Observatory Planning/Build - Seeking my 6 year old's planning permission!

[ArmyAirForce]

I did some more painting too. The floor was pulled up and the bottom of all the decking planks were painted in the bitumen paint. As it has been cooler the last few days, I left them shut in the obs with a 700W oil filled radiator to bake for a while.

On the outside, the white trim was painted around the roof. This is to match the fascias on the play house which have been repainted, but not yet re-fitted. To avoid paint creep under the tape, I used a technique I normally use when modelling. After the tape was applied, the joint was painted over in play house green first. This seals the edge of the tape, and any creep is the same colour as the background and so can't be seen. Once dry, the white was painted which was unable to get under the edge of the tape because of the green layer.

 

Edited March 29, 2016 by ArmyAirForce

[ArmyAirForce]

Last night, it was partially clear for a while, so I took the opportunity to shoot Jupiter, until thickening cloud put an end to the session.

Until this point, I hadn't actually had the 200PDS on the mount and closed the roof, and while all my calculations said it should fit, it was a relief when the roof did clear the scope!

[ArmyAirForce]

Today, the window frame removed from between the obs and play house was fitted to the obs large door. The gaps in the cladding were filled and the centre area was painted dark gloss grey, then left to dry. The first picture also shows the height of the scope in relation to the walls. Of course, the East door opens to give an unobstructed view down to the horizon, but to the West is still pretty good.

[ArmyAirForce]

To assist in opening and closing the roof, without falling over the scope, I made this multi-tool! OK, it's a stick. A fancy stick, but still a stick  A hook on one end can be used to pull the roof back up the runners to within reach. I added a small slide bolt that drops into the top of the runner to lock the roof still in the partially closed position. This allows the other section to be folded over without the lower section trying to run away down the hill again!

In the end of the stick is a hole, which hooks over a bolt on the upper roof section. There is also a small arm on the stick which rests on the hinge joint of the roof. This provides a nice long lever to tip the roof with very little effort.

[ArmyAirForce]

The last job of the day was more electrics; fitting the two lights. One light is white and in addition to allowing me to see when packing up, I plan for it to be my flat field panel for my Evo 80ED scope. The other light has had some red filter material added, and will provide a low level, dark friendly light.

 

[ArmyAirForce]

Virtually there now! Before doing the electrics, the grey window paint was dry, so the centre frames were fitted. The white needs another coat of paint, but I can do that when I touch up the white on the play house. So here it is, pretty much complete.

[ArmyAirForce]

The last few jobs were done yesterday. It was a sunny morning, so after some imaging of the Sun and Venus, I started with the floor. The floor planks sit on top of the foundation planks that the observatory is built on. For the short planks around the pier, they needed some support, so I cut and painted two thinner strips to go under the floor near the pier. I had some rubber strip which I cut up to act as feet under this piece of wood to cushion the floor around the pier. 

After the floor was screwed down, there were still some gaps around the pier. I knew that at some point I would end up dropping something down the gap, so cut some left over 1/2 inch ply into a shroud to fit around the pier, with just a slight gap.

[ArmyAirForce]

After that, it was just the final fitting out with astro bits. The Goto handset was attached to the pier with velcro so it has somewhere to hang when not being used. The little storage aclove soon filled up with my NEQ6 flight case, the case with my guiding laptop, tripod and the stick to open the roof.

[ArmyAirForce]

The last odds and ends to go in were the flat pack wooden box that my laptop goes in when solar imaging, my bahtinov mask and solar filter. All hung neatly on the walls out of the way.

It was clear last night, so I had two Jupiter imaging sessions, interrupted by a visit to the railway station to collect my wife and daughter returning from Disney land Paris. The first session before I went out was only an hour, and prior to the observatory, I would never have considered setting up the NEQ6 for an hour. While the cameras and planetary imaging laptop aren't going to live out there, it was still only fifteen minutes from walking out of the back door to having everything attached and focussed, and pressing record on the first capture. That would also have been quicker if my finderscope hadn't been knocked, making it harder to get Jupiter on the small camera sensor so I could focus. The shoe of the finder is moving on the scope, so I need to align the scope and finder on a star and epoxy the shoe in place. Packing away was about seven minutes.

For the first time since the 2014 Jupiter opposition, we had good seeing in the North East of England, and while I still have lots of videos to process, these two came out very nicely.

[Physopto]

That's a really nice neat job. Like the images. Good to see you getting some use out of all the hard work.

If the flooring expands will it move and be able to touch the pier? I only ask as I floored out the living room several years ago and it moved more than it was expected to do. Radiator pipes now are touching the holes cut oversized to give clearance. I know you can easily adjust your cover but it may happen without you noticing at first.

Derek

[ArmyAirForce]

There's a 1/16 inch gap around the pier and the decking is all reclaimed, so if it was going to do any shape changing, it should have already done it by now. It's only four screws to take out if I need to make any adjustments over time.

 

[Gina]

Great work and lovely images - well done

[The Head Gardener]

Congratulations.  You deserve great images like this after all your hard work 

Jayne

[ShrewView]

Yes congratulations and thank you for sharing it with us. 

A really good thread this, and a very impressive build. Great to see the images you are getting and good to hear its saving you time on setting up.

[ArmyAirForce]

Thanks. It's been hard work, but an enjoyable build watching it come together.

I added this little cat flap yesterday so I can use the Goto handset from inside the warm room. The handset is attached to the wall with more Velcro.

[ArmyAirForce]

My micro observatory is almost five years old now and has served me well, without any need for alterations. It's had lots of use and has been worth every penny spent, but it's time to update the story now.

Hopefully within a few weeks, I'll be moving house from Washington to Durham, so it's almost time to say goodbye to my micro obsy. The move will bring a change from a Bortle 8 sky to a Bortle 5 sky. There's a much bigger garden, which after a bit of tidying and pruning, will give me a much lower view of the sky. My existing house blocks everything to the South below 25 degrees. So with more space to play with and a good Southern view, I started doodling new observatory ideas. Most of my imaging has been planetary, but I do like a bit of deepsky. However, it was always a pain to remove my 200PDS and fit my Evo80ED, cooled camera, dew heaters, power supplies etc. Just far too much effort, so it didn't often happen. So for the new observatory, I'm planning a dual pier layout, one for deepsky and one for planetary. That way, each can be set up and left alone, without the need to swap and constantly knit wires each time. A micro warm room is planned as part of the structure ( see below for the initial concept ).

The only downside is that my new house purchase isn't linked to my existing house sale ( it's complicated ), so I won't have any money spare to build the new observatory until my current house sells. So for a time, I'll be back to my tripod on the patio for astro sessions. I do hope to be able to start the build some time later this year and will start a new build thread when that happens.

So here's the design. The roof rolls off and also drops away to help it clear my South-Western view. The two piers are designed to give each scope the best possible view while minimising the obstruction each causes the other. The micro warm room will probably be mainly for deepsky, as when doing planetary, I'm often swapping filters, barlows and cameras, so need to be with the scope. I'll still try to plan for its remote operation from the warm room too with cable runs etc. At present, I have only one GOTO EQ mount, so will probably look for a second hand mount, but that cost may be postponed until the year after.

More news as and when it happens.