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Space restricted obsy roof ideas


evil_yoda

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4 hours ago, IanL said:

I know you said you don't think a roll-off would work in an  8 by 6 space but it certainly will if you just want to image with an ED80 and not do visual. Here is my build which fits in a 4 by 8 space with the roof rolling entirely clear of the walls.

https://www.blackwaterskies.co.uk/series/a-small-imaging-observatory/

Complete plans available in the second post in the series.

It is a tight squeeze when setting up or adjusting stuff but ideal for imaging. The mount needs a custom park position to get the scope below the roof for closing, but not an issue for me as the roof is manual. More of a risk for remote opening/closing if you were planning that.

Yes, I absolutely would not  use an automated roof which required the scopes to go to a park position in order for the roof to close without collision. There is, so far as I'm aware, universal agreement on this among remote hosting providers. If a collision can happen it will happen.

Olly

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3 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Have a look at this.

http://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGOABOOTH

No, I'm not suggesting you buy one, but just check out how the roof retracts.

That's quite neat for a restricted space and shouldn't be too hard to make using some aluminium channel or similar.

James

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41 minutes ago, DaveS said:

Have a look at this.

http://astrograph.net/epages/www_astrograph_net.mobile/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/www_astrograph_net/Products/AGOABOOTH

No, I'm not suggesting you buy one, but just check out how the roof retracts.

I was thinking of something along those lines, but was trying to think how to make it work with a wooden shed roof.
Wonder how weather tight it might be though.

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My ROR is 7x5 and at the bottom of my garden with houses surrounding.

My roof only slides back two thirds of the way leaving me with the makings of a mini warm roof ?

But it's enough to get plent of imaging done without having to carry all my kit out the house.

Neil

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2 minutes ago, smudgeball said:

My ROR is 7x5 and at the bottom of my garden with houses surrounding.

My roof only slides back two thirds of the way leaving me with the makings of a mini warm roof ?

But it's enough to get plent of imaging done without having to carry all my kit out the house.

Neil

That's good to know. I was worrying that if I rolled off half the roof of an 8x6, the remaining 4x6 wouldn't be big enough.

How close do you have the pier to the walls? Do you have any problems with the scope/camera equipment touching the walls?

Matt

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my build is here

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/300338-little-observatory-build/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-3301340

I won't deny it's snug when the scope slews to a target, but it does clear ok.

Since I first built I've extended my pier so I now have to park horizontally, but it gives me more target area as I clear the walls especially to the south.

I always had to compromise when setting up on the lawn so it's not a big deal, still plenty of sky for me.

30704316_10216306671284375_2321308993173061632_o.thumb.jpg.051fbf157bdf38ca7bf8803a7cd129a2.jpg

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Thanks smudgeball,

Nice looking observatory there.
How high do you reckon your pier top ended up in relation to the walls of the observatory?

I'll probably be going for a concrete pier (though a steel one would be nice), so want to try and get the height as perfect as possible.

Matt

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On 19/07/2018 at 17:50, Gina said:

 I wouldn't call that "micro" Billy  ?  I'm producing a 2ft diameter dome - now that's "micro"! ?

Comparatively ! Some of our USA colleagues are knocking out observatories with a bigger footprint than our house ! ?

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To be honest I didn't plan particularly well.

I was never going to have the time or skillset to do the obsy myself so just concentrated on the bits I could do.

That meant pouring the concrete base and going to a local shed manufacturer and purchasing the treated wood and pegs to make the base.

That was pretty much my limit so I found another (not so local) shed manufacturer in Scotland that "could" make an ROR obsy for me.

I never thought about wall height at all just measured the base plus position of pier and sent off the dimensions to them.

Asked for a hole to be cut out of the floor for the pier and left them to manufacture.

I was forunate enough to be able to afford to get someone else to manufacture the obsy for me rather than go off-the-shelf and modify myself.

I would say the pier top was a third of the height of the wall with the mount head fitting taking the scope centre to about half height if that makes sense.

Initially too low ! (you can see how much I lost from a pier that wasn't that big in the first place,,,,but having said that, how good were they getting the hole constructed just from a sketch in an email? !!)

p1.jpg.727be1e011efbdd3d42ac02e52b2875b.thumb.jpg.a17e97aaa5233ddff1c63d4d4dd7bb1e.jpg

I ran with it for a bit but decided to increase the height with an heq5 pier extension.

Not ideal as it was a pain securing so it didn't move (lots of holes drilled and tapped)

If I had my time again I would have finished my concrete base flush with the floor of the obsy and gone for a longer pier.

But it is what it is and all works fine

 

Neil

 

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On 23/07/2018 at 17:08, evil_yoda said:

I was thinking of something along those lines, but was trying to think how to make it work with a wooden shed roof.
Wonder how weather tight it might be though.

It's quite a crafty idea which does away with the long support rails usually used to carry the rolled off roof. In fact I did something similar, once, when converting a high top Transit into a camper van. I had an 'upstairs' floor in three parts which stacked over the cab and then slid out along shoulder height rails to make a high level double bed. I made this out of thin ply sheets top and bottom separated by batons to make box sections. It was plenty strong enough for two people to sleep on.

I think it would be easy, following this principle, to make the roof panels strong enough. Because of the way they slide relative to each other the lower panel could have an upward pointing vertical flange at its high end while the one above it could have a downward pointing flange at its lower end. I would not expect this to leak. However, I dislike all forms of roofing felt and would go for an inherently waterproof material for the top of the roof panels. There are panels made for conservatory rooves, for instance.

Olly

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I once made an automatic garage door from the small type corrugated plastic sheet running in guides.  Up and over.  Unfortunately, not suitable for an observatory roof. 

My micro dome observatory uses the principle above on a circular basis

.493681324_Clamshell03.png.4a479c3c0fb9156117e01381e6f1b079.png

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