Rotating Roof Obsy Pics

[Wobbly Bob]

Kris, Ron & all,

Thanks for the comments. I will post some pics of the pivot arrangement shortly. Re: the patent, several others have suggested patenting it and it does seem to be unique, but I would rather help those that want go also go Rotating Roof approach than go through the hassle & expense of a patent.

cheers

dave

Good on yer Dave.

I think its a wonderfull bit of lateral thinking.

Bob

[philj]

I like it, great space saving idea.

Philj

[LukeSkywatcher]

Ah ok. It all makes sense now. Fantastic design.

[yesyes]

Davei, I hope I didn't offend you with that rubbish bin picture. It just reminded me of that...

I find this a great design and I would consider doing something similar if I could make a roof in one piece like that...

[LukeSkywatcher]

I'd buy one of those bins and use it as an Obsy.

[Davei]

Thanks guys for your comments. The roof was molded in fibgerglass with a 2 inch thick foam core. It had flanges molded into each side for the pivot arms. The final gel coat on the outside had special wax content so that lichen hopefully won't grow on it. The inside surface has a white gel coat so that I can use it for Flat Field calibration shots. The mold construction is shown on the attached pic. It was pretty big for only a 7 x 7ft roof. I had it made by a company that makes figreglass swimming pools.

[Rusty Strings]

Do you know what roof weighs, how would sheet aluminium lined with polystyrene compare?

[Davei]

John, the roof weights 215 lbs. Lighter would be better since the counterweights could then be reduced. However, it has 2 flanges on each side to secure the pivot arms and a 6 inch flange on both North & South sides to stop the rain from coming in under the roof. They give it rigidity but also some extra weight. I would guess that aluminium lined with insulation would be a lot lighter. You could make the pivot arms out of welded Al tubing with plates welded where the bearings and counterweights are fitted. They could be secured by bolts to welded flanges on the inside of the roof.

[Srbin]

Absolutely brilliant design - we've got some those "German" waste bins at work... might be tempted to liberate one of them

[Rusty Strings]

Davei

I've had a go at working out the geometry for building my own but as yet not had much luck, would you be prepared to share/sell your plans?

[Davei]

John, I'll scan my drawings and e-mail them to you but if you want to change the dimensions you may want to contact Norman and he can re-run the design on his Autocad (but he may charge).

[Rusty Strings]

Bless you sir, that would be great! 7' x 7' is perfect for the space I have.

[yesyes]

What I'm wondering is how much they charged to make this roof. If you don't mind sharing that with us... ;-)

[Davei]

I don't know the production cost because for me it included designing and constructing the mold, laying up the fibreglass and core and quite a bit of tinkering around. For example we changed the final gel coat to one with a high wax content to stop lichen growing on the roof through our southern winter. However, none of it is difficult and it should be do-able as a home job in a few weeks.

[Coco]

This has to be one of my favourite DIY obsy projects... its brilliant!

cheers

Guy

[noakesy]

looks great well done bud

[Adamski]

That's a really good idea, especially if you don't have a big garden.