Avery Way Observatory

[Graeme1858]

I got one of those gate opening motor sets a while ago but never got round to installing it. Until now! This week I bought a 3m length of hard wood and mounted the straight sections of cog on it and mounted the motor externally.

Here's how it looks:





At the moment it is operated by a key pad but eventually I would like to be able to control it from the PC. The control board in the motor housing has a switch contact that can be used to connect an external switch, so I'll set that up initially, put the key pads away and control the motor from inside the Observatory. Then I will look into installing a Dome Ascom driver and control the roof through NINA using the Dome Shutter control. I might need a few pointers for that from anyone that's already done it (Kathy! )

Graeme

[StarHugger]

Really in control now, best of getting the pc command going and some clears skies for further testing of course.

[helicon]

That's really cool Graeme. Nice video as well!

[messier 111]

very very nice , thx .

[Graeme1858]

Really in control now, best of getting the pc command going and some clears skies for further testing of course.

Clear skies, yeah, that would be nice!

I need to spend a bit of time getting the roof to move more easily. The initial inertia required to start it moving is a bit too high and I don't want to burn the motor out!

Then I will put a pair into the motor control board and see what I can do with it!

In the mean time I'm reading up on Dome Ascom drivers.

That's really cool Graeme. Nice video as well!

Thanks Michael.

The mp4 file was about 80Mb! Good job YouTube does a good job!

very very nice , thx .

Cheers Jean-Yves

[Altocumulus]

I'm envious. Neat looking shed.

[Juno16]

That is awesome Graeme!

Very nice looking too!

[Graeme1858]

I'm envious. Neat looking shed.

That is awesome Graeme!

Very nice looking too!

Thanks Geoff and thanks Jim.

Just being able to get out there and get straight on it is brilliant!

Graeme

[Altocumulus]

Where did the shed originate? Bought or diy - the roof looks interesting.....

[Graeme1858]

Where did the shed originate? Bought or diy - the roof looks interesting.....

From my head!

Here's the wall construction: https://www.averywayobservatory.co.uk/o ... /the-walls

Here's the roof construction: https://www.averywayobservatory.co.uk/o ... y/the-roof

Seems I was taking less photos at the roof construction phase! The OSB is laid on 2x2 trusses and the whole thing sits on a 4x2 frame on 8 fixed castors that run along 50mm angle iron. The rain proofing is just normal roof felt. The castors are a bit cheap from Screwfix and I think they just spin a plastic wheel on a steel axel. I might change them for something with bearings to reduce the friction.

Are you thinking ROR or hinged?

Graeme

[pakarinen]

Very nice!

[JayTee]

Nicely done Graeme. Very convenient.

Now you're making me think I need to motorize the garage door! It is set up to do that. I just haven't pulled the trigger on doing that yet.

[Graeme1858]

Thanks JT

The roof is not too bad to open and close manually but it will be useful to close it with the press of a button at the end of the session instead of stumbling about in the dark!

The eventual goal though is to automate it and integrate it into a NINA sequence. The next step will be to play about with the connections between the Ascom driver and the hardware. I quite like that side of things. A man's got to have a hobby!

But I won't be automatically parking the telescope and closing the roof without there being a very robust, multi stage, Safety Monitor!

Graeme

[JayTee]

but it will be useful to close it with the press of a button at the end of the session instead of stumbling about in the dark!

I hear that!