Roll On/Off Roofs ?

[Kevdan]

Hi All,

Im thinking of replacing my existing shed and making it bigger, Ive seen some roll off roofs but am thinking how much of the lower skies do they limit views of ?,

I appreciate lower skies do suffer from light pollution however there is still lots to look at, or does any shed maufacturer make a roll off roof where half the end panel folds down to expose the lower sky.

Kev.

[Frank the Troll]

Lower the shed to required height

[UnderTheRain]

I've been looking at these myself and to buy one pre-made is very expensive its much cheaper to have a chippy make you one, thats what I'm doing.

Brian

[dmahon]

Or increase the height of the pier (and floor, if you are into visual).

You can get fold down ends and roll down sides. See Alexander's observatories.

[pritc]

Plenty of us here have built ROR Obs

Take a look:DIY Observatories - Stargazers Lounge

With a self build,you have the choice to decide what views you want to see.

You will always sacrifice some part of the night sky from a fixed location.

Factors that come into it: Best position in the garden for all round views,blocking out neighbours security lighting, surrounding trees/plants.

The height you make the wall & pier is the only limit to what you can view from horizon.

Some have incorporated drop down sides to allow for better southern views.

In my case I can view around 270 degrees of the night sky SE-NE.With views from around 22 degrees.

Wayne

[JamesF]

There's always the option of making the top section of the wall part of the roll-off unit if you're building to your own design. I planned mine to have walls that should give a view from fifteen degrees up from the mount saddle except to the north when the warm room would be.

Sadly I've now got to think about building it in a slightly different location since one of my neighbours became rather testy after I landscaped a patch of ground he was certain belonged to him (it didn't and I knew it didn't, but I'd not allowed for the fact that he might have failed to read his deeds correctly

James

[malc-c]

You can get fold down ends and roll down sides. See Alexander's observatories.

This is the option I chose for my East to South views

[ollypenrice]

I know exactly the problem you mean. In my design the upper sides roll with the roof and the back panel drops down. I can image to the horizon so I didn't want to lose too much view. If you make a roll off roof with sides it will have to be steel but MIG welding is easy. The whole thing cost about £1500 to build. These pics show it not quite finished.

Olly

[laser_jock99]

Depends if you're a refractor or reflector fan also. With a refrator you can make the pier very tall (so long as the roof still closes with tube in the 'park' position). No cuttaways will be needed.

If your planning to use a Newtonian scope the pier will be neccessarily much shorter to keep the eyepiece/camera at a reasonable height. A shorter pier means the EQ mount is lower and you won't get the same 'reach' so some wall lowering may be needed.

As a confirmed refractor fan I went for the tall pier option. I guess I could fit a Newtonian at a later date but would need a very tall step ladder!! An SCT scope would be no problem- but due to the larger tube would need removing from the dovetail plate before I could close the roof.

Tall, refractor pier.