TheSkySearchers

As it turns out, it is very propitious that I'm getting a new building because after having a meeting with the garage door installation foreman (last Friday), there were some major design changes. The biggest one is that the North wall (the high wall) will no longer have the roll-up-roof (RUR) mounted to it. The west wall will now be home to the rolled-up roof. This simple move solved a lot of issues, #1 being that nothing will add to the North wall height. Also, the installer believes that we can certainly get to "weatherproof" and might get very close to "waterproof" with the roof being oriented in this new direction, wouldn't that be amazing. So, good things are coming out of a seemingly depressing episode.

Here's the new mockup of what it should look like.

Here it is, the new building is on the slab and set in place. It is both glued and bolted to the slab. This is the last day it will be without an observing room roof.

Tomorrow is a big day. The roof gets installed and I will know once and for all if my idea is viable or if it was an expensive mistake. I got my fingers crossed for the former not the latter.

So in keeping with this post here is the last picture of the correct building with no observing room roof.

Looks good. Good luck!

Hope that all goes well today JT!

Man, you sure have a beautiful place!

Looks good! The change in roof design makes total sense, and it should work well. I hope the installation goes well.

It's really moving along now!!!

For some reason the song "short people" popped into my head with I saw the picture.....

Gordon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 5:36 pm"short people"

That is apropos for this building. It was always a trade-off between using higher walls that block out more of the sky or hitting your head. I went with hitting your head!

BTW, the name of this building is the "Rimrock Observatory." "Tall people need not apply!!!"

JayTee wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 5:49 pm BTW, the name of this building is the "Rimrock Observatory." "Tall people need not apply!!!"

I can't believe that the Obsy is essentially done! Yesterday, I had the electrician, RUR installers, and a roofing guy all out at the same time (by coincidence only). It actually dawned on me that I'm putting up a roof and never got a roofer involved. That all changed yesterday. He decided that he only needs to install flashing all around the RUR (just the edges not the drum). Its function is to further waterproof the roof and protect the exposed wood around the RUR frame. His cost for doing this was very reasonable (roofers are usually VERY expensive).

Many lessons were learned during this project. In my planning and simulations, I managed to address and account for about 75% of all the problems that could be encountered. The other 25% were mostly "wouldn't it be nice if..."

There are still a few tweaks that need to be made, they are for convenience only. Today is clean up the inside with tomorrow being "move in" day.

Here's what it looks like closed and open.




Here's the coolest part.


IT DOES NOT LEAK!!! And the flashing isn't even installed yet!
Yay.

The next post will show an opening the roof vid with all the occupants (the scopes) set in place. Followed by the first light!
Cheers,

PS, I'm padding all the tops of the door frames! Ouch²

Congrats JT! It was quite a journey.

The first sardine can style observatory. Looks great! Congratulations, I hope it works well for you.

SkyHiker wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:07 am The first sardine can style observatory.

I just hope it's not as stinky!

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Sat Oct 08, 2022 11:05 pm Congrats JT! It was quite a journey.

I'm sitting here right now after cleaning out all the construction debris and it still hasn't sunk in that it's finished, I did it. I've been thinking about this observatory since 2016!

Thanks, Henk and Andrey.

And thank the Astro Supreme Beings that these are not posthumous congratulations!

It's very attractive.

That's a fine-looking observatory. Congratulations! Looking forward to first light.

JayTee wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:42 am

SkyHiker wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:07 am The first sardine can style observatory.

I just hope it's not as stinky!

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Sat Oct 08, 2022 11:05 pm Congrats JT! It was quite a journey.

I'm sitting here right now after cleaning out all the construction debris and it still hasn't sunk in that it's finished, I did it. I've been thinking about this observatory since 2016!

Thanks, Henk and Andrey.

And thank the Astro Supreme Beings that these are not posthumous congratulations!

I’m so happy for you and that thing looks awesome and last but not least I’m actually a little jealous I wish I had a set up like that that is awesome!

Thank you all very much for your kind to comments.

Here's one thing I hadn't thought of yet, what do I put on the floor of the observing room? It's a given that the warm room will be carpeted but do I put down outdoor carpet, do I put down gym mats, or just leave it as concrete?

So how do you open and close it? I would think there is a downward torque so to open it you would have to pull it at the bottom. If it were pushed by the motor, it would undoubtedly bind up at the bottom and possibly destroy itself. I see a yellow string hanging off the bottom, is that how you pull it open? Even when the sideways motion was easier to construct, gravity now can't help with automated opening and closing, I think it requires auxiliary manual operation.

The roof was always planned to be a manual open and close. Believe it or not the opening direction is by far the easiest and requires little effort because of the spring tension in the drum. The roof closing is a little bit problematic for the last two inches to get to a point where I can engage the locking latch. That's one of the tweaks we'll be working on in the next few days. I think I have a temporary solution that may work. Basically the spring inside the drum has to have a small amount of tension on it so the roof rolls up all the way. It's that amount of tension that's causing the last 2 inches to be difficult. Remember this is our first attempt at this so we have a few bugs left to iron out.

Once the flashing gets installed next Thursday we'll have a better idea as to how the leading edge should be configured and the receptacle into which it will rest.

JayTee wrote: ↑Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:58 pm Thank you all very much for your kind to comments.

Here's one thing I hadn't thought of yet, what do I put on the floor of the observing room? It's a given that the warm room will be carpeted but do I put down outdoor carpet, do I put down gym mats, or just leave it as concrete?

Unless you are going to change into dry "observatory shoes," carpet might just build up moisture and eventually develop mould brought in from snow or dew or just wet ground. I wouldn't put down carpet but rather some anti fatigue matting or other flooring unaffected by moisture. You could put down a thick vinyl with foam insulating underlay.

Looking great. I am jealous.

Joe

This will be my last post in this thread unless you all have questions.

The observatory is functionally complete except for a few minor finishing touches. It's been a heck of a ride and quite a journey provided by this project. Here are some pics to show you what the final configuration looks like and how lucky and blessed I am to have such a building at my disposal.

Let's start with the floor, I covered it with closed-cell foam anti-fatigue mats, cut to size, and taped together.

After hitting my head way too many times to remember, the door frames also got padding using hot water pipe foam insulation stapled in place. There will be a nameplate attached above this door on the outside. I'll take a picture after I get it in its place.

Then it was time to start moving all the gear into the OR (observing room). I've decided on two different equipment configurations. Configuration #1 is the CEM70 with 6RC on it for AP and the CPC1100 (C11) for either visual or planetary/lunar AP.

The C11 will always stay set up but I will switch out OTA's on the CEM70 depending on what is currently being imaged. So this image shows the C6R riding the CEM70 as configuration #2.


Lastly, roof clearance and creature comforts. The 6RC and C6R leave about 3" (7.6 cm) clearance with the closed roof. The C11 poses no conflict with the roof.


Taking a look at everyone in their place it does seem a bit crowded but there is maneuvering room around both scopes (just be careful!)

Finally, the warm room (WR), it looks cramped but the picture does not adequately show that when you are sitting in the Captain's chair your head is nowhere near the ceiling as long as you get up facing the window! It's behind me in this picture.


That pretty much sums up the adventure. Thank you all for your input and insights. You all helped build this structure! And it goes without saying that if you are ever in Northern Idaho, the OR is always open!

Cheers,

PS, last Friday was opening night and the cloud gods slapped me down hard with an inch of rain and total cloud cover. In fact, it is still cloudy and raining. I'll give you all a first light as soon as the sky lets me. jt