IKI roll off observatory

[dmahon]

It's my birthday today, so my present is money in the bank account towards the observatory I've been talking about for ages (plus a Lakeside autofocus and an FSQ-106 and...). No, this time I'm definitely going to build it, and before it starts to get dark again in the Autumn. Although I'm still not sure about roll off, dome or pod. If the was an easy auto-rotate, slave to the mount, off the shelf option for the dome, that might tip me in that direction.

Anyway, I was just looking to buy the Lakeside autofocus tonight and I see Ian King is closed for a week or two. Oh well.

Then I saw this:

IKI Roll Off Roof Observatories Introductory

What do you think?

[fondofchips]

For somebody like me who has no woodwork skills this is the option I would take to speed up the job.

As an engineer I would prefer to tackle the pier & the obsy base & leave the woodwork to a shed builder.

Would be nice if you can find one of this suppliers customers & have a look at one before buying, if this supplier is good he will have customers willing to show their obsy to you.

I am fortunate to have a shed builder who has already built me a shed/chicken house/summerhouse & specialises in one off builds.

Off to see him on Monday & a metal supplier for the pier material.

Let me know how you get on as we will be building out obsy's at roughly the same time.

[JamesF]

I think domes look rather nice. They may also have some advantages from the point of view of shelter (cf. today when I was out trying to do some solar imaging in a howling gale). Those two points aside though, I struggle to see the justification for one. There's also the issue that a dome shouts "I'm full of expensive kit" at anyone who can see it.

As regards the IKI design, I'm not sure. I like the idea of having the extra drop-down elements on two sides, but how would you arrange those? Surely you'd always end up with one non drop-down end facing a direction you'd prefer to have a good view of the horizon on? And if it weren't that important, probably the drop-down sides would be overkill too.

I'd be more tempted to build my own wooden shed design I think.

I don't recall that I've seen him posting for a while but it might perhaps also be worth looking at Steve1962's obsy thread? Assuming you're still Taunton-ish, perhaps you could go and have a nose around his to see how it's worked for him?

James

[dmahon]

I'm invited round regularly - unfortunately it's usually when I've just set up my scope here! (Steve, I will come, promise - especially as I have SGP working now and am happy to leave it running all night including meridian flip mid image run).

As it happens, the location agreed with the wife has a poor view to the east so if I made a roll-off, it would make sense to roll that way. The drop down flaps would then be ideally located north and south. Although I am fortunate to have plenty of room in the garden, the footprint of a pod or dome would suit the particular location better though. I don't buy the idea about theft worries - people have thousands of pounds worth of gardening gear (and cycles) in sheds and the thieving scrotes would rather have off with that as it's easier to sell. Anyway, it wouldn't be visible from the road.

I'll have to go and measure again.

[ollypenrice]

Happy birthday!

I'd say that a poor view to the east means a return to the negotiating table! Poor views really want to be to the north. If Percy Lowell could persuade the educated world that right wing Republican Martians made canals you can persuade Madame that you need to see to the east...

The Ian King shed looks good though I often wonder why the Alexander sheds usually have such high walls, and why this one has drop down sides. I wouldn't want high walls and dropping down the sides is just another job. It also brings the possibility of closing the roof having forgotten to raise the sides. Erm, not great...

What's the problem with having rolling roof/upper-sides? I can answer that question; there isn't one. I've made two that way and they work perfectly. One roof-and-sides has a steel frame and rolls over a warm room as in Ian's design. That's a great idea, by the way. The other rolling roof-and-sides is made from timber entirely. I wasn't sure how stiff it would end up but it's right as rain. Both roll easily by hand and the steel one covering Yves' scope is big, 2.2 metres on a side. I don't have any pics of the finished products but here's how they work;

So in a nutshell I like Ian's design but wonder why not roll off the upper sides with the roof. Presumably the professionals feel thare would be some structural difficulty in doing so but my experience clearly asserts that there isn't. My designs do need a drop down flap at the end. In my wooden shed the door needs to be closed for roof rolling but forgetting is non catastrophic! I've tried it several times, needless to say...

If size is limited adding a computer bay 'pod' is useful;

The smallest structure possible, I think, is one which only covers the scope, rolls off entirely and then becomes your covered work station, though not a true warm room. I know someone who made an all wooden version of this but I used a steel frame for stiffness.

Olly

[fondofchips]

I think domes look rather nice. They may also have some advantages from the point of view of shelter (cf. today when I was out trying to do some solar imaging in a howling gale). Those two points aside though, I struggle to see the justification for one. There's also the issue that a dome shouts "I'm full of expensive kit" at anyone who can see it.

As regards the IKI design, I'm not sure. I like the idea of having the extra drop-down elements on two sides, but how would you arrange those? Surely you'd always end up with one non drop-down end facing a direction you'd prefer to have a good view of the horizon on? And if it weren't that important, probably the drop-down sides would be overkill too.

I'd be more tempted to build my own wooden shed design I think.

I don't recall that I've seen him posting for a while but it might perhaps also be worth looking at Steve1962's obsy thread? Assuming you're still Taunton-ish, perhaps you could go and have a nose around his to see how it's worked for him?

James

James has made a good point here, an obsy should just blend into the background & not attract attention, a good security feature that's probably cheaper anyway.

Just a shed & a pier is probably enough, better than setting up outside with a tripod in the cold.

[LDUNN1]

Olly, isn't that last photo of the 'smallest structure possible' just your outside loo? ;-)

[Zakalwe]

Hmm..they look good. I spent £300 on a cheap T+G shed that I am about to convert to RORO. I'm tempted to junk it and buy one of those IKI ones instead, if I could see a review or two. Especially as the one that I bought is flimsy as hell. It'll probably cost me another £150-200 to convett and it'd still be flimsy as hell.

[pete_l]

Yes, I'd like to see a review of this as well. Particularly to know how the structure resists the ingress of rain - which can come from any direction (including the horizontal ).

Maybe this could be the first astro product in the world that was QA-tested with a hosepipe!

[r3i]

An interesting development, prices don't look too bad - a similar sized IKI observatory to mine looks like it comes in at around £1,800. However note that all IKI are offering for that is effectively a shell and it's important to understand what needs to be included beyond that such as base/foundations, pier, electrics, warm room insulation etc. etc.

All credit to them for offering another line of products that could appeal to quite a few folks.

[ollypenrice]

Olly, isn't that last photo of the 'smallest structure possible' just your outside loo? ;-)

Don't know about you, but I prefer my outside loos to be free from any tendencey to roll off at an inopportune moment!

Olly

[Zakalwe]

I've emailed Ian King, but it looks like he is on holiday until the 15th

[dmahon]

The one thing I dislike about the photos of the IKI obsy/shed is that it appears to be made of regular wood then stained/treated. I'd rather it be made of tantalised wood from the outset. Will have to ask Ian about that. As for rolling off the sides along with the roof, this has the disadvantage that the rails are placed below head height. In fact, they are placed at an ideal height for childrens' heads to run into. That may not be a problem for some, but it is for me.

As for location - well, of course if left to my own devices, I would have the observatory at Y; but my wife has firmly told me that it is going at X. There are trees to the east which reduce views significantly and my daughter has a swing on one of them, so the observatory can't go too far down toward the bottom. I have already reduced the height of the trees to the west by between one third and one half, and they aren't as bad as they look in the photo (photo taken after reduction) but they do screen it from the house. As does the tree house on a platform 10 feet high that you can't quite make out. I will reduce them further in future, and the tree house will go as my daughter grows up. I guess that is another thing that favours a pod - it can be moved in future.

It's also 45m in a straight line from the back of the house, which probably means a 75m trench (the electrics will come from the bottom left of the photo). I'm not looking forward to that.

[Steep]

Maybe you could help yourself a bit by building (or having built) a raised base for it? 3Ft of breeze block wall would also give you some storage underneath but would add to the cost by quite a bit.

[Black Knight]

These look interesting. I assume these are new additions to Ian's product range. Do we know know anyone who has had one built?

Edit: Motorised roof option for me! . Ascom driver coming soon too!

[laser_jock99]

Yes, I'd like to see a review of this as well. Particularly to know how the structure resists the ingress of rain - which can come from any direction (including the horizontal ).

Maybe this could be the first astro product in the world that was QA-tested with a hosepipe!

Steel panels are the way forward- trust me I live in the land of horizontal rain (Wales!)

[Gina]

I hope your roof is very well secured against lifting off! We live on the SE side of a hill in hilly rural Devon and we get the horizontal rain too That resembles a hosepipe at times

[nytecam]

I think domes look rather nice. They may also have some advantages from the point of view of shelter (cf. today when I was out trying to do some solar imaging in a howling gale). Those two points aside though, I struggle to see the justification for one. There's also the issue that a dome shouts "I'm full of expensive kit" at anyone who can see it. James

Of course there are security issues with every obsy but I think perhaps you overestimate the general public's impression of "that domed thing" and what it contains from their perspective. I've built 6 domes over some decades but never a roll-off-roof [RoR] nor would I recommend one. A domed obsy gives complete protection for both observer and equipment from dew. wind and local light pollution - you can't control what neighbours are doing lightwise. A dome and the direction it's aims does give control. The times you read on forums about dew saturated scopes in a RoR obsy and terminating an otherwise useable session - it's no better that working from an exposed patio and anyone can do that without an obsy.

There is a downside to a domed obsy - the sky is largely hidden from view [but I step outside if I want that] and you need to know what to observe with some forethought. Did once [and only once] have a visitor who wanted to zap all over the sky from his list without rhyme or reason and dome was in a flat spin!

[jambouk]

Interesting discussion.

I like the look of the observatory at the head of this thread. I've emailed to get an idea of costs.

Dew will be a problem i appreciate, but its largely the convenience of not having the lug the equipment around, and being sheltered a little from the cold and breeze.

James