My New Pulsar 2.1m Obsy - Finished :-)

[Jkulin]

Thanks Dave, not quite as good close up, as the sponge rollers kept breaking down, I went through 10 of them, and will go through at least another 4 for the dome tomorrow, I wonder if the sponge doesn't like the two pack paint.

Edited July 19, 2020 by Jkulin

[Davey-T]

4 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

I wonder if the sponge doesn't like the two pack paint.

Maybe, don't know what its based on,  I know they don't like 2 pack car paint.

Dave

[Nigella Bryant]

Brilliant job John, I've got to do the same with mine but white,  lol. It's such a lot of work getting a dome up and running,  I'm constantly tired at the moment,  took today off, lol. I don't think people appreciate how much work goes into it and mine is just manual.

[Jkulin]

9 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Brilliant job John, I've got to do the same with mine but white,  lol. It's such a lot of work getting a dome up and running,  I'm constantly tired at the moment,  took today off, lol. I don't think people appreciate how much work goes into it and mine is just manual.

Nigella, you have done a superb job on yours, have you put it together on your own or have you had family help you, because I really take my hat off to you!.

I certainly would recommend the paint manufacturers that David put me onto and it would spruce up you done perfectly.

@Davey-T I think you hit the nail on the head as they paint David obtained for me was 2 pack: - https://www.international-yachtpaint.com/en/au/boat-paint-products/topcoat-finishes/perfection

I have to admit that even with today in the mid 20's it went on really well and was easy to apply, hardly any drips, I did use a roller all the way through and a brush for the awkward places, I haven't done a perfect job, but my wife is happy with it and has even said to leave it at that colour, it's a bit bluer than in the image.

I did buy a litre of Polytrol, but can't see any benefit in keeping it now, as now this has been in done the paint will probably last longer.

[Skipper Billy]

Well done John. The rollers to use are 'solvent resistant' ones - I should have put a pack in the box with the paint - sorry!

Great job.

[Skipper Billy]

PS - if anyone else needs 'International Paints' products I am happy to supply at cost price plus postage.

[Davey-T]

50 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

I did use a roller all the way through and a brush for the awkward places

I generally slap it on as quickly as possible with a big brush then use the roller to smooth out the brush marks.

Dave

[Nigella Bryant]

1 hour ago, Jkulin said:

Nigella, you have done a superb job on yours, have you put it together on your own or have you had family help you, because I really take my hat off to you.

I done it all on my own John. My family are 500miles away in Scotland,  lol. Did get four friends to help lift the dome on, no way could I have done that on my own, lol.

[Steve 1962]

Wow - looking fantastic John! 

[Jkulin]

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

Well done John. The rollers to use are 'solvent resistant' ones - I should have put a pack in the box with the paint - sorry!

Great job.

David, please don't apologise, you have been so helpful and I am grateful.

[Jkulin]

32 minutes ago, Steve 1962 said:

Wow - looking fantastic John! 

Thanks Steve, she has come out rather nice👍

And thanks again for your patience Steve.

Edited July 19, 2020 by Jkulin

[bob-c]

Looking really good John,  you are there now matey. looking forward to seeing your images..

Bob.

[Jkulin]

Well final coats of paint on today, slightly delayed because every time I wanted to do it, it rained and today just 30 minutes after painting we had a shower, I just hope the paint was dry enough not to be affected, if not then will have to sand and repaint.

I think next year I will probably sand and repaint with solvent resistant sponge rollers.

I've gone through just under 3 x 750ml of the paint, with just a little held back to touch up.

So from buying it to complete has taken 11 weeks with just over 7 of them delayed because of Covid.

Now hopefully I can relax and when I have time work out how to convert the cable driven shutter to chain drive.

[steppenwolf]

Now that is lookin' very nice indeed

[Nigella Bryant]

Well done, looks amazing now and just in time for Mars and the darker nights. I'm coming up to eight weeks but held up with repairs which put me back about three weeks. 

[Jkulin]

52 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Now that is lookin' very nice indeed

Thanks Steve, yep it's been some work, but well worth it.

 

20 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Well done, looks amazing now and just in time for Mars and the darker nights. I'm coming up to eight weeks but held up with repairs which put me back about three weeks. 

Yours is coming on exceptionally well Nigella, I have to confess I have never done any planetary as typically the planets have not been high enough, however it is something I want to address for the future.

There's plenty of time to get your sorted before the longer nights and we have all had some mid summer fun with Neowise.😎

Edited July 26, 2020 by Jkulin
typos

[sloz1664]

That has been finished to high standard and looks fabulous John. Just in time for the onset of  astro darkness

Steve

[Jkulin]

I couldn't resist having made a  200mm x 130mm aluminium embossed plaque to secure to the Obsy: -

It meant so much to me to have shared Neowise with my dear wife, who's sheer patience and support she has given to me through this build.

Edited August 5, 2020 by Jkulin

[Nigella Bryant]

38 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

I couldn't resist having made a  200mm x 130mm aluminium embossed plaque to secure to the Obsy: -

It meant so much to me to have shared Neowise with my dear wife, who's shear patience and support she has given to me through this build.

That's so precious, lovely.

[RayD]

1 hour ago, Jkulin said:

I couldn't resist having made a  200mm x 130mm aluminium embossed plaque to secure to the Obsy: -

It meant so much to me to have shared Neowise with my dear wife, who's shear patience and support she has given to me through this build.

Superb, John.  Love it 👍

[carastro]

Excellent you will love it.

Carole 

[Jkulin]

1 hour ago, carastro said:

Excellent you will love it.

Carole 

Thanks Carole, yep already seeing the benefit, the sign was just something to remind me every time that my wife Deborah happily went along with the Obs and a reminder of the time we shared in the middle of the night looking at Neowise.

[steppenwolf]

Gotta love your embossed plaque 👍 You've probably started something now! 🙂

[Jkulin]

2 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Gotta love your embossed plaque 👍 You've probably started something now! 🙂

Yep you are probably right Steve and I'll bet you will be first 🙂

My wife has for the third time the C 😞 and watching Neowise with her in my arms, meant so much that I thought it so pertinent to celebrate something we have shared together.💕

[Jkulin]

Well things aren't going too well at the moment, I have spent the last month resolving issues, the main contentious one being the dome, banging as it misses when rotating, I've managed to identify a number of causes such as rotted rubber dampers, new ones are on order, there was a wood screw in place to secure the aluminium plate so when it missed a beat it was like running ones fingers over a comb, the shutter mechanism is a fail, which to be truthful I knew about.

Now something that I am guilty of and dismissed as not worth going to the trouble of extra planning is that I never isolated the pier from the foundations, figuring that the isolation of the brick walls would be enough, how wrong I was, with a smoother quieter design I may have got away with it, but every time the domes receives a movement instruction it creates off the chart havoc with my PHD guiding. Now this might be resolved with the new dampers so I will check when they hopefully arrive tomorrow.

Here is a quick grab of the effects when it send s a pulse to the dome: -

OK the guiding wasn't ever going to be brilliant that night, but you can see the effects of the motors playing catchup, bear in mind that my setup normally guides at about 0.18-0.27rms

Now we live in a very quiet neighbourhood, its a small village and I have always been conscious of any noise that I make whilst imaging, either side of me are older people in the late 70's so their hearing is not best, however whilst the dome was slewing to a target at about 23:00 my wife clearly heard one of the neighbours shout out angrily "Shut the F up", when I first got it up and running I thought that the noise might be an issue, that was why I have worked so heard to silence it down.

The long and the short is that if the dampers don't resolve it then it will have to come down and be sold as is, I will lose a considerable amount of money with what I have invested and buying a replacement.

I spoke to my builder this morning and whatever I decide, he is going to come around and grind a 1" channel between the original concrete block and the new concrete base, so that it doesn't touch at all, he reckons it will only take him an hour and he suggested to fill the void with expanded foam or polystyrene, what are peoples thoughts?

I'm in discussions with Pulsar at the moment as they are able to supply a very recent sage coloured dome and would install and fit their latest motorisation system, and from chatting to @tooth_dr he seemed to indicate that it was virtually silent apart from when slewing, which does sound far more promising.

I could dismiss the idea of a dome altogether, and go for a RoR observatory, but that would require new foundations and a lot more physical work to build which my back wouldn't take, but not only that it needs to be in keeping with my wife's views, which I happen to agree with.

Who said Astronomy was going to be easy!

Edited August 10, 2020 by Jkulin
typos