Domes - Whats out there that is good and won't break the bank?

[Tomatobro]

But Bro, I can't patent it now its in the public domain?

[tomato]

You might have noticed one of the photos is cunningly slightly out of focus...

[sloz1664]

If you need information on motorising your dome, I would start here:-

http://www.dppobservatory.net/DomeAutomation/DomeDriver.php

This project uses the Velleman K8055N project board. Details here - https://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?id=404880

Steve

[sloz1664]

This was my project layout board. Patent Pending 

Steve

[blinky]

15 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Thanks Blinky, I really would prefer a dry dome, so that may mean the Skyshed is out

Know what you mean - its annoying and a bit of a design fail but they are a fraction of the cost of a fibre glass dome.  There is also loads of ventilation so nothing ever gets damp

[Jkulin]

Right bit of an update and potentially something unusual, my wife is really working with me on this and she has fed in some ideas.

Our home is only about 20 years old and the gardens were never planned to be like beautiful Victorian rambling jobs with mysteries around each corner.

I've created a roughly scale drawing of the layout with the grey part our patio and the small grey block the pier: -

The wooden trellis is a pergola style and you pass under it to enter the garden, the front of the patio has an 18" high brick wall which meets either side of the pergola.

Now one of the potential ideas we have come up with which wouldn't look unattractive is to erect an octagonal summer house in the middle of the garden with a sliding roof and then extend two rails out to the pergola that the roof could slide on to clear the walls of the summer house, it would probably have to be eight sided so that you had enough roof to slide on: -

Something sliding like this: -

I'd have to either extend the width of the pergola or build a new one to match the width of the roof of the summer house.

The summer house walls would be false, just made to look like windows.

The Obsy only needs to be big enough to house my Mount and OTA as it would be controlled remotely from my office, the pier is 1.2m tall, so by the time my new 120EC mount arrived, then it should be tall enough to clear the sides, if not then I would lower it or get a pier extension made or even add in fold down sections..

Being made from wood I should not have a condensation problem, I could coat the roof with something a bit more substantial than roofing felt.

I'm not a carpenter and only have rudimentary skills with wood work, but I'm sure I could get a carpenter to design a way for the roof to slide off, especially as my lifting skills are impeded with my spinal problems.

What do you think, would it work and how simple do you think it would be to make the roof slide off?

[carastro]

Nice design idea, I hope it will work, and would look like an integral part of the garden and existing pergola.

Carole 

[Jkulin]

Thanks Carole, I need to chat with a carpenter to see how easy it would be to convert it to slide off, but I think it would be a great compromise, it's a bit near our home, but no more than any structure would be.

[carastro]

I am thinking you might need a bit of extra support on the roof as supporting the whole roof on those two small sides might be a bit precarious.  i.e. frame running across the leading side as it slides.

Carole 

[Jkulin]

Yep I think you are right, I'd give that as part of the brief to the carpenter, if I keep the roof lightish, then that should help, don't really want to be moving a tiled roof.

[Astrokev]

Looks like a plan. Neat solution. Which way is south?

[Jkulin]

Just now, Astrokev said:

Looks like a plan. Neat solution. Which way is south?

Thanks Kev, South is away from my home towards the two willows, but unfortunately on the other side is a street light that stops me imaging too low.

[Astrokev]

1 minute ago, Jkulin said:

Thanks Kev, South is away from my home towards the two willows, but unfortunately on the other side is a street light that stops me imaging too low.

Still good though that south is away from the house. My house is south of my obsy so blocks the lower part of the sky  

[Jkulin]

Not good Kev, the objects have to be at least 60 degrees to avoid conflicting with the light and the willows.

[Astrokev]

51 minutes ago, Astrokev said:

Still good though that south is away from the house. My house is south of my obsy so blocks the lower part of the sky  

I perhaps should have added that the observatory is a fair way back from the house. I did measure the altitude I can see, but I forget the number. D'oh!

[Astrobug]

You can take a look at uniwereal observatories http://www.uniwersalcompany.eu/en/offer,uniwersal-22m-manualy-controlled-observatory-dome,24,66.html

[Jkulin]

8 minutes ago, Astrobug said:

You can take a look at uniwereal observatories http://www.uniwersalcompany.eu/en/offer,uniwersal-22m-manualy-controlled-observatory-dome,24,66.html

Thanks, but they have no prices and would probably be expensive to deliver from Poland.

[RayD]

16 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

This was my project layout board. Patent Pending 

Looks great.  That looks like a Velleman board?  I use a couple of these with the Lesvedome driver on my roof and can't fault them.

[carastro]

Quote

 the objects have to be at least 60 degrees to avoid conflicting with the light and the willows.

My house is on the North side which in theory should be good, but on the south side I have a huge bank of trees from neighbouring gardens and those that back onto us.  Can't do anything in the South if it's at Sirius level or lower.  Plus next doors tree even blocks the whole of Orion for a couple of hours too.  

Carole 

[RayD]

1 minute ago, carastro said:

My house is on the North side which in theory should be good, but on the south side I have a huge bank of trees from neighbouring gardens and those that back onto us.  Can't do anything in the South if it's at Sirius level or lower.  Plus next doors tree even blocks the whole of Orion for a couple of hours too.  

Carole 

Coupled with your light pollution no wonder you like going to Cairds, Carole! ?

[RayD]

13 hours ago, Jkulin said:

Not good Kev, the objects have to be at least 60 degrees to avoid conflicting with the light and the willows.

That's pretty restricting, John.  Mind you, as you planted the Willows I don't suppose you can complain ?

[carastro]

Quote

Coupled with your light pollution no wonder you like going to Cairds, Carole! 

Precisely.   I'd be stuck with just a few doable targets and that would be it.

Carole 

[Jkulin]

20 minutes ago, RayD said:

That's pretty restricting, John.  Mind you, as you planted the Willows I don't suppose you can complain ?

I know Ray and when they are with leaves they are beautiful and peaceful.

Each year I have the tops trimmed off and the tree surgeon is coming next Wednesday to sort them out again.

They do serve a useful purpose as well as they hide the street light as shown in the pic I have just taken and attached. The photo was taken with my phone resting on my pier just now with no mount on, so it looks at it's worst, the rest of the garden is fine as the trees don't affect any viewing.

It is what it is and I just have to work around it, I have been trying for Orion over the last three year where it is just rising and high enough not to be influenced by the dual carriage way about 1/4 mile way and when there is no moon or no equipment failure, all of which have conspired against me for now.

[RayD]

1 minute ago, Jkulin said:

I know Ray and when they are with leaves they are beautiful and peaceful.

Each year I have the tops trimmed off and the tree surgeon is coming next Wednesday to sort them out again.

They do serve a useful purpose as well as they hide the street light as shown in the pic I have just taken and attached. The photo was taken with my phone resting on my pier just now with no mount on, so it looks at it's worst, the rest of the garden is fine as the trees don't affect any viewing.

It is what it is and I just have to work around it, I have been trying for Orion over the last three year where it is just rising and high enough not to be influenced by the dual carriage way about 1/4 mile way and when there is no moon or no equipment failure, all of which have conspired against me for now.

I bet, John.  I love Willow trees, amongst my favourite.  

As you say, not too bad with them trimmed, the light is more of an issue, so if they block that, it's a bonus.

Like your idea of the octagonal shed, could look lovely.

[Jkulin]

Thanks Ray, I try to keep the willows no higher than the neighbours roofs and when with leaves, they virtually touch and block a load of the light, I just can't go too low