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Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman

Observatory roll off roof upgrade

Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman

Observatory roll off roof upgrade

Description

This summer I rebuilt my 6 year old plastic Keter shed observatory and gave it a proper roll off roof upgrade. Originally it had a manual roll off and hang down system, but it was getting awkward having to lift the roof up to close it and impossible to automate. The shed is a Keter Factor 6' x 6'.

I decided against pouring concrete as it would have been expensive and more of a job than I wanted to do. Instead some "spare" concrete blocks were used to create a base and raise the height of the Tri-pier. These also help hold the observatory down in severe weather (tested many times!)

The first step was to add a "pergola" and frame the walls of the observatory with timber, which has made it a lot stronger. The roof is fairly light, so I used inverted Aluminium right-angle profile instead of the usual expensive gate track for the rails. The roof rolls on 6 "V" groove type sliding gate wheels which I mounted on a timber frame and bolted to the roof.

I tried fitting the sliding gate motor inside the observatory but there wasn't enough room, so had to install it externally. If there's a problem, I can take the motor out of gear to move the roof manually.

The observatory is supplied through a single power cable with TP-Link Powerline adaptors on each end of it to create a network over the mains. This is fast enough for reliable Remote Destop control and copying files across to my processing PC and I can also wake up the observatory and telescope mini PC's over the LAN. I'm also testing out some tapo "smart" sockets also made by TP-Link, so things can be switched on and off remotely.

Next project will be full automation using Arduino. Getting the roof to close automatically after an imaging session would be fantastic!

Clear skies!

Tony.

Comments

Revisions

  • Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman
    Original
  • Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman
    B
  • Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman
    D
  • Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman
    E
  • Final
    Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman
    F

B

Description: Looking into the observatory.

Uploaded: ...

D

Description: Sliding gate motor and gear rail installation.

Uploaded: ...

E

Description: Sliding gate motor.

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F

Description: Twin FLT91 rig ready to image!

Uploaded: ...

Histogram

Observatory roll off roof upgrade, Taman