First came the
basic planning phase of what design we would go with. After much to-do we
decided to build two roll-off roof side by side observatories 14' X 16'.
We constructed them so the roof would only slide of 10'. That would leave 6'
under which we could build a warm room. Or as the case may be, a cool room in
Arizona. The pictures below show the different stages. If you would
like more detail please contact myself.
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Laying out foundation. 14' by 16' Let the fun begin! |
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Pier hole with rebar. 3'X3'X 40" deep. |
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Getting ready for another day of digging. I had to bust my ass to keep up with Bob. He just loves to dig. |
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We are starting the placment of blocks to hold floor. |
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Right after pouring the concrete in pier and placing steel suport for mount. |
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Did framing and siding in one day. |
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Here you can see the 6' warm room in front of the 10' scope room |
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View of both structers going up side-by-side. |
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Build supports for the roof to role onto. The roof roles off 10' leaving 6' feet still covering the "Warm" room. |
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Front view with supports for roof to roll on. |
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Side view of roof supports. |
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Back view. Notice window for warm room. This was to let some light in and air flow. |
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Picture of 4" steel casters rolling on a 3/4" angle-iron. One person can roll the roof off. |
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Once the roof was assembled (we had the trusses made to meet city codes) the roof sat on the walls without any support. |
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View of 4" rollers and 3/4" angle iron that they rolled on. |
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We left a 4" gap to clear the roof of the warm room and to leave room for the insalation between the trusses and top of the roof. |
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85% done. Outside is complete but still have sheeting to put on roof and panel inside. |
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Mount and scope installed after floor tile was installed. |
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View of RC 12.5" through the front door. |
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Completed and ready to start observing. Only took us 4 months of work part time. |
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Inside warm room looking at control area. |
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Other half of warm room. Notice the wintch on wall. It is used to rool roof on and off. It was connected to a relay system to automate from compute |
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Scope in parked position with roof closed. |
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Ready to start observing. First-light came on June 15th 2004. |
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