Yet another building project

[DarkLane]

Just stumbled onto your build thread here and was awestruck at the fullness of your construction, very impressive.
I was wondering how you´ve been handling the high temperatures France has been getting, does this cause you difficulty later in the day when viewing? Are the domes conditioned somehow?
so many questions...

[Bukko]

2 minutes ago, DarkLane said:

Just stumbled onto your build thread here and was awestruck at the fullness of your construction, very impressive.
I was wondering how you´ve been handling the high temperatures France has been getting, does this cause you difficulty later in the day when viewing? Are the domes conditioned somehow?
so many questions...

We had a warm spee here the other week and the ambient got up to around 40 degrees C.. The warm room was far too hot, even though it is thick wood and insulated roof. The domes were much nicer place to be - the white colour seems to make a big difference and the concrete floor acts as a bit of a heatsink.

The domes do not have any A/C in them, there is a fan drawing air into the dome and a de-humidifier in each one also . The Scopedome includes a humidity sensor so I will be using that to help me learn when and what to use to manage humidity. SO to answer your wuestion, I do not yet know the effects of the high temperatures on seeing conditions. We ate reasonable inland and nightime, the temperature does drop quite quickly.

As of yet, I have not had time to get back and finish the installations, as the terrace over the garage and pool room was leaking badly. Working on that has drained my energy, but hopefully this is coming to an end in the next week.

When I get back on it, the plan is to get the mount connected to the PC and playing nicely with the dome. I need to get the mount polar aligned and the OAG focused to match the main camera. THEN I will be able to get first light on the system (The system has run before, only the dome and interface is new)

THEN I get to start working on the second dome. Everything in this one is new so I do not want to have to de-bug two systems at once.

Gordon.

[Bukko]

After a long hiatus, I have finally got the terrace finished and while I was at it, fitted a split system A/C unit to the lounge. It is south facing and during the hot and humiod spell, was not so nice. The A/C is reversible so in winter, I get around 2500w of heating for less than 500 in. As the house is heated by electricity, I will get some savings out of this.

Anyway, I started on the second dome and wanted to get the automation running and tested. So far, only running on the little hand held remote; I still need to fit the pc and program the drivers, etc. Hopefully will get time to do this over the next few days, but it is up in the 30's again and humid with rain coming in...

In the meantime, I got anothert video to share !!

Gordon.

[Davey-T]

Very impressive Gordon, you realise the only downside is folks will be expecting equally impressive images 

Dave

[bottletopburly]

impressive well done .

[Bukko]

17 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Very impressive Gordon, you realise the only downside is folks will be expecting equally impressive images 

Dave

Thanks Dave,

yes, it had crossed my mind.

I expect it will take some time to get everything working well, then gathering enough subs to get the image depth. I did get to play with the NEQ6 last winter and the mount did not autoguide as good as I expected. It is quite a few years old but hoping there is not some mechanical issue. The big 12" will be less forgiving than the 770mm frac I tested it on, but it is now fully mounted on the pier with minimal wind affect...

Gordon.

[JeremyS]

Looks fantastic Gordon.

When can I come? 😉

 

[souls33k3r]

Super impressive Gordon. Can’t wait to see what you’re able to produce with such setup. Looking forward to it mate

[Gina]

Lovely looking pair of domes!!  Great job!

[Bukko]

Thanks all for your supporting comments - I think it will take longer to get going than I thought - Software !!! There is a load of software from different vendors and the issue is working out what to put in first. The dome really needs the telescope so it can synchronise but I really wanted to test the dome first before fitting the mount and scope.

Such a pain.

I have run out of time today, as the clouds have rolled in and the wind picked up a lot, so it looks like I will be stuck for a few days more....

Oh well.

Gordon

[Bukko]

17 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Looks fantastic Gordon.

When can I come? 😉

 

Hi Jeremy,

you are welcome almost anytime. We have spare bedrooms. Just let me know your size so I make sure I have some working clothes that fit you !!😉

[Marvin Jenkins]

Gordon’s not kidding, if you have a bad back don’t bother.

Marvin

[JeremyS]

21 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

Gordon’s not kidding, if you have a bad back don’t bother.

And if you don't, you will afterwards?

[Bukko]

2 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

And if you don't, you will afterwards?

Almost finished the heavy lifting, just the mount and scope to fit, then cameras, etc. and they are light.

Oh, then running a fence around the area and dropping a few tonnes of gravel to keep the grass under control.

Gordon.

[Marvin Jenkins]

It’s all part of the deal. If the work doesn’t get you the wine will. Working with a hangover is why everything takes sooooo long down here.

M

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, Bukko said:

Oh, then running a fence around the area

Now that is in my skill set, or at least was many years ago. As a student I took part in an archaeological excavation on the South Dons. Being inexperienced, I was not immediately allowed to do the delicate stuff. Instead, I was putting up fences to keep the sheep out...

[Bukko]

Still building up the wine collection, not quite got to the first 300 bottles yet...

The wine stays locked up until the work is done...

Or we get to the end of the day.

Marvin is planning on bringing round his petrol auger to drill out for the posts and my neighbour is lending me his cement mixer. The great bit about living here is pretty much everything you need is available in exchange for a bottle.

The fence is pretty important, as I am surrounded by arable farms and it attracts wild boar. My neighbour "caught" one earlier this year and it weighed in at 92kg.. They are also nocturnal and I don't want to meet one in the middle of the night... Oh and the insurance company suggested it might be a good idea too.

Gordon

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, Bukko said:

My neighbour "caught" one earlier this year and it weighed in at 92kg.. They are also nocturnal

They are pretty tasty, though. Especially as saucisson.

[Marvin Jenkins]

There is nothing a large wild pig with tusks loves more than a green beer. Gordon your card is marked.

[Bukko]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

They are pretty tasty, though. Especially as saucisson.

Each year, the local village holds a bit of a get together and some of the "catch" is shared out. We arrived at 12:30 and were one of the first to leave at 5:30. Seven courses with booze to accompany each course. Including a glass of Eau de Vie to accompany a sorbet...

And not a drop of green beer anywhere !!

Gordon.

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, Bukko said:

We arrived at 12:30 and were one of the first to leave at 5:30.

Sounds quite an event, Gordon!

[Bukko]

13 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Sounds quite an event, Gordon!

Haha it was only lunch!! Normal lunch break in France is 2 hours so they simply extended it to dinner time. We are lightweights now and ran out of steam by 5 but as it was our first proper doo, didn't want to let the side down too much

The local Mayor held an annual review where the locals turned up including the small scattering of Brits to hear how they were managing our property tax. Again, quite a bit of food and drink was made available but having to drive home afterwards, I pushed back quite a lot.

Nothing like council meetings in the UK for sure...

Gordon.

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, Bukko said:

Haha it was only lunch!! Normal lunch break in France is 2 hours so they simply extended it to dinner time.

Ah, so it 12.30 lunchtime to 5.30 in the afternoon! I thought it was 05.30 AM the next day. 🙂

I sure you must have explained the green beer somewhere else, but for the initiated.....?

[Nigella Bryant]

On 19/05/2019 at 09:29, Bukko said:

Hi Alan,

The OO is around 14kg, plus the camera assembly, so possibly another kg or two...

It seems to work OK, but the FL is only 1200mm. When I first got the NEQ6, it held a 10" Meade and also did OK with 2 counterweights.

I have seen pictures on SGL of another member REALLY loading the NEQ6 but had it balanced well. I don't think the payload is the issue more the FL and balance. The AZ EQ6 is belt driven, I don't know how much better than my NEQ6 it would be (also belt driven now...)

De-mounting the 12" is not that difficult, so it would be a relatively simple trial, apart from the need to purchase a Losmandy rail to suit...

Thanks for the interest in the build, planning my dream observatory was about the only thing that kept me sane during my last few years of paid work and it just gathered momentum until I carried it through... If I stepped back now, I don't think I would have started it, the costs are higher than anticipated and the spare cash to pay for it less than planned due to extra UK tax and NI on foreign income... (Don't ask!!!)

And the bricks were ideal, I didn't want concrete as they hold more heat and at 50cm by 30cm by 20cm, it does not take so many of these to build the base.

HTH and thanks again for the interest.

Gordon.

I have my Neq6 loaded with an 00uk 12inch f4 Newtonian. Very able mount, load around 20kg, tube, 70mm guide scope, cameras, electronic focusers, etc. Great build and impressive by the way. 

Edited August 19, 2019 by Nigella Bryant

[Bukko]

28 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

I sure you must have explained the green beer somewhere else, but for the initiated.....?

Before I retired, I was working on a project in Saudi. While there, I was asked to help with a peer review on a similar project in Singapore. So off I went for a week and when done, the engineering team who invited me took me out for a dinner to celebrate. As Saudi is basically dry, they though I would like a beer or two to "rehydrate" as we put it.

The bar made their own beer and one used seaweed (or something like that) in the brew. It adds some nutrients and it ends up green. Couldn't resist it and we got a photo to remember the evening with.

Gordon.