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Posts Made By: Jeff Young

October 16, 2005 03:27 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Focuser repair I need a wizard.

Posted By Jeff Young
Dave --

Post some pictures/descriptions here and someone might be able to walk you through doing it yourself....

-- Jeff.

October 18, 2005 10:37 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Cylindrical observatory construction

Posted By Jeff Young
I talked to Jerry at Technical Innovations yesterday, and my dome is running behind schedule. He's going to try and ship it by Nov 4. sad

OK, I've got a brand new 16" SCT that's been sitting in my hall for weeks now. I've got no tripod or anywhere to mount it, except for a 7' tall concrete pillar out in the middle of my field. And Mars will be at its closest approach before my dome has even shipped. :C

So... time to re-plan.

Here's my current thinking: Go ahead and erect the observatory base. The wall comes up 30" above the floor; the pier 20". Mount the drive base to the pier, and mount/dismount the forks/OTA combo for each viewing session. Place a couple of trestle stands at the walls to hold up a 4x4 between them, roughly 18" above the wall height. Drape a heavy tarp over the 4x4 "peak" and down the sides; attach with bungee cords.

Thoughts?

-- Jeff.

October 19, 2005 08:34 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Raising a Cylindrical Observatory

Posted By Jeff Young
The "kit" went up like a snap. First we stacked a bunch of bookshelf off-cuts under the bottom ring (so we could screw up through the ring into the studs), and then attached the doorframe and 8 or 10 studs. Next the top ring went on, and then the rest of the studs.

October 20, 2005 07:41 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Cylindrical observatory construction

Posted By Jeff Young
Once again, this thread is getting a wee bit long.

The continuation can be found at: http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=381632.

-- Jeff.

October 23, 2005 11:12 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Raising a Cylindrical Observatory

Posted By Jeff Young
The floor joisting went in a few days ago, but the digital camera then got boarded up inside.

(The angle bracing is temporary until the building is skinned.)

I've since put some herring bone struts in between those joists that didn't have bridging for the post or stairs, but they didn't make the picture.

October 24, 2005 08:08 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Raising a Cylindrical Observatory

Posted By Jeff Young
In between the torrential rainstorms we've been getting, I managed to get out and skin the building with two layers of 1/4" WBP (joints staggered) and a layer of Solitex roofing felt. I ran out of roofing felt about 6" from the top, but that's behind the tarp for now.

(That's my buddy Paul trying to escape the picture on the left.)

October 27, 2005 05:53 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Observatory Destroyed...

Posted By Jeff Young
Ahhh, no! I can't believe it. I'm soooo bummed for you.

I know the family and all puts things in the proper perspective (I was at the ER with my daughter just last night -- no big deal, just some stitches), but still. It must be really demoralizing -- it was coming along so well.

You *must* rebuild. Heck, the *rest* of us will never get over it if you don't! wink

Take care,
-- Jeff.

October 27, 2005 05:56 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Raising a Cylindrical Observatory

Posted By Jeff Young
My pad isn't quite circular. (If you go back several pages, you'll see that I used wooden stakes to hold the form. Short sections of rebar probably would have been far better -- they don't tend to get deflected as much by rocks, etc.)

Anyway, I'm putting a lead skirt flashing around the bottom of the walls and over the pad, so I used a cold chisel to knock the top edge off the pad where it was quite proud. This picture shows the edge before trimming.

November 2, 2005 02:57 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

How to prioritize these upgrades...

Posted By Jeff Young
Erik --

Observing style factors in a lot here. For instance, do you enjoy seeing lots of different things in a night, or studying a few things at length?

If lots, I'd say: DSCs, wide angle EPs, filter slide, RACI finder.

If few, I'd say: chair, tracking platform, DSCs, 2-speed focuser.

One last wrinkle: I find myself feeling rushed with a non-tracking scope, whether I've got a wide FOV or a narrow one (the only difference is that I really am rushed in a narrow one -- but I "feel" rushed in either). So I'd rather have Plossls and a tracking platform than Pans/Naglers. But if you don't feel rushed, and don't get a tracking platform, then I'd have to put wide angle EPs pretty high up the list.

-- Jeff.

November 2, 2005 05:19 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Raising a Cylindrical Observatory

Posted By Jeff Young
Since the "vestibule" design was arrived at after the pad was poured, it overhangs the pad by a bit. While it's only a couple of inches, it would leave two triangular ingress areas for rodents. So I framed and poured a bit (a very small bit!) of a step.

First the damp-proof course was extened by siliconing a bit more plastic to the existing, and then 4 concrete nails were pounded into the edge of the existing pad to act as rebar between it and the step. The step was framed in 2x4s, and then filled with concrete hand-mixed in the wheel barrow. It was finished with a steel trowel several hours later.

This picture is several days later. The form has been removed from the step, and the lead skirting trimmed around the vestubule up to the door.

-- Jeff.

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