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The deck and pier were built in the spring of '05. The construction of the enclosure was begun in mid-fall of '05. I
thought it would take 6 weeks but winter set in early and the project took 6 months!
The octogonal area is 9 ft. flat to flat. Attached to the back is the control room area which is about 7x7 ft. Before
constructing the obsevatory, I lowered the rear deck section to gain head room.
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| A few more joists and the deck frame is ready for flooring. Note the pier footing. |
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| Deck completed. The pier and footing are isolated from the deck to reduce vibrations. |
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| My temporary setup. I still had to take down the scope when the weather got bad. |
The summer got really busy for us with big projects at work and several vacations. I was still in the planning stages
for the actual observatory so I just used the deck and pier as a temporary setup. Once things settled down in the fall, I
began the construction of the actual observatory structure.
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| The roof frame ready for foam panels and fiberglass. |
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| Frame ready for the skin. |
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| Skin, windows, and trim installed. |
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| Foam panels installed in roof. Fiberglass work nearly complete. |
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| Epoxy finish coat applied. Roof finished weight is about 250 lbs. Not bad for a 9 ft. octogon! |
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| Control room insulated, paneled, wired, and heated. Custom clear door installed. |
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| My wife Kim was nice enought to paint the whole thing for me! Roof rails installed. |
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| Mounting, wiring, and tuning the roof drive system took all winter! Why do I stay in Michigan??? |
After a ton of work in the freezing weather, the first motor I installed didn't have enough power. I had to re-do the
entire system to use a better motor. It works great now. I also added a slew of limit switches for safety. The roof will not
move laterally unless it is in the "up" position. It also has fully open and fully closed limits.
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| All done and ready for imaging! Well, I did add a step this spring so now it's REALLY done! |
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| This is my rig ready for imaging! |
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