Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Ron --
Quote:
Very nice job on the floors!  So what do the kids think of dads' new project?
I'm amazed you have the time an resources to fix up that old building and build an observatory to boot. About halfway through that project I'd be spinning in circles wondering what to tackle next. 
The kids are pretty excited, although I think that's mostly because they know daddy is into it. I don't think they really know what to expect from it all.
The house has been an 11 year project so far, and probably has another decade or so to run. So I putter away at it and bit by bit it comes together. The nice thing about a really long-term project is it doesn't always matter what order you do things in. 
-- Jeff.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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I'm glad I "tented" the building, as we got plenty of frost last night.
(The conditions did produce some rather good seeing. I had the 8" LX200GPS out last night and got some really nice views of Mars. All my favorite globs were too low, M81 and M82 were a bit washed out by the moon, and Orion was still behind a tree, so I stuck with the red planet.)
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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A few hours later, unwrapped, cleaned up, and with the sun on it.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Another angle, showing the shallow vestibule for the door.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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later
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/16/05
Posts: 617
Loc: Posen, Michigan
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Umm................How ya gonna get that assembled dome out of your house???
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Oberwerk BT100-45
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Quote:
Umm................How ya gonna get that assembled dome out of your house???
We're mostly just assembling it to drill all the holes, mount the hardware (wheels, etc.) and other stuff that won't have to come back off, so that final assembly will go quicker (and can be done in the same day the temporary roof comes off).
But it will have to be partially disassembled to get it outside and to the site.
-- Jeff.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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CigTech
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/28/04
Posts: 1271
Loc: Largo, Fl
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Very Nice project. Looks like you have been plaining this for a while. Good job.
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Keep looking up,
CigTech
Orion AstroView 120mm
LXD55-Autostar Pier
Meade LPI
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rboe
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 63466
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Oh man, that is straight out of Jules Verne. Those slab lines are a nice touch.
We were down to 33 degrees two nights ago, 38 last night. But no frost yet.
That is some pretty countryside.
Eleven years? Same as our "project" house. But no wooded floors (wifes' choice  ), no fire place, no fancy built in ovens - but no kids! 
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
127mm F9 Surplus Shed/Crawmach kit scope
Coronado SolarMax 40 on a Celestron 102 Wide Field
Best of ATM
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Bmark
sage
Reged: 01/19/04
Posts: 252
Loc: St. Louis
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Ron,
I didn't know that it got that cold in Phoenix. I was out to Flagstaff and Phoenix in early October, and the daytime temps in Phoenix were in the high ninties. Here in Missouri, we got down to 14 degrees last week.
Jeff, I agree that the slab lines are nice, are they stamped or etched? Looks like the end is now in sight.
Mark
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rboe
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 63466
Loc: Phx, AZ
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The lowest we've recorded in the garden is 18 degrees. At night of course.
Jeff; are you going to let the grass go up to the building or is there going to be a slab or rock or flowers or something?
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
127mm F9 Surplus Shed/Crawmach kit scope
Coronado SolarMax 40 on a Celestron 102 Wide Field
Best of ATM
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Mark --
I think the lines are normally etched after the sand & cement plaster has partially set. However, the plasterer I used this time was used to doing them wet, so that's how these were done. He basically dragged a small loop of electric fence wire through the plaster right after screeding it.
Ron --
There's still some discussion about how to finish the outside. I really like the grass coming right up to it, but that's one thing we can't do (cows like to scratch themselves, and they'll quickly trash even a sand & cement finish). So, there are several options:
1) simple electric fence -- WAF pretty low
2) wooden rail fence (with electric wire) -- wife likes this idea, but I'm not sure I do
Both of these options assume grass up to the building as gravel would heat up during the day and then cause some amount of turbulence above it at night.
3) hedge -- once it's grown 4' high or so, it would shade the area between the hedge and the building, so gravel would become a viable option -- but the hedge is probably the most work, both to plant and to trim twice a year
So, still thinking....
-- Jeff
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
|
rboe
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 63466
Loc: Phx, AZ
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I'd vote for the hedge but don't know if the cows would try to eat it or not. Hopefully you have something local with a history.
But that leaves the front door and vestibule open for damage. A stone fence of stacked and mortored field stone may be in order. This could be in turn covered by bushes to keep the heat issue to a minimum.
Otherwise; go with a moat. 
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
127mm F9 Surplus Shed/Crawmach kit scope
Coronado SolarMax 40 on a Celestron 102 Wide Field
Best of ATM
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Ron --
Yes, there are lots of bovine-resistant hedge plants. Box, beech, hawthorn and blackthorn are the most common here. A beech hedge has a spectacular failure mode though: if untrimmed, it grows into trees! (We have a very crowded row of 40' trees to prove it.)
Given the "formal" architecture of the house, there'll be a wrought-iron gate in the fence/hedge/whatever.
(Or a drawbridge over the moat.)
-- Jeff.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
|
Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Technical Innovations finishes the inside of their domes in a dark blue, which I matched to paint the inside of the walls upstairs. Since there's no fire-break in the walls at floor level, some of the paint misted down to the first floor. The effect is nice though: reminds one a bit of twilight.
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Man...this thread has been a ball to watch! I can't wait to see the completed observatory. It should be awesome. Keep up the great posts.
Troy
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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And here's three of the blues together: upstairs, downstairs, and the stairs themselves. (The door is a fourth blue, but I couldn't fit that into the picture.  )
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
|
rboe
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 63466
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Should come close to matching the blue of the moat.
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
127mm F9 Surplus Shed/Crawmach kit scope
Coronado SolarMax 40 on a Celestron 102 Wide Field
Best of ATM
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Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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We don't get much daylight in the winter at this latitude, so I got out there early to take off the temporary roof. Rather foggy, but not too cold, and the sun's starting to break through....
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
|
Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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A bit more sun.
This is my buddy Gerry, helping out with the circular skirt that goes under the dome base ring. This took a bit of fiddling since we weren't able to do this part in our pre-assembly (which was done on a flat floor).
We had planned on spending an hour or so afterwards shimming it to level -- only when we got there the top plywood ring was so close to level that it was hard to figure out exactly where one would want a shim. 
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Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
|
Jeff Young
Post Laureate
Reged: 08/04/05
Posts: 4491
Loc: Ireland
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Mother Nature, figuring that we might just get this thing done today, decided to put the sun away now, lest she forget later.
This is a bit after dinner (that's the mid-day meal on this side of the pond -- supper comes in the evening), and we're making good progress. That's me on the left, and another buddy Paul on the right.
--------------------
Nikon 18x70s / UA Millennium Colorado:
Solarscope SF70 / TV Pronto / AP400QMD Coronado SolarMax40 DS / Bogen 055+3130
APM MC1610 / Tak FC-125 / AP1200GTO Tak Mewlon 250 / AP600EGTO
|
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