While I'm building a wholey unremarkable observatory with my Explora-Dome, I thought I'd add it to the AstroSkies collection.

The dome was delivered around 5pm 10/25, 12 hours ahead of schedule to try to beat a snow storm. This was the scene the next day:



I had been wondering how I was going to move the dome the 200 yards from where John dropped it off to its permanent site by myself, but watching my daughter slide in her plastic sled across the snow solved that problem...



I used 2x6s for the frame and flooring joists. There are 4x4 posts into concrete on the corners and the center of each side.



I used 3/4" OSB for the floor. Don't look close enough at the picture to notice the "this side down" labels I didn't see until after installing... :oops:



How high do the walls need to be to make the observatory reasonably comfortable for a 48" long, 10" diameter newtonian 'scope on a GEM mount? Damned it I know, so I decided to just test out a couple different heights. I can also say I watched Mercury transit across the Sun in my new observatory now :wink:

-Bruce
Black Forest, Colorado

Thanks For Sharing!!!! Great Pics :wink:

Looks great so far Bruce, use these few warm days we have to ( GET'ER DONE!)
I am about 3,000 feet above you in Pinecliffe CO. and winter is here for sure.
Tom

Hey....why worry about how high you want the walls to be...it looks like you
soled the problem and also allowed for a nice breeze to cool the Observatory...

Keep us posted ... and boy I like the view BUT that white stuff you can keep...

Bob G.

My "walls" are 14" and I'd have to say for your newt that would be too small. I have a CPC1100 (11" Schmidt-Cass with 24" tube) and it's as cramped as I would go with my 14" wall height.

Bruce:
You look to have an Atlas mount on your scope. It is a 10", so I think I have the same rig, an Orion Atlas 10.
I like the idea of "dummy"ing up the dome over your scope so you can have a good idea of what's involved. MY half-baked plan is to have a round building under the dome, with the scope on its tripod still, no pier. The building's floor will be made of the PVC plastic "lumber" that's used on decks. I plan to have 2x6 or 2x8 runners on the ground so I can relocate the dome on the farm here as there are a couple places I'd like to have the dome sit and I haven't made up my mind just yet which one to use.

Looking at your picutre, I'm seeing how low the walls have to be, and am wondering how I'm going to deal with that. The entry door looks like it's going to be darned short. It looks like the eyepiece won't be very far from the inside of the dome, either... I might have to hunch over as I stand up...

Do you have more pictures of the scope in the dome that you can post? It'd help me get my brain wrapped around the problem better...

This shows me that my half-baked plans may need more time in the oven.
Rich :smt120

Hi Rich....I like the idea of the observatory being somewhat portable. However...and there is almost always a however, I'm certain placing the tri-pod on the deck will introduce vibrations that you will be able to live without. I've setup on a few decks, and regardless of how well they've been supported, the vibrations were an issue I did not like.
As far as how tall the walls of your planned observatory....Perhaps placing two rings, one on top of the other would get you enough height that you would not hit the top of your head?????

By the way....we've had a dsicussion amongst myself and are preparred to begin referring to your project as "Observatorio Procrastinatorio" :smt043

I sign off...
Steve
(asrickflipsmeoffwithelbirdeo)

Rich,

Yes, it is an Atlas 10. My pier consists of a 4' 4x4" square steel tube I bought for $15 at a scrap metal store. Currently it is stuck in a bed of pea gravel so I can move it around to try and figure out what I'm doing, just like I am with the dome :wink:. As you know with the newtonian getting to the eyepiece can be a challenge in some scope orientations. I've been quite a bit happier with the scope on the pier than the tripod. With the pier I don't have to worry about the scope hitting the tripod legs, or with my tripping on the legs (which I imagine would be considerably worse inside the dome). Also the mount is about 8" lower than on the tripod (with the legs fully collapsed), which makes getting to the eyepiece considerably easier.

So I'm thinking I'd like to mount the scope on as short a pier as possible (I measured 14.5" from observatory floor to top of pier to give 1/2" clearance to bottom of scope in any scope orientation), and this does mean very short walls. I need to determine what I'm going to do for a roof transisition real soon - Dan's design adds a lot to the height of the dome.

The only other pictures I have are these:





The scope did seem to fit in the dome ok, and I was able to get to the eyepiece in all orientations. With the dome on the buckets & paint cans I could just stand up next to the scope (I'm 5'9").

Bruce,

In the first picture with the snow, did you dig the dome out, or did the natural wind currents produce a natural snow free space around the dome?

Bruce:
Ah, I see now. With your scope 8" lower to the ground than with the tripod it shows me why the "walls" look so short... The scope is riding low, so the dome has to ride low so you can see near the horizon!

I'm much too interested in continuing public outreach with my scope and keeping the tripod in play to go the pier route, at least just yet... I'm afraid that if I was to get a pier I'd be loath to remove the mount and do any outreach, that I'd get stuck to the observatory.

I'm not too worried about vibrations, though, 'cause I'm not much of an imager, more visual. I'll have to do the same dummy set up myself to see how I like the wall size, I probably have more light pollution here with Charlottesville just to my south, and I've got trees to the East & to some extent the West...

Oservatorio Procrastinado?
I'll have to take a month or 2 to think that one over...
Rich

Rich:
I am 100 percent visual myself ... and as a temporary set up I
have my SCT set up on a 60 inch tall Antares Portable pier ..which
sits on a small deck UNDER my Observatory... NO VIBRATIONS at all..
completely isolated from the building... its working out so well that
I may just "make do" with this setup for a long long time..... or at least think about making my own pier with 8 inch pipe..as the 4 inch is slightly overwhelmed..

No tripod legs inside the dome to trip over.... and no vibrations...adds up to a winner...

Bob G.

Just wind. There was actually quite a bit of snow inside the dome, which I believe blew up from under the skirt in a couple places where there was a 1/2" gap.

That's really interesting. Not only does the ED protect the scope, but it keeps the area around the observatory clear as well.

Pulled the floor panels (they were just temporarily installed) to add a conduit from the pier to a wall. That's 110v, Ethernet and a misc. 7 conductor cable that comes up from the ground on the right side.



I decided on 30" high walls. Really the lowest that I can still get through the door reasonably comfortably. That's the doorway on the left. The loose studs on the other wall are awaiting placement of the siding, so I can make sure I locate them at the siding joints.

Bought 5 sheets of ridiculously expensive T1-11 siding today.

They are forecasting 60MPH winds tomorrow so I hope the dome is ok... Winds like these aren't uncommon here (record gust since I installed a weather station 3 years ago is 74MPH) so I figure I might end up testing the retaining ring eventually.

THAT looks like it will be an extremely remarkable observatory when it's finished!!
I'd not be too concerned about the dome, from the looks of the first image you posted it seems to do pretty good in the wind (and snow)....

Steve

I agree with what Steve has said...it looks great and is coming along just fine! Hmmm.....so you say 60MPH winds are forecast for tomorrow? Most likely the dome would do just fine just sitting flat on the ground with these winds. BUT....if it were me and I knew 60MPH winds were coming my way, I think I'd want to feel real safe and drape a couple of ropes over her and then stake them ropes down. I'd hate to see a wind gust lift that dome just enough to really grab ahold of it and send it tumbling. Though I highly doubt that would happen...still if it were ME...I'd wanna feel certain that wouldn't happen :roll:

I'm building the Rio Linda Obs. and have about the same door problem. It's gonna be fun when I turn 80 trying to get thru that door.

The high gust was actually 57MPH, pretty good forecasting I guess. The dome didn't move.

Yes, Jim, it is odd when the door is wider than it is tall!

I don't really want a transition that is 10" thick, so I'm thinking about doing this:



Top view, looking down on the 10 x 10' building. The blue would be 1 1/2" square steel tubing. The magenta would be (cheaper) angle iron. The end result should be a 1 1/2" thick, flat transition. I would use 3/4" plywood or OSB for roofing (untrimmed 4x8 sheets are shown on the top).

I haven't exactly figured out how I'll attach the plywood/OSB to the metal framing yet... I guess I could always just use a few long bolts through the steel.

Weather protection would be provided by either an EDPM rubber sheet, as they use in RV's, or by the paint-on rubber roof coating.

Built the two circular transition rings. Used Rick's method of cutting the plywood (6 ring sections, each from across the 4' width of the plywood). This lets you cut all the sections needs for both rings from a single sheet of plywood. Actually I used two 1/2" sheets of plywood (stacked together) and then glued them together, staggering the joints:


(Used every available weight in the garage while the glue was setting.)

I tried using a skillsaw to cut the arcs, but there was too much binding (actually I did cut the wider rings that way, but switched to a saber saw for the narrower rings).

I tried to buy the square metal tubing for my transition but my metal supply store is now only open on weekdays. Not wanting to take a day off work (plus loosing this weekend), I went with plan B:


The blue lines are now 1 1/4" galvanized steel pipe. The magenta is (lighter and cheaper) 1 1/2" EMT conduit.

The galvanized pipe has thick walls and could hold up a dome weighing, well, a lot more than an Explora-dome. The EMT is thin walled and is just used to support the wood roof.

Used a skillsaw with a metal cut-off disc to do all the cutting (pretty much consumed the whole disk for this project).



Having round tubing instead of square makes for a bit of work to get the joints to work. Finished welding one side of the entire transition before it got dark.

Headroom seems to be the big thing here. Nice pipes. That's a lot of work.[/b]

My wife likes the hobbit doors. Maybe we'll carve something out.

Maybe I'll paint mine green :!:

Finished welding the metal frame and the 115v wiring Thanksgiving day. That would be the observatory's name sake in the background.



Frame bolted to the woodwork:

The wind chill today ranged from 20F to a high of 28, not the best working conditions. Still it looks much better this evening:





Tomorrow I'll work on finishing the roof, weather permitting.

I LIKE it!! and you are going to enjoy it when there is any breeze at all!!
TOAST!!

Steve
PS: Green is GOOD!!

This has to be the most affortable and well designed ED observatory...

If you dont mind, how much did you spend on the structure?

I love what you've done with it (as we say in Calif).

Just a thought on the siding: goin to need frequent painting. T111 famous for needing painting about every 4 years.

I haven't finished my exterior, but was thinking about that copper coated metal siding/roofing. It would shine in the sun. The dome is highly visible already. Could name it the Dome of the Rock, er somthin...

Looks GREAT fellrider! Keep pushin' on! Cool looking "Table Rock" there in the background. Good for you that you had a "landmark" close by to help you decide on the name 8)

I belive it's masonite, but I've seen the grooved sideing that came pre "Impregnated" primed... I think that would hold up longer between paintings.

uh, I wouldn't say that. But I will say that I've had the sizable advantage of watching everyone else's progress and picking and choosing the best features of each as they apply to my project. Let me say "Thanks!" to everyone who has shared their experiences, good and bad, on this forum.

As for costs, this is what I have so far:



Installed the ever-so-cool red rope lighting today. Added the missing roof pieces and bolted the roof to the metal frame. Attached the two transition rings together. I made mine shorter (6" vs the 7.5" on Dan's plans). Hopefully there isn't some critical reason for that dimension that I've overlooked...

Moved ring to the observatory. Cut out OSB roof to match ring.



This was my solution to joining the poly track segments:



To countersink the screws I heated them with a torch and let them melt the poly.

Dang good idea, having the screws melt their way into the plastic till they're flush! Super!
Rich

After two weeks of snow and temps in the single digits (F), I finally got to work on the observatory this weekend.


Mounted the ring on the building. Applied the elastomeric white roof coating to the OSB. Clearly if one is particularly concerned about close-up asthetics they should do some surface prep to smooth out the OSB!


How to install the dome with only yourself & a pickup truck.


Many iterations of back the truck up 8", slide the dome 8" onto the roof, and repeat.


I did find the results rather gratifying, however. That's Pike's Peak in the background.

The dome spins nicely. Installed the retainer ring. Last steps are to finish the network wiring inside and the trim on the outside.

Nice job, Fellrider!
Way to go! I wonder just how many ExploraDome observatories there are now? At least 25 or 30, I'd think, with as many on the way!
Loved the pix of Pike's Peak with the dome in the foreground!
Schweet!
Rich

WoooHooo!!! Looks GREAT fellrider!!!!

Very cool !!

Congrats on your "Domed" day!! Looking good!!

Ken 8)

Nice Job Fellrider... much better looking with real walls instead of
5 gallon Buckets with paint cans stacked on top....

Is that a light on the side of the building or some kind of vent...?

Just curious because I think I will have to install a power vent in the summer

Bob G.
S.I.E. Observatory

Fell:
Have you given any thought to weathersealing the skirt? I'll bet that wind-blown snow (gaah! I just mis-typed it and typed snot! Wind-blown snot!) could be an issue...
If it was me, I'd have added some of that Peel-N-Seal on top of the roof...
Rich the worry wart... :smt120 :smt119 :smt103 :smt120

Yeah, the walls help block the wind a lot more too

No, it is just a light. I don't think it ever gets hot enough here at 7500ft above sea level for me to have to worry about cooling... but I guess I'll found out!

I wouldn't be surpised if I need to do something to stop the snow, but I'm going to leave it as is and see what happens the first blizzard. Since I shortened the skirt by 1" I think the retainer ring is very close to (actually rubbing on sometimes) the upper ring, so perhaps that will help.

I finished the wiring today.

The upper-left jack is ethernet to a router in the house. The phone jack and two RCA jacks are connected to the misc. 7-wire cable going to the house. Not sure what I'll do with them, but I did have a focuser wired to two wires for a while before the observatory.

'Scope power is the 12v marine battery. That is a cheap $17 battery tender on top of it, permanently plugged in. No power failure is going to stop me from using the scope!


Trudged the scope & mount through the snow to the observatory... should be the last time I have to do that!


View out the scope. Well, the stars are actually digital noise on the camera (if you look close you can see a couple 'stars' in the scope), but it actually did look at lot like this. Did a two-star alignment and viewed the Orion Nebula... very good night for it.

Nice looking scope, Fell!
Even better looking observatory!
You ought to consider Wilcox rings for your scope, it'll make eyepiece position troubles a thing of the past.
Rich

Great job, looking good but I noticed you have all your wires running through one hole. This might cause AC hum on your comunication lines...I did that once and the telephone hums to this day.

Very nice job! and WOW; what a backyard view! Congrats!

Not only do they all go through one hole but they run together in a single 1" conduit for about 200'... I'm testing the "you must run data & power in different conduits" theory... I'll let everyone know how it turns out

Someday! They definately would help. Do you have the GOTO version, and if so do the rings effect the GOTO accuracy?

I do not have the GOTO version, just the older model. I'm not sure I'd want the GOTO, as it'd cost $500 for the board to upgrade. The only thing it'd really give me would be the PEC capability for imaging. I'm not sure I want to get THAT heavy into imaging, so I'll just stay visual and fool around with piggy back work from time to time...

For those of you who are wondering what the heck all this is about, Erick Wilcox on CN had an idea and came up with a design for ultra cheap rings to make your EQ mounted Newt spin in its saddle, allowing the eyepiece to point whichever way is most convenient. I got sore hands from tightening and loosening the knurled knobs that hold the scope in the rings. I had to do something or I'd have gotten a blister to end all blisters!

Here is the medium shot:

The rings are the shiny bands just outside the Orion saddle. They are held in place by really long hose clamps that are inside. You can see all this a bit better here:

You can stick a screwdriver in there and tighten the ring as needed. I cut a vaguely elliptical gap for the screwdriver to fit into. The black plastic ring itself is cut from the plastic edging that you can put around a flower bed. I got mine at Lowe's. The edge where the vertical "wall" part of the edging was I smoothed up with a carpenter's plane.

The spacers are plastic water pipe, which I had laying around the shop. Their job is to keep the rings from gripping too tightly on the OTA and preventing it from turning freely. It's important to carefully size them so that there's just enough grip to keep the OTA from spinning too freely and spinning down with a big eyepiece, yet still be easily rotated by hand. I fiddled with mine a couple times till I got it right.

The "tie rod" bar that's out of sight at the top holds the ends of the rings together and is made from a section of cabinetmaker's shelf track that I had laying around as well. Hard to beat free when it comes to materials!

I had to look around a bit at professional plumbing supply stores till I found the monster hose clamps. Not counting gas to drive around and buy stuff, I probably spend $15 on the whole thing.
Rich

Now THATS a worthwhile mod..

Much better than spending the Cash on the rotating rings!

My hats off to ya Rich!