Mount Stu Observatory mkII

[powerlord]

2 hours ago, carastro said:

Won;t those sticking out roof spports be a bit dangerous for people walking into them?

Carole 

No, they are always crouching down looking at the ground, to check they don't stand in one of skye's poos. 🤣

Believe me the low door height of the shed is far more dangerous.. I've already bashed my head on it 3 times. 🤯

Edited February 23, 2023 by powerlord

[adyj1]

5 hours ago, powerlord said:

Believe me the low door height of the shed is far more dangerous.. I've already bashed my head on it 3 times

I've had to split a foam insulating pipe to attach to the edges of beam that my roof runs along, before I do myself a serious head injury. 

The only advantage to having the roof roll forwards over the door (a necessity of space) is that at least I'm already stooping by the time I get to the door 😂 

[900SL]

Looks neat, only comment I would make is watch out for wind uplift when open. You might want to brace the outriggers

.wind uplift in storm force winds can be 50 - 100 kg/M2 or more, depends on angle and location

[powerlord]

8 hours ago, 900SL said:

Looks neat, only comment I would make is watch out for wind uplift when open. You might want to brace the outriggers

.wind uplift in storm force winds can be 50 - 100 kg/M2 or more, depends on angle and location

It's not resting on the outriggers, it is clamped to the outriggers via opposing bearings. basically, you could lift the shed by the roof with the roof open if it wasn't bolted to the concrete base.

Hopefully pics make clear? It's why the outriggers can be really short. I'll leave them just now as it means I can roll roof sections way beyond shed, and don't want to cut em only to find when I finally get piers and mounts in, an extra few inches would have meant more visibility.. But once all that done, chances are they can be reduced to only be extending about 30cm rather than the 60 or so.

But on Carole's point, with th concrete base, they are all higher than my head.

I'll stick padding on door lintel once all done for sure. Once in, I clear all the beams, helped by the fact my roof mechanism raised the roof an inch.

Both sides done now, running smooth. Put sealant rubber between half's, and just working on ridge mechanism now.

Got Monday off, so 3 clear days to crack on.. Famous last words.. But maybe I'd I write goals down here the pressure will help make it happen... I wanna finish roof totally (minus automation) tomorrow. Saturday, fitting insulation. Sunday and Monday - floor and piers. 🤞🤞🤞

Meanwhile in the lab, electronics, control buttons, remote, etc are all progressing on the bench so can be developed and tested separately. I've got a 4 button box on a cable which feeds into the esp32.

Interrupts on the button inputs trigger functions :

Button 1:open/stop/close roof (ie if its moving, a press will stop it for emergencies otherwise one press will open, or if open, close)

Button 2: open/close door

Button 3: lights on/off

Button 4: mount (and asiair, cameras, etc) power on/off

And I've got a remote control with 4 buttons does the same thing.

Also those 4 functions are APis And setup so I can ask alexa to do em.

Here's a question:

Air can escape around the roof which is good for letting hot air out in summer, etc.

At base of walls just now, there are gaps at bottom of panels. Above base so not a water risk.. More thinking of ants, etc.. One the one hand, could leave and it might aid air circulation, making cool air come in base, out top. On the other hand, sealing all around may keep it less humid, and puts the control on where cooler air comes in to my hands - might later add low level input fan like I did with obsy mk1. Thoughts?

Edited February 24, 2023 by powerlord

[powerlord]

Progress this weekend. Centre ridge fitted, roof rollers all fitted, motors fitted with pulleys and free wheels all ready for belts. Controller box fitted. walls insulated. Roof still to do.

 

[powerlord]

nearly finished the insulation now - just one roof bit left at outside left. A few days ago before I started insulation, as we are getting LOTs of dew in the morning, to have water on the inside of all the steel panels in the morning.

When I'd done all the walls, the next morning the walls were warm (compared to the outside) and dry, but the roof still had water on inside.

This morning I thought would be interesting - with only one roof panel still to do - I was expecting it still to be wet in the inside -but with the whole of the inside insulated now except that - it's dry as a bone even though outside dripping with water.

So it's working even better than I hoped. I'll finish insulation today.

The other things the rubber/silver insulation has done are to totally change the 'feel' if the place - by sort of backing all the thin steel panels all rattles have gone when moving roof, etc and the dampening down of sound, etc has just made it feel really solid and quiet inside - it just doesn't feel like a steel shed anymore. It feels more like I'm in the house. Didn't expect that.

[adyj1]

On 15/02/2023 at 14:34, powerlord said:

I removed the doors and replaced the rubbish plastic slider wheels (not bearings, just a plastic wheel stuck in a plastic hub) that the door hangs from with real bearings and wheels

I don't suppose you could go into this in a bit more detail please? My doors are driving me mad but I don't want to 'improve' them and end up making them worse (it's my special superpower 😂) 

Thanks 

Ady

[powerlord]

 

[Alan White]

Looking good.
A fine solution you look to have come up with and implemented.
Look forward to the install of the internals now.
 

[adyj1]

Another great solution. I do admire the simplicity and effectiveness of your solutions. You are handy with the magnets, too 😁 

[powerlord]

Sure. If u look on ebay for 3d printer gantries you'll find these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225142637842?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=oMMNsPhYR26&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=k_pahIebQ6a&var=524048553870&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

That gets you 4 delron wheels (with bearings).

Just take doors off, and replace the plastic mine at the top with the plastic wheel with one of these - use same bolts and spacer.

2 each door.

Your door now hangs on two stainless bolts, rolling in the metal rail with delron wheels and bearings rather than a piece of push fit plastic.

Stu

[powerlord]

Good progress this morning. Both mounts in, bolted and leveled to within 0.1 of a degree, then decided concrete might not be quite level enough to do a proper solid job with laminate, so used levelling compound.. Should be dry and level to lay floor in a few day. 😁

[Graeme]

On 24/02/2023 at 17:14, powerlord said:

 

At base of walls just now, there are gaps at bottom of panels. Above base so not a water risk.. More thinking of ants, etc.. One the one hand, could leave and it might aid air circulation, making cool air come in base, out top. On the other hand, sealing all around may keep it less humid, and puts the control on where cooler air comes in to my hands - might later add low level input fan like I did with obsy mk1. Thoughts?

 

 

That's what I am going to do. Two fans at high level, controlled by a temperature sensor, relay and Arduino as stage 1 over temperature control and two fans at low level for stage 2 over temperature control. 

[powerlord]

 

[scotty38]

Nice work but you mention scrapping the roof automation but how much work is left to do on it? Only asking as weather sensors and auto roof means you can go to bed and worry very little....

[powerlord]

the motors and belts just were not running cleanly. It is annoying and maybe I'll come back to it at some stage but it's taking too much time just now, and I want to get on. It's frustrating that I've can open/close it with one finger, but automating it AND allowing it to natuarly move/wobble like it can manually is easier said than done.

I will fit a rain sensor. only then takes me 30 secs to run out and close roof if it alerts me.

Plus, I doubt I could autoclose, as the scopes will extend beyond the roof and I wouldn't trust a rain sensor to not get confused with heavy dew.

stu

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by powerlord

[whipdry]

Any chance of having a link to the rubber backed foil & what adhesive you used to fix it in place?

Peter

[powerlord]

It comes with adhesive. U just peal the backing off.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363499108389?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=vbkfgwegtda&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=k_pahIebQ6a&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

But there's others that are thicker, etc depending on what u are looking for.

The adhesive is very very sticky. Which is both good (it's going nowhere) and bad (no repositioning, a bit of a pain to do on your own tbh- could have done with 2 more hands).

 

[Graeme]

13 hours ago, powerlord said:

the motors and belts just were not running cleanly - I will fit a rain sensor. only then takes me 30 secs to run out and close roof if it alerts me.

Plus, I doubt I could autoclose, as the scopes will extend beyond the roof and I wouldn't trust a rain sensor to not get confused with heavy dew.

stu

 

I thought the same thing about automating the roof, I'll only be 20 feet away and since the roof will be locked when shut I will need to be out there for all opening and closing anyway. I'll probably have a rain sensor that can alert NINA's Safety Monitor to send a message to my phone if it rains and I've nodded off on the settee! Good luck with the end of March target.

Regards

Graeme

[adyj1]

going back a few posts, I have to say when I skimmed through and saw this picture;

 ... I thought you'd been flooded 😮

 

 

but the smooth, level (dry) floor is another nice touch 😉

Ady

Edited March 8, 2023 by adyj1

[powerlord]

Good progress this weekend. Slate laminate floor down (commercial grade for wet env, all joints sealed with clicseal), edging done Inc around mounts (not show in pic from this morning), cables all run under floor up mounts, power supply all done and tested, WiFi in, security cameras in, remote control lighting in, and remote control door lock.

Reckon I'm ready to fit mounts in tomorrow and have the grand opening by end of week maybe sooner.

 

[powerlord]

It's complete at last!!!

 

[Mr H in Yorkshire]

That really is a handsome result for your efforts.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Mr H in Yorkshire

[Franklin]

What an amazing transformation of a metal garden shed, wow! One question, in all your pics and vids you have glorious sunshine and clear skies, where do you live? We've all had 2ft of snow!

[powerlord]

haha. ipswich. it's been weird weather - raining, blowing a gale, then sunny all on the same day.