Smallest imaging obsy?

[Scott]

.two sheds then. Or perhaps you have more sheds

P

Just one more

[prusling]

I totally agree with this, I find that setting up and taking down, does take away some of the enjoyment, also I find that it stops me going out at all sometimes, which is a real shame, good idea to just lift the roof on and off, should not be too much weight I it, and if it was heavy you could always use a plastic roof,,replace the wood with some sort of polycarbonate roof,,like on some conservatories, painted black on the inside.

AB

Following your suggestion (many thanks) I have built a lightweight temporary roof from twinwall bronze polycarbonate sheet which I can manhandle myself back onto the shed in the early hours. It seems good enough to survive heavy rain and medium winds but I'll put the heavier duty one back on when bad weather threatens.

I used right-angled plastic F profile edging strips around the poly sheet then inserted a wooden frame and screwed the edging to it. Bungies hold down the rear and hasps/staples and padlock's the front.  I used white solar reflective paint on the inside, and also fitted a vent and solar fan to create a flow of air to hopefully minimise condensation.

I made the mistake of making the roof size the same as the original roof with didn't take into account the narrower wooden frame so there's a bit of a gap inside all round which could allow the wind and rain in. The poly also sits directly onto the shed sides which won't be good for wear so I'm thinking of killing two birds with one stone and adding a light L profile to the insides of the frame.

Thanks to all for the various other comments - I can report that so far the conkers have kept the many local spiders at bay but I'm not sure how long that will last!

[Gina]

An imaging observatory only needs to be as big as required to house the imaging rig and mount so can be pretty small.  I have a couple of ideas for this, one of which is a part completed project the other just at the idea stage. 

This is the part completed one :- Gina's Mini Widefield Imaging Observatory  The latest design starts on page 5 post #99.

The idea is here :- 3D Printed Fork Mount and Micro Dome Observatory?

[prusling]

Update:

Although the lighter removable roof I made for my small obsy was much easier to handle than the original heavy wooden one, it was still difficult to quietly manoeuvre back in place in the early hours!

I wasn't keen to go the whole hog with a roll-off roof so I have instead created a simple front hinge system for the lighter roof as shown in the pics below.  I first bolted a strong strip of wood to the front 'eaves' to take the weight, then attached 4 strong hinges that allow a 180 degree fold over. A leg on each side pivoted from the rear side of the roof swings forward naturally under gravity when opening and is then used as a prop to support the folded out roof.

I chose hinges with a removable pin so I'm still able to remove the roof and reinstate the wooden one if/when a hurricane beckons, although I'm getting more and more confident that the lighter roof will stand up to most weather conditions!

It's a bit 'Heath-Robinson' but was cheap to do and has worked well so far.  Any questions or improvement suggestions very welcome.

[beamer3.6m]

Mine is 1m x 1m x 1m but this only houses a 130pds on heq5.

[Gazabone]

Take a look at Robin Leadbeater's set up. He's a hughly capable astronomer; he gave a talk last year at a BAA spectroscopy workshop I attended last year at Norman Lockyer.

http://www.threehillsobservatory.co.uk/astro/observatory/observatory.htm

[Tinker1947]

I did try a fold over roof, the main problem is stopping it from dropping down to fast as your on the outside when you need to be inside under the roof, you could put rollers on the sides at the back and then lift the front and roll it forward with the present supports still in place, not a lot of alterations but swinging it over is going to be difficult...

[prusling]

I did try a fold over roof, the main problem is stopping it from dropping down to fast as your on the outside when you need to be inside under the roof, you could put rollers on the sides at the back and then lift the front and roll it forward with the present supports still in place, not a lot of alterations but swinging it over is going to be difficult...

Thanks for the suggestion.  You're right that the roof wants to drop down quickly once it's past the vertical!  I'm lucky that I'm tall and the obsy sides aren't that high so I can lower it down from the side, although both raising and lowering do result in a fair bit of flex to the roof... I'll stick with it for a while but will take a look at the roller option if it doesn't work out.  Are there any recommendations for suitable rollers for future reference?

[prusling]

A heads-up for those in the UK - Maplin currently have an active 5m USB2 extension cable (A to A) for £5 which seems very good value to me and the reviews are mostly good.  It's item number L11BT and is not available in-store except using click and collect.

Apparently you can daisy chain them to achieve longer runs!

I've ordered one and plan to extend my USB3 hub cable with it so I don't trip over it all the time...  I only need USB2 performance so I hope it will work.

I'll report back if this is of interest?

[NEM]

On 27/01/2016 at 12:39, prusling said:

I'll report back if this is of interest?

Have you tried this out yet?

I've just ordered two of them to daisy chain together into a powered hub at the far end.

Noel

[prusling]

Hi Noel, I've only had a chance for the briefest of checks so far and it seemed to find all the devices OK. Need to check with data flowing - hopefully over the weekend if it dries up here... 

[Gina]

I'm hoping to make a very small imaging observatory sometime but that project is on hold while I see to more important ones.  I have a mini one almost built but I also have an idea of making a micro one using 3D printing and containing one or more debayered DSLRs with DIY mount.  I'm up for the prise for the smallest imaging observatory   Except that I know of no such prize