Canadian Slide off Roof

[cotak]

This all started in July 2018 and was completed before Christmas but first use was in 2019.

 

First piece, 8 inch sky shed pier weight a fair amount was afraid I couldn't move it by myself but it was actually Ok. As I had at one point fell almost 6 feet into my basement while carrying my ieq45 pro on it's tripod (tripod broke my fall, and nothing was worse for wear), this lived up on ground floor until the concrete pier was ready for it.

2nd part of puzzle, marking out where the building will go. Our lot is at the end of a t-junction of backyards so we get a lot of southern exposure. Was not planned this way for astronomy but it works out in a positive fashion. Luckily the yard's deep enough to get Polaris and most of what interesting on the north side for imaging.

Supplied, I was overly cautious and in hindsight I would have done a few things differently and ordered materials as I needed them. The pile of wood ended up tempting a bunch of voles to move into my yard and now I have to figure out how to get them to "move out".

 

The roughty toughty Italian contractors who did my piers. As it always goes they were off and I had to make adjustments later on. If I were to do this again I would be using helical piles instead.

The mangled mess:

 

 

[cotak]

Starting my work with the deck for the building:

Progress:

In pictures this seem so easy but took a fair few weeks to get here:

Another hindsight tip, they could have been ordered from firms that do this for real houses for about 40 canadian dollars a pop, and would have been less crocked than the ones I home made.

 

 

[cotak]

Sliders on, the 3 inch thick drawer sliders are rated for 400 lb per pair. They are intended for truck boxes which are basically custom built drawers for the back of your pickup truck.

First roofing section started, but between the sliders and this was a visit to the emergency room when I walked into a clamp and made myself look like an extra in a zombie movie. My wife still say she was surprised I drove myself to the hospital while holding paper towels to my head. I ordered a hard hat right after that and it's now being used when I go into the building. As the walls are designed to be only 4.5 foot high due to the imaging use only intention for the observatory.

Ready for metal roofing:

Roofed:

The two sections of roof are protected from rain and snow by EPDM seals and a very large aluminium flap (Which I will have to paint green or hear no end of i from my wife).

Holding the flaps fast are many many magnets.

Done (ish).

Ready for action.

Operational.

 

[cotak]

First light:

The pier and walls blocking wind really helped the stability a lot. FYI this was an ieq45 pro with a edgehd 800 ontop.

[cotak]

Todo:

There are two 900mm stroke linear actuators that needs to be installed and the Raspberry Pi program for them finished up. Then ASCOM integration needs to be done for the actuators as well as the weather/cloud detectors needs to be built. 

Debating if I want to go with solar power. Right now I drag a cord out when I need to use it but it would be nice to have power in the building all the time and solar is the cheapest way to achieve that. And the wife likely looks dimly at any additional request to dig up the yard more. So this is likely something I'll do in the summer.

Also need to paint the building and finishing up some trim. Wife complains it looks like a shack, and she has a point. Although, part of the reason was because she kept complaining about the time I was taking to do this so I cut some corners to get it done ASAP (remember the old engineering saying about pick any 2 of fast, good and cheap). The door needs to be finished off to look like something more than a sheet of thick plywood. And the walls needs paint. Plus I plan to fit a solar ventilation fan to the top somewhere.

[ollypenrice]

The two-way roll off is unusual but it gets away from the need to have a fixed framework to support the open roof. If you're limited by your site to zenith-orientated viewing this makes lots of sense.

Olly

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Many thanks for taking the time to document and for sharing the build with us. Hope you get lots of use and enjoyment from your obsy ? 

Steve

[sloz1664]

Great design and build. My obsy was the best investment I made for astro-photography.

Steve

[emadmoussa]

Wonderful! Great job!

[JamesF]

A very tidy little build.  I guess about six feet square?  Nice use of the rollers, too.  I have to admit that I'd be slightly apprehensive about the ability of the magnets to hold down the roof flap in stormy weather, but I don't know what the local conditions are like.  It would hardly be a big problem to add some catches to keep it closed if it turned out to be necessary anyhow.

James

[cotak]

3 hours ago, JamesF said:

A very tidy little build.  I guess about six feet square?  Nice use of the rollers, too.  I have to admit that I'd be slightly apprehensive about the ability of the magnets to hold down the roof flap in stormy weather, but I don't know what the local conditions are like.  It would hardly be a big problem to add some catches to keep it closed if it turned out to be necessary anyhow.

James

Those will be part of summer spring upgrades. Or maybe actuators to lift them automatically in which case there is little to be concerned about. So far it's surived gusts up to 60 kph. The flaps are facing away from prevailing winds so that helps. As well as the fencing and the other shed helps break up the winds. 

 

Building is 6x6.

[cotak]

7 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

The two-way roll off is unusual but it gets away from the need to have a fixed framework to support the open roof. If you're limited by your site to zenith-orientated viewing this makes lots of sense.

Olly

Actually east west is open but west is the Toronto downtown light dome, and south east is blocked by the next McMansion. North east and west are visible from the building.

Primary reason to go this way is the wife worries kids would run into the support columns for a regular roll off roof. And the other is I think this is a better solution without the need to sink additional piers for columns.

The skyshed folks are actually just an hour or so away and there was at one point thought of just getting them to come and build one of their ROR. That would have been likely quicker and easier but also less fun! Cost would likely have been similar due to the cost of tools I purchased for this. I book them towards well that's the set you'll use forever category. 

[cotak]

6 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Many thanks for taking the time to document and for sharing the build with us. Hope you get lots of use and enjoyment from your obsy ? 

Steve

Thanks! I got lots of help from folks who have done their own builds and documented it. So it's a way to repay all those people by hopefully helping others who are considering their own builds.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 hour ago, cotak said:

it's a way to repay all those people by hopefully helping others who are considering their own builds.

Which is exactly where I am so it is great to have so many threads of builds on this forum ? 

Steve