Converting my POD to a ROR POD

[mickw]

Stop inventing words    Lexelled indeed 

So IIY (Ian It Yourself) saved over £200   
Must admit the POD prices do seem a bit of a rip off especially as it's their poor design anyway that makes the mod necessary.

[MarkS]

Stop inventing words    Lexelled indeed 

Here's the conjugation of the English verb "lexel"
http://conjugator.reverso.net/force-conjugation-english-verb-lexel.html

[mickw]

 

[Carole]

Today's progress:

Cutting out the ply



Half the ply in position



Both bits of ply in position
This will have to be rubbed down where necessary and have several coats of yacht varnish before it can be properly fitted.
As you know for the reasons given earlier we can't do the table in one lump for reasons of access when fitting.

[Carole]

Weather, being away etc has slowed things down a bit.

This is the frame completed.  Certain bits can only now be accessed by climbing over the POD wall.

I have since weather treated all the timber and floor decking that will not be reachable once the "lid" is on.  Note the centre horizontal support is a piece of decking - this is because of the height of the POD bay not allowing for a deeper piece of timber.  Ian has fixed the two end pieces of decking on for reasons best known to himself, something to do with spacing.  



I am also now varnishing the ply which needs to have 4 coats on each side and all the edges, with such awkward shapes and not being able to do it outdoors because of the weather it's a juggling act.



By the way you can also see the POD cover I made from waterproof fabric on Ebay.  It works really well:
this is the full picture taken before we started the PZT:

[Fay]

Gosh Carole what a palavar!!! I have not yet grasped what will be the final thing, i will keep on looking. Good luck

Fay

[JohnP]

Same here - dont fully understand what you are trying to do but full marks for the effort you are putting in. I am looking forward to seeing the final design.  John

[Carole]

Basically it's a table to slide the dome onto so I can reach the Zenith which currently I can't and it's a real PITA at times.  Objects get up to a certain point and I have to stop imaging them, or the guide camera passes behind the dome, and then have to wait several hours before it re-appears on the other side.  

For obvious reasons the table has to be very strong, fixed to the POD and I need to be able to release the dome easily.  Hope that explains it better.

This is SkyPOD's version of it, but I can't use theirs because of restricted access on the far side as would not be able to reach their brackets etc to screw the table on once it's in place.  I am hoping my "table" will push the dome even further out than their design would.  

Should have got a ROR observatory in the first place, but too late now.

[Ivor]

Carole,

I don't want to highjack your thread but I have been following your journey with interest as I continue my fanciful hopes of my own observatory. I too have limited space (3m x 3m) so I'm keen to learn from your experiences as a ROR isn't an option for me. I've only been in one observatory (which is yours) so I don't have an idea of all the possibilities but it crosses my mind that the natural thing to do is to put the Pier in the centre of the space to maximise the potential length of any scope, if however the pier was place slightly south of that point would that mitigate your problem with imaging at the Zenith as well?

[Carole]

Already have it offset to the SW Ivor, but the further you move it in one direction, the worse it is in the opposite direction, and you can only move it so far because of space when slewing etc.  There are times of the year when I don't have a problem, i.e. stuff in Orion, but objects that go overhead like Cygnus are impossible. 

It's not just the Zenith that's a problem I sometimes have to wait about 3 hours between an object disappearing behind the dome and it re-emerging the opposite side, so it's a big chunk of the sky I am missing - and the best bit.  Plus sometimes depending on the angle, the imaging scope can see an object but the guide camera is behind the dome so I can't guide. 

I guess you just have to live in it to understand the frustration. 

Carole

[MarkS]

I guess you just have to live in it to understand the frustration. 

Is your generous offer of makeshift accommodation open to any vagrant?  Or just Ivor?

[Carole]

 

[Ivor]

Is your generous offer of makeshift accommodation open to any vagrant?  Or just Ivor?

Oi back off I have first dibs

Carole, so is the problem a design limitation of the Skypod dome? As you can't change this the ROR solution is the only one available to you, but if they redesigned their dome to be a overlapping thirds instead of halves would that eliminate your problem?

[Mike]

Ivor there are other designs out there that differ from the roll-off-roof variety.

Paul's observatory for example opens out like a sewing box. You could also make your own dome based observatory. it's not too difficult to make a dome or a geodesic style roof. There are also fabric domes that fold down flat. I've also seen a triangular shaped observatory that opens out at the apex.

This page gives a good selection of designs: http://obs.nineplanets.org/obs/obslist.html

[Carole]

so is the problem a design limitation of the Skypod dome?

In a word - YES.

if they redesigned their dome to be a overlapping thirds instead of halves would that eliminate your problem?

I suggested this to the designer some time ago but met with a negative response, but yes I believe that would solve the problem.

You could also make your own dome based observatory.

I saw a thread recently where some-one built themselves a dome type observatory, but instead of making the dome hemispherical,  he made it cylindrical which made it pretty easy to construct, if I find that thread again (can't remember which forum it was on), I'll forward the link.

3m x 3m is large enough for a non ROR obsy, what about getting a dome observatory that does reach the Zenith.  they are pretty expensive but sometimes they come up 2nd hand.

Carole