Cbb
member
Reged: 07/01/04
Posts: 30
Loc: Glasgow, Scotland
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Hi
I have a Meade LX200gps and being small of stature and slight of frame have found it very difficult carrying it in and out of the house. I am therefore with the help of a friend (who has excellent carpentry skills) about to build a 6 x 6 roll-off roof observatory from SkyShed plans that I bought over the web (I live in Scotland). We have sourced all the timber and are in the process of finding where to buy the components for the roll off roof part, (if anyone is reading this post from the UK and knows where to get such things I would be very grateful). I have a couple of questions about once the observatory is finished, even though obviously the observatory will be watertight will it still get a bit damp inside say like a garden shed? and if so does this have any impact on the telescopes optics? also I have a cover for the scope should I put this on when the scope isn't in use? sorry if these seem very 'obvious'  questions but not having ever owned an observatory I'm not quite sure about some things. Any other tips would be gratefully received 
cheers
Carolyn
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi Carolyn,
Any outdoor structure can have moisture problems. Especially if it is not heated. Since I have not built an observatory myself I don't know a lot about it, but I have heard a few things from my club.
Are you going to have a floor or will you be standing on the dirt? If you have a floor then you can reduce the moisture buildup by attaching plastic sheets to the underside of the floor. This will also reduce any dust/dirt problems. One thing to be careful about here though is to make sure that air can get between the sheeting and the ground and between the sheeting and floor. If moisture builds up above or below the sheeting and can't get away then you could have mold or mildew issues.
If the floor is open to the dirt then you may find yourself with moisture and dust/dirt problems. It really depends on your environment. I have seen some buildings open to the dirt that don't have any problems, but I have also seen some that have a lot of problems. I leave my scope on my screened in porch. I find that even though floor has spaces between the floor boards and is therefore open to the dirt, and the walls are just screens, most of the time there isn't any problem. However, when it gets very humid and cold dew forms on my scope. I am not sure that's a good thing, but since it only happens occasionally and would happen if I were out observing, I'm not that worried about it.
I have also heard that leaving a lightbulb on near the scope can help. I don't know if that is true.
Not sure about the cover, but a cover would at least help control dust and dirt buildup.
-- Carl
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PMB
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/07/03
Posts: 768
Loc: Gainesville TX
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Ehy up Carolyn!
My first suggestion is that a 6 X 6 ( I assume thats in Imperial feet) size is just too small.
It may house the equipment but will leave little room if any for you to comfortably observe and or store any accessories. Try this........ setup your LX200 and then mock up the 6 X 6 walls that would surround you. You could use some cardboard or anything that could simulate the wall. Then try moving around in the space as if you were observing with an observers chair etc. Try moving around to all four sides without bumping into the walls without having to think about it or calculate your motion. If you can, you should be ok BUT..... in my opinion, I wouldnt build anything less than an 8 X 8. I've owned an LX200 and am familiar with it. If you ever decide to put it on a wedge you will definately need more space. I use a 10"SCT on a GEM which does require more room than say a fork mount alt/az setup. I built a 10 X 10 foot which is ample room but if I were to do it over it would be a 12 X 12 ft building. If you ever think of changing to a different type of scope/mount you'd be hard pressed for room.
Also, the observatory WILL be prone to moisture. Since it is not air tight ( thats a good thing for acclimation) the ambient conditions will be relected inside the building. We just had a very damp spell and I ended up with moisure on the "inside" of my corrector plate! This does not go away like dew on the exterrior. I had to literally bake it out of the OTA. I would definately bag the scope to avoid this condition althought its only a problem in the cold months ( which are many for you). I would include a desiccant media to help keep the bagged volume dry.When I leave my SCT tube out on the mount I remove the diagonal and put a small , thin, cotton bag with desiccant packets in the exit tube of the scope. If I donot, I keep the OTA in a air tight Pelican case. With a LX200 you'll be forced to leave it out. Seal the tube the best you can when its very damp.
It best to let dew that forms on optics to naturally evaporate. If excessive, the repeated formation may cause spotting on the corrector plate. Dew will not harm the optics though. If its possible to keep the scope above the dew point that would be ideal but not realistic in practice.
Keeping all things covered will help alot.
Hope this was helpful in some way!
Good luck!
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Patrick
Mountain Springs Observatory
Mewlon 250/NJP zzzz Dream zzzzzz
One good Eye one bad
Overwerked 11X70's
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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Hi Carolyn
I too am in the UK and am having my friend who is a skilled joiner build me a roll off roof observatory, for my 12" LX 200 GPS.
Costruction of the roll off roof is now underway.
You asked for info on the components....I am using these wheels http://www.northerntooluk.com//product/search.asp?action=search&k=castor&s=&page=&x=0&h=5&g=4&id=1247&catId=0&subCatId=307&x=0&h=5&g=4
The one at the top of the page.
They have lots of different castors (these are the fixed type ..obviously swivel ones are not desirable). They are well made with built in grease nipples,the wheel size is 100mm x 50mm with a solid rubber tyre, they support 273 kg weight, weigh 3 kg and cost £3.46 plus vat.
I agree with Patrick re the size mine is 7'6" square for the 'telescope room bit' with an adjoining room for the laptop,desk etc and even this doesn't seem very big:)
I too have thought about damp etc ...maybe I will use a de humidifier? Will see how much of a problem it is when it's complete.
Hope the info helps.
Tom
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
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Cbb
member
Reged: 07/01/04
Posts: 30
Loc: Glasgow, Scotland
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Thanks Guys!
I did have a look at the 6 x 6 area and thought it would be ok (I am quite petite a mere 4ft10"  )If it was any higher I might have problems handling the roof, also I don't have that much room in the garden, which is why I chose that size I have to admit I never really thought about putting it on a wedge I had decided just to stick with it's current mount at the moment. Tonight however I will go home and the scope is currently sitting in my kitchen so I will mark out the size around the it and see but as I have already bought the wood and my good pal Martin (the joiner) has started so I think I'll be staying with that size.
Thanks also for all the advice about dew I was wondering about that A LOT I've only ever owned refractors in the past the SCT is a new animal for me! the dessicant is a good idea though hadn't thought of that one and the humidifier as I was thinking of having electricity in there anyway for my laptop.
Good to see someone else building one in the UK as well! that's a great help about the bits for the roof too thanks very much!
Thanks again all of you for your very helpful comments I will keep an update of how we're getting on. I am going to take pictures as it progresses, Martin is building it in his garage and then the idea is he will bring it out to me and assemble it in the garden. Tom how long has it taken to build your's
cheers
Carolyn
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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Hi Carolyn
That's a sore point:)
My brother in law started it about Sept/Oct, He is a buider and said he would come after work and weekends. However after digging the pier pit and concreteing it in, and making the basic structure he seemed to lose interest.
He kept promising to come and never did so I told him to forget it!
I think he hadn't really thought properly about the roof construction etc and what it involved!
So I now have a friend who is a retired joiner and also an astronomer (built his own Newtonian many years ago even ground the mirror) He has drawn proper plans and is here whenever he can between the rain.
It's an ongoing thing but I hope it will all be done come Spring.
Let me know if you want any pics of anything sending you.
Tom
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi Carolyn,
I am the WORST carpenter of all time. I swing a hammer 10 times and miss 9 times. I just finished a 10 by 14 observatory with a 4 by 10 warm room. The 10 by 10 telescope room and roll off roof are exactly sky-shed design. That's 100 sq. ft. of rolling roof compared to your planned 36 sq. ft., and I slide it off with one hand, so I wouldn't be too afraid of handling your roof. The Sky Shed design works really well.
I also mocked up my observatory to decide how large it should be. I was wrong in two ways. First, I forgot to account for wall thickness. Yes, its true, I'm a rocket genius. That might not seem important, but for you it makes the inside dimension 5'5" by 5'5" (assuming you don't finish the inside), so you lose 20% of your floor space to walls. I even noticed the difference in a 10 by 10 room. The other goof I made was in making a last minute change that might not apply to you. I moved the wall common to the telescope room and the warm room into the telescope room to make the inside dimension of the warm room 4'6" (it would have been 3'5" if I didn't move it). That means that the planned 10 by 10 telescope room is now 9'5" by 8'8". Again, a big difference. But I'm gald I did it. Even with an inside dimension of 4'6", you still have to leave the warm room to change your mind.
So, I guess my advice is to grow it by one foot at least to 7 by 7, or maybe even 8 by 8.
I haven't had any serious problem with moisture inside, but it hasn't been through a spring-time yet either.
Best of luck, and let me know if you want some pictures. It's ugly, and it's not finished yet, but it keeps the snow and rain off my telescope, and within 3 minutes of deciding to observe, I'm observing.
Regards,
tlee
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Erix
Toad Lily
Reged: 12/25/04
Posts: 20455
Loc: Ohio, USA
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Tom and tlee, if you don't mind would you post a few pics? We're not in a posistion to build an observatory at the moment, but perhaps down the road we may.
Carolyn...good luck on your observatory. Can't wait to see what it looks like when you're done.
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Erika
10" LX200 Classic, ETX70-AT, DS Maxscope 60mm, 12" Truss Dob, Orion ED80, WO Binoviewers, 10x50's and 7x50's Binoculars, Rebel XT 350
Having Fun in the Sun!
More solar fun: 2007 July - tracking NOAA10963
Support bacteria. It's the only culture some people have.
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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Will take some and post tomorrow or Fri...it's only half built yet though 
Tom
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Sure I will. I'll take some this weekend, and post probably Monday.
tlee
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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Here are some pics 1st the pit with pier in
Edited by MMICKELS (01/28/05 05:51 PM)
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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inside:
Edited by MMICKELS (01/28/05 05:53 PM)
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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One of the roof runners:
Edited by MMICKELS (01/28/05 05:54 PM)
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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The roof is to be supported on 6 rollers and this rolls onto the adjoining garage.
The 'Telescope Room' bit is 7'6" square and the 'Warm Room' bit is 7'6" by 4'6".
The pier is an 'I' beam and is sunk in a pit just over 1 meter deep and wide.
If you thump the pier from 1 direction it does resonate like a tuning fork so I will be reinforcing it by pouring some concrete round it using a tubular duct for support.and over metal rods at the bottom.
This however will be done later as I want to give the scope a try on it first.
Will post some mor pics when it is complete.
Tom
P.S. Sorry forgot to turn the top pic 90 degrees first
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
Edited by pubquiz (01/28/05 12:47 PM)
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MMICKELS
Aluminum Knight
Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 25190
Loc: The Land of Shake and Bake
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Tom, could you resize your photos to 800x600 max. Or if you would like I can do it for you. Thanks  (Maybe "Cheers" would be more like it)
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Mark
"The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever."
Herb Caen
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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I thought I was abiding by forum guidlines re the pics thought I had made them small enough sorry if they are still too big.
Yes Mark if you would like to do it that would be great ...these are the 1st pics I have posted so sorry again if they are the wrong size
Tom
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
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MMICKELS
Aluminum Knight
Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 25190
Loc: The Land of Shake and Bake
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Tom, no problem. It's just easier for people to read if they don't have to scroll because images are too big. 800x600 max size.
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Mark
"The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever."
Herb Caen
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Erix
Toad Lily
Reged: 12/25/04
Posts: 20455
Loc: Ohio, USA
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Tom, thanks for the photos. How do you attach your scope to the wedge and will you have a motorized sliding roof?
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Erika
10" LX200 Classic, ETX70-AT, DS Maxscope 60mm, 12" Truss Dob, Orion ED80, WO Binoviewers, 10x50's and 7x50's Binoculars, Rebel XT 350
Having Fun in the Sun!
More solar fun: 2007 July - tracking NOAA10963
Support bacteria. It's the only culture some people have.
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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Erika
To begin with I will be just bolting the scope to the pier without a wedge..just straight onto the circular plate welded to the top of the pier. Will post a close up tommorrow.
To begin with I will just use it like this. I will be getting a wedge once I am ready (and my bank balance has recovered ) to start ccd photography
The roof will be manually slid open ...maybe motorized at a latter date
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
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pubquiz
sage
Reged: 10/07/04
Posts: 317
Loc: Lancashire England
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Ok here is that pic (800 x 600 this time ) of the top of the pier , so it just bolts to the LX200 with a bolt through the top plate.
Like I said this should do me for now for visual stuff but will be reinforced with a tube of concrete later when I get my ccd cam and wedge (will need a wedge of money to accumulate before this happens )
Tom
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Losmandy G11 with Celestron 8" SCT & William Optics Megrez 72 side by side with Argo Navis
Pier mounted in observatory.
Strathspey 20x90 Binos, Vixen Ark 20x80 Binos
Virgo Novamount parrallelogram mount
Meade Mysky, Meade DSI Pro, Meade LPI
Bahtinov Masks
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