I am committed now !!!!!

[Skipper Billy]

14 hours ago, Islander said:

Cu Mhor surely

 

You may well be right - I am not a native Gaelic speaker but a Gaelic speaking pal of mine told me that's what to put - he might be winding me up - it could say 'Public Toilet' for all I know !!!

Edited March 16, 2016 by Skipper Billy
missing word !

[Gina]

If I were to name mine I think it would be "The Ark" but thankfully the big flood has subsided and the ground is beginning to firm up

[Islander]

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

You may well be right - I am not a native Gaelic speaker but a Gaelic speaking pal of mine told me that's what to put - he might be winding me up - it could say 'Public Toilet' for all I know !!!

It's nothing that bad - beag means small or little.  Quite appropriate for such a petite and smart build really

 

[Guest]

Billy, Your observatory is brilliant. It's very much what I had in mind when I posted the question about fold down sheds. One thing I'm finding is that I need a lot more room around the telescope than I thought. I have a 14inch skywatcher dob. When I bought it I put four 2x2 slabs down in the vegetable plot which gets the best view of the sky.  But I find it too small an area even without the camping table I use for books and stuff. Your observatory seems pretty compact and I wondered if you use the telescope remotely.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Skipper Billy]

2 hours ago, woodblock said:

Billy, Your observatory is brilliant. It's very much what I had in mind when I posted the question about fold down sheds. One thing I'm finding is that I need a lot more room around the telescope than I thought. I have a 14inch skywatcher dob. When I bought it I put four 2x2 slabs down in the vegetable plot which gets the best view of the sky.  But I find it too small an area even without the camping table I use for books and stuff. Your observatory seems pretty compact and I wondered if you use the telescope remotely.

Cheers

Steve

 

You can always scale it up - mine is 1400 x 1400 and just houses my Heq5 and ED80.

Each half of the roof weighs 11kg and because of the way the hinge straps work its easily manageable on my own. I used OSB for the roof covered in EPDM to keep the weight down - if you upscaled it you could use polycarbonate sheet which would be very light.

Apart from a third coat of paint its finished now and I will post some more photos soon as several people have asked how I have got the roof to seal in the middle.

I have zero ventilation in it but I have a dessicant dehumidifier and at the end of a session when the roof is closed I turn the power on and the dehumidifier and battery chargers run at full power for 8 hours - the dehumidifier blows warm air around the obsy and even after seriously heavy dew it is bone dry by morning. The dehumidifier pumps the water out of the obsy so its not recycling it!

To answer your question from  the other thread - I am lucky to live in an area where crime is almost unheard of - so I am not worried about it being nicked - from mid April until end of August it doesnt get dark enough to image and the scope, cameras etc will all come indoors for annual maintenance but through the autumn, winter and early spring it will live in the obsy. Time will tell !

Good luck !

[johnfosteruk]

On 12 December 2015 at 11:33, Skipper Billy said:

Not as cold as it looks - about -4 this morning.  This is the guide to Scottish weather........

The Official Scottish Temperature Conversion Chart

10° C · The English shiver uncontrollably. · Scots plant gardens.

1.6° C · The English fit winter tyres· Scots still drive with the windows down

0° C · English water freezes · Scottish water gets a wee bit thicker.

-17.9° C · English landlords finally turn on the heat. · Scots have the last BBQ of the year.

-51° C · Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. · Scottish Girl Guides sell cookies door-to-door.

-78.5° C · Carbon dioxide freezes & makes dry ice. · Scots pull down their earflaps & zip up their parkas.

-114° C · Ethyl alcohol freezes. · Scots get frustrated when they can't thaw water to put in their dram

-273.15° C · Absolute zero; all atomic motion stops. · Scots start saying ‘Aye – it’s chilly oot today’

-500° F (-295° C) · Hell freezes over. · Scotland wins the 6 Nations Rugby !!!!

That is brilliant.. Loving your Obsy too

[Moonshane]

This is exactly what I was looking for - thank you!

I only really have a view from east to south west so will be only dropping one half of the roof. My obs will be perhaps 4m x 2.5m running east-west so the roof will be 4m x 1.25m approx although to utilise standard lengths I might buy 3.6m lengths and make the most of them.  

A fair way to go before I start but this sort of design will prevent the need to roll off a 4m roof, requiring 8m total of which only half really needs to be mobile. I could potentially make use of a (quiet) hand winch/counterweight system to raise and lower the roof if weight is an issue although I am reasonably strong. Assuming double the weight of yours, 22kg on a pivot is not too tricky. I'll start a thread when I start. Almost cleared the site now but need to build some walls first. Aiming for completion by the end of summer.

[jjosefsen]

Just stumbled upon this thread while researching small observatories, exactly the design i had in mind. I was wondering if you could give a little update on how it is working now, is this kind of roof design still good?

@Skipper Billy

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by jjosefsen

[Skipper Billy]

6 hours ago, jjosefsen said:

Just stumbled upon this thread while researching small observatories, exactly the design i had in mind. I was wondering if you could give a little update on how it is working now, is this kind of roof design still good?

@Skipper Billy

Hej

Its still working perfectly!!

We have just put our business up for sale and will eventually move house and a colleague asked what would happen to my observatory. It set me thinking about what, if anything, I would change.

The honest answer is absolutely nothing!

It has never let a drop of water in - it has withstood biblical rainfall, winds well in excess of 100 knots, temperatures as low as -24º and as high as +24º (its Scotland ! 😉 ).

The only maintenance is an occasional coat of paint.

To use it, it goes from fully secure to ready to image in less than 60 seconds. If it rains I hit park and by the time I have run outside the scope is parked and the roof is closed in under 30 seconds.

When we move it will be coming with me - just a new concrete pad and a trench for the cabling and I will be back in business.

There are some more photos here if it helps.

 

 

 

[jjosefsen]

1 hour ago, Skipper Billy said:

Hej

Its still working perfectly!!

We have just put our business up for sale and will eventually move house and a colleague asked what would happen to my observatory. It set me thinking about what, if anything, I would change.

The honest answer is absolutely nothing!

It has never let a drop of water in - it has withstood biblical rainfall, winds well in excess of 100 knots, temperatures as low as -24º and as high as +24º (its Scotland ! 😉 ).

The only maintenance is an occasional coat of paint.

To use it, it goes from fully secure to ready to image in less than 60 seconds. If it rains I hit park and by the time I have run outside the scope is parked and the roof is closed in under 30 seconds.

When we move it will be coming with me - just a new concrete pad and a trench for the cabling and I will be back in business.

There are some more photos here if it helps.

 

 

 

Thanks, that is great to hear.

I think this is exactly what I would like to build, compact, easy and fast to operate and I won't offend my wallet or my wife for building it.