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August 5th - With several
hours of clear sky forecast that night, I was in a race to get the
observatory operational; so I could pack up on my own, in the dark and
close the roof without help. I failed to find any eye bolts at B&Q,
so ended up welding one from a screw in eye and M10 studding. Facias
were added over the felt roof edges. Two spring bump-stops were added to
the bottom of the runners and the winch was mounted on the floor by the
back wall. I was still waiting for the postman to bring a 'V' pulley. |
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| The pulley arrived mid afternoon, allowing me to complete the roof winch mechanism. A catch was added to the front flap, to hold it open when needed. The roof was still catching the rear wall, so I added two additional ramps for the middle rollers to lift the roof a little before closing over the back wall. Some additional bolts were added to the front flap, locking into the aluminium runners. |
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By late afternoon, I was tidying up and vacuuming out the observatory, followed by mounting the NEQ6Pro and 200PDS scope. First light was on the Moon, visually, followed by a DSLR blue sky Moon and an ASI178MM close up capture - then it clouded over. I switched off and closed up, waiting for the promised clear sky at 10pm. While closed up, it rained, followed by a rainbow over the now active observatory. |
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August 7th - I started fitting the trim and cover strips over the joints in the wall panels. I snapped drive belt on my bandsaw delayed fitting some of the smaller pieces, particularly the bits for the front flap, which need tapering. August 13th - Plywood hoops
were made to fasten the neoprene fabric around the piers to close up the
gap in the floor. |
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The first scope and mount were removed in order to fit the ring around that pier. Once done, it was reinstalled, followed by the mount being fitted to pier two. |
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At this point, progress on the observatory slowed down as the big jobs were completed and lots of small jobs needed doing. In late August, the armoured cable was laid out and fastened along the roof runner, entering the observatory just under the runner. An additional guide wheel was added to each side of the roof to help stop the sides from spreading under the weight of the roof. In mid September I began work
on the steps, made from some planking left over from the plinth. The
diagonals were cut over length to start with so they could then be
carefully cut to the height of the entrance. |
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