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Mike's roll-away shed observatory


MikeODay

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I have a similar roll on roll off shed as yours.

I just screwed two long wooden battens on the outside of my wheels and the shed has been rolling backwards and forward without a hitch for 1.5 years.

The battens are only 3cm high and no one has tripped up over them yet.

Attached is a picture where you can see them on the decking.

post-19057-0-09421300-1427112294.jpg

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Thanks Mike. One idea I had was to put a lip or collar type arrangement on the pier that the floor would slide under. This would stop the shed from lifting due to wind etc. It would depend how well anchored the pier is in the ground - you wouldn't want it lifting up especially with all that expensive gear sitting on top :grin:

That's an interesting idea Dave.  Although I'm not sure how you would attach it to the pier in a way that would be strong enough to hold down the shed in a strong wind - perhaps some sort of adjustable collar that clamps to the pillar.  I suppose it depends on your pier design/construction.

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I have a similar roll on roll off shed as yours.

I just screwed two long wooden battens on the outside of my wheels and the shed has been rolling backwards and forward without a hitch for 1.5 years.

The battens are only 3cm high and no one has tripped up over them yet.

Attached is a picture where you can see them on the decking.

Nice job.  I like your shed and I imagine it is good having the deck closer to the ground - less far to fall at 2am in the dark :)

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If you build your pier and base with a tonne of more of concrete like a lot of people, I don't think you will have any problem with it pulling out of the ground :D  Probably heavier than the shed base/foundations anyway.

Oh and if you would like a recommendation for heavy duty wheels and track, FH Brundle do wheels and track designed for heavy metal rolling gates.  I have just replaced my ROR track and wheels with the FH Brundle 300Kg rated kit as you might have seen and it's superb.  Very easy to move and would be quite suitable for a roll off shed.

That seems a good alternative.  My wife wanted me to leave the deck clear when the shed was over the scope so she could use it during the day to entertain etc.  This meant no tracks for me but all else being equal I think they are a better idea than the simple castors I am using.

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  • 8 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I thought I would share some of the changes to my observatory since I last updated this thread ...

Firstly I finished the deck, painted it and added a painted woodern skirt to the bottom of the shed

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( the deck is due for another coat of paint soon - the wood stain is starting to come through in places )

 

And then last year I purchased a new scope, an  Orion Optics UK CT12 12" f4 Newtonian with an ASA 2" Quattro Coma Corrector which the guys at OO kindly fitted for me.

 

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Although it looks really big on the AZ EQ6 I was able to balance it ( just - note the fully extended triple weights ).  Even with the weight, the mount copped very well and produced some lovely sharp images with good tracking ( including my recent image of Omega Centauri ( NASA APOD 11th July 2017 )).  

However, the problem became the very high humidity up here in the mountians and I really needed to use a dew shield.  But of course, it adds a significant amount of weight and it started to show in the number of lost frames due to tracking issues.

So, I ordered an EQ8 and a new pier adapter from Dan's Pier Top Plates.  Some weeks later and I had everything so I could do the change over this weekend.

The pier top plate went on in no time and I added strips of teflon tape to help the heavy mount and scope rotate freely as I intended to try to get as near perfect polar alignment as I could.

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The mount arrived in a very nice packing box.

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And then after much heaving and adjusting of the very heavy gear I have the telescope mounted now on its new base.

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There was one surprise - no setting circles on the mount!  This was a worry to begin with as I did not know how I was going to point the scope to "home".  When all else failed I read the manual :)  - the mount has an auto home function!

Last night, between the clouds, I managed to get the mount polar aligned with a resultant drift in dec well under 1" in 400 seconds.  With my typical maximum exposure duration of 240 seconds I should achieve a dec drift of less than a pixel on my 24Mpixel Nikon D5300 ( if I decide to not track in dec that is ).

My next task will be to fit my new Starlight Instrumentsw Feather Touch focuser when it arrives from the US and that will be it, I won't need to buy anything else ( :) ),

 

 

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Updates on threads are always as interesting as the original thread, 

good to see the changes and how the observatory has worked.

Thank you for the update, a very nice set up made even nicer, as to I have finished spending, well....

look forward to the next update. ?

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13 hours ago, Alan White said:

Updates on threads are always as interesting as the original thread, 

good to see the changes and how the observatory has worked.

Thank you for the update, a very nice set up made even nicer, as to I have finished spending, well....

look forward to the next update. ?

 

12 hours ago, RayD said:

:laughing4::laughing4:

Looks really good Mike, you must be well pleased.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Guys

Yes I am pleased with the way it has turned out - now I just need to wait for some clear dry nights ...

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  • 10 months later...
On ‎20‎/‎01‎/‎2015 at 21:17, MikeODay said:

Some more details for those interested...

I had trouble finding a local supplier of cardboard concrete former tubing so I went with what I could find... galvanised steel lockseam spiral duct tubing

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In the end I am happy with the solution. It will remain in place and painted I think it gives a nice finish to the pier.

I placed 5 lengths of 12mm reinforcing bars wired together in the tube and additional bars wried to these at the base of the tube.

The photo above of the pier top plate incudes the adaptor kit I purchased to suit the skywater mount (the supplier "Dan's Pier Top Plates" can apparently supply a large range of adaptors so if I upgrade my mount in the future I should be able to get an adaptor for it. The plate, adaptor kit and bolt kit are very well made and finished off and supprisingly more substantial and heavier than I was expected - all in a good way. They are not cheap but you get what you pay for.

The Keter shed was very easy to assemble and, at least in Australia, there are a large number of distributors so I was able to search for the best price and managed to find an online supplier selling my particular shed at a 15% discount below recommended retail.

The timber is H3 treated pine (treated for insects and outdoor use so long as it is above ground). The decking is 90mm x 19mm hardwood. It is supplied already oiled but I will probably paint it to suit other decks about the house (at least those are the instructions from the boss!).

The base of the shed is a frame made from 90mm x 45mm lengths of treated pine with a sheet of coated ply (1200mm x 1860mm x 19mm) screwed to the frame. Where I cut the ply I painted the bare wood to help protect it from moisture- this is the single largest possible point of failure in the future. The plastic base of the shed has four "strong points" which I used to bolt the floor (and hence the shed) to the base.

Mike, who did you find as a supplier of the tubing? I am having the same trouble ...sonotube supplier...so I have the option of agricultural pipe or something like the metal tubing. Thanks for your time.

 

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I found the spiral ducting on ebay when I bought mine.  You can also get a taper adaptor so the pier could be, say, 10" diameter for most of the height and then taper to 6" at the top where a bit of extra clearance might be useful to avoid hitting the pier when the OTA is pointing near the zenith.

James

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