North Kent Roll Off Roof Build

[Swoop1]

A very purposeful looking fit out going on there.

[Graeme]

Wilson the apprentice astronomer Cocker likes it!

[Graeme]

I bought a cheap solar powered extract fan to suck out the hot air when the sun shines.

 

 

Does the job!

[Graeme]

I bought a sheet of 2mm rubber and cut an 8" hole in it. Makes a nice seal!

 

 

 

[Graeme]

The floor is all done.

 

 

Anybody want to buy a tripod?

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Graeme

[Graeme]

Block paving reinstated around the 4"x4"s and sanded. I was two brown blocks short so I used grey ones to finish off. Keep it quiet for me and I don't suppose anyone will notice! 😀

 

 

So that's about it then, other than some final tweaking, there's always some tweaking to do! I need to put the roof motor on, but I'm ok as it is for now. I had a couple of Arduino ideas and they're both completed on the breadboard, I need to do some soldering to get them going. The flat frame light box could do with a refurb. I've been using the cardboard and duct tape version for a couple of years now! I think I'll take out the GU10 downlighter above the desk that's switched from the door. The LEDs when they're outputting white are good enough for back lighting.  I'll  put in something a bit brighter for when something a bit brighter is needed. I have the solar fan and I've put the 230V fan in but it's plugged into a socket! It needs to be controlled automatically and I need to put the fan heater in sometime before winter! 

Lessons learnt? Yeah, I got loads of them! First of all, don't ever build an observatory on existing block paving. Every time it rains the wet soaks in between the bricks, like it's meant to do and keeps the soil under the floor nice and moist! Yeah, I know, there should be a damp course membrane across the whole area not just under the 4"x2"s! Or better still, I should have taken up the block paving and built a wall all the way round on a concrete ring beam. Now I've got to seal the blocks all the way round in a 3' wide path.

Spend lots of time looking at other observatory builds and thinking about them. Spend lots of time looking at your own build and thinking about it as you go.

Put the air bricks in the base level as you're building it! It's a lot harder to cut them in afterwards.

Measure twice, cut once. Yeah, we all know that one, but it's so true.

Aim for perfection, accept 5mm out, anymore than that, do it again.

Get a chop saw before you start cutting any timber. It will be the best tool you ever bought.

Don't rush it as you get near completion. That last timber that's different from the rest that you thought nobody would notice will annoy you every time you see it. That last brick block that's a different colour from the rest that you thought nobody would notice will annoy you every time you see it. 

I'm sure there's more but that's me done. If you're thinking of building an observatory, of any type, to save lugging your stuff out and setting up every session, then do it. It's the best astronomy decision I have ever made.

Thanks for following along. It's been emotional.

 

Regards

Graeme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Graeme
Forgot some bits.

[Zermelo]

Congratulations, and thanks for posting. It's been great following this.

One day ...

[Ags]

On 25/08/2023 at 21:19, Graeme said:

Measure twice, cut once.

The way I do it, it's "Measure twice, cut thrice!

[Graeme]

Well I finally got round to installing the roof motor:

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Graeme

[aleixandrus]

Impressive work, love it! Thanks for posting all the process, I'm planning building in the very short term and this helps a lot.

I may missed that info in the previous posts but... could you please share the dimensions of the obsy? The pier is not centered, isn't it? Thanks a lot.

[Graeme]

Thanks Aleixandrus

I'm glad you like it! I'm pretty chuffed with it myself! 

The Observatory is 3m x 1.9m externally and the pier is in the centre of an 800mm radius at the far end. Well to be precise, it's 100mm off centre to allow space for the flat frames light box when the telescope is parked.

Graeme

 

 

[aleixandrus]

On 11/08/2023 at 21:07, Graeme said:

Thank you for the data. Based on this pic, I though it was bigger, it doesn't feel as narrow as 1.9m externally! I initially planned 2x2m inside just for imaging (i.e. 1m free radius). I also consider 3x2m to allow a second pier (for a small wide field refractor I don't have and I won't have in the mid term) but I think it is quite optimistic. As you actually build it that size, if you remove the desk... what do you think?

[Graeme]

Sorry, 1900mm internally, 2100mm externally. I forgot the 100mm clearance on the end of the 800mm radius!

3m x 2m would be a bit tight for two telescopes and space for the desk and a set of drawers is really useful if you have it.

Graeme

 

[aleixandrus]

Thank you for your insights. I think you're right, I'll probably go KISS (keep it simple, stupid! 😅) and make an obsy for my current setup (and just a bit more for growing). If in the long term I have a second rig, I'll probably need to rebuild it from scratch anyway to fix details I'll probably mess up with due to lack of experience. I'll go to the design board and make an sketch, if things go well, I'll try to open a thread in this forum.

As I said, thank you so much, very thankful.