the pier centrally in the dome, with no offset. I have fiddled around with the small offset I have available, but I think I will just learn to live with the blindspot. I know that if I had offset, it would have caused other problems, such as collisions between the dome walls and the back end of the OTA. As I've said, the blindspot issue is massively outweighed by the fantastic ease of use I have gained by having the dome at all. I just have to remind myself that if an object can't be imaged right now, I just have to wait a few weeks. Over the year, I doubt there will be many things I will miss out on because of it. If I'm wrong, then I can always get a zenith table later.

...Any way all will become clear very soon...

I'm sure you'll be fine (I was), but like I said, any questions just ask (PM if you'd prefer). There are plenty of us who have them. Dave Smith and Carole (carastro) have both been very helpful to me with their advice and answers by PM.

Hi Trish / Colin..............Just realised you are from Hull ! Love to see when its assembled pls?

They should post pictures!

[Gina]

Best really if questions can be posted in the forum - that way everyone benefits from the reply.

[fatwoul]

Best really if questions can be posted in the forum - that way everyone benefits from the reply.

Absolutely, Gina. I only suggested PM because sometimes someone might feel silly asking a question that might have already been asked.

There has also been extensive discussion about vendors, etc, which I feel would be unfair to post publicly unless as part of a proper review.

[Gina]

That's fair enough.

[fatwoul]

So as I mentioned elsewhere, I took the dome off the POD today, to apply the Lexel. That went fine, but when I put the dome back on, I somehow managed to cross-thread one of the roller bracket bolt-holes. Honestly, I have made so many stupid little mistakes during this project it is starting to depress me. The bolt won't go all the way in anymore, obviously, so I've had to pack it out with a couple of washers, but it's holding very solid and seems to be doing what it is supposed to. Still, I screwed up. Again.

I also installed some anti-fatigue flooring, which I bought from Machine Mart today. The flooring is really good, and I am happy with it, but I have done something (else) that people might think is stupid: I've laid it underneath the walls of the dome, and screwed down through it. My reasons for this were:

1) It was easier to cut the edge to the outside edge of the dome.

2) It ensures the edge of the flooring is firmly held in place.

3) Being spongey, once screwed down is forms a fairly good seal in its own right, between the bottoms of the walls and the ridges in the decking.

4) If it turns out to be a rubbish idea, I can always cut it smaller to fit inside the dome instead. That cutting will be much easier now its in place anyway.

5) It raises the dome a fraction of an inch higher relative to the pier, which together with dropping the top plate of the pier by 1.5 inches today, will hopefully lessen the blindspot at zenith.

I plan to run a bead of Lexel all the way around the edge of the flooring/wall to further seal it, and prevent water running underneath and stagnating, and rotting the deck. However, should water get underneath, I can lift the central four tiles to allow the deck to dry.

[carastro]

Regarding the Zenith and blind spot of the POD Dome. I decided that trying to lift the dome on and off onto a PZT table would be too much for me, especially my husband would refused to get up in the middle of the night to help me put it back on.

I have offset the pier about 6 inches to the South, I did not want to do it any more as I would lose out on the N side.

I have therefore decided that things I can't image from the POD because they are too high, I have the following options:

a) Wait until the object is in a different position.

Image it at sky camp where the skies will be darker anyway.

c) Take the mount off the pier and put it on the tripod and do it the hard way just for the occasional image.

Carole

[fatwoul]

Yeah, good plan.

Over the night, we had our first rain since I built the POD. It was a heavy, prolonged downfall, with wind blowing it up into awkward places, but the dome did pretty well. There was only one leak, from one of the pivot joins between the primary and secondary domes. No matter how I tried, I was unable to make the grey rubber seal do what it was supposed to in that corner, so I've had to improvise, and it looks like that improvising was no good. But considering the weather we had, I think one small leak isn't too bad.

[malc-c]

There was only one leak, from one of the pivot joins between the primary and secondary domes. No matter how I tried, I was unable to make the grey rubber seal do what it was supposed to in that corner, so I've had to improvise, and it looks like that improvising was no good. But considering the weather we had, I think one small leak isn't too bad.

Hang on.. you've spend best part of two and a half grand on a commercial product and it leaks... and you've had to improvise (possibly invalidating any warranty !) - I'd be straight on the phone to the supplier and have them fix the problem.

[Gina]

Not good is it?!?!

[fatwoul]

Hang on.. you've spend best part of two and a half grand on a commercial product and it leaks... and you've had to improvise (possibly invalidating any warranty !) - I'd be straight on the phone to the supplier and have them fix the problem.

That's a bit of a stiff reaction, to be fair. It's only been up a week, and this is the first rain it's experienced. Our shed leaked a bit when we'd first built it, but we didn't go storming back to B&Q about it. We just found the leak, figured out a way to seal it, and the job is done. If I wasn't willing to do a bit of work to solve these things, I'd have had someone build it for me, which would have made it considerably more than it did. Sure, it cos £2,400, but that's less than a Pulsar dome would cost, and a Pulsar dome is much harder to move once it is built.

The sections are rotation molded, rather than injection molded. This means that The walls and dome sections have some variance in size, which is exactly why it has foam all over the place to seal joins that wouldn't naturally seal well together. The leak mine has at the moment is in the most difficult joint in the whole structure.

I suspect the problem stems from the fact that I didn't put the dome gasket on quite central, meaning the metal retaining bars run further down to the one side of the dome than the other.

I've emailed Wayne, and I am sure he will be as helpful as he has been so far.

[malc-c]

That's a bit of a stiff reaction, to be fair. It's only been up a week, and this is the first rain it's experienced. Our shed leaked a bit when we'd first built it, but we didn't go storming back to B&Q about it.

Yeah, but the shed probably cost 1/10th what you paid for the obs !

I don't think that my reaction was stiff or hard. We have two standard 7 x 5 sheds purchased from a local company. They cost £325 each, are made from good quality T&G and were erected and sited by the delivery guy (and haven't leaked in the two years they've been up !).

If these dome observatories are made with such a variation in tolerances and require sealing with expanding foam etc then for the money they charge IMO they should include an erection service to ensure the item is correctly built and watertight - Just my opinion.. we're all different, me, I would of expected more for the money.