Post by robrj on Jul 6, 2016 20:27:11 GMT
Here's my astronomy observation deck. I have a 12" skywatcher dob that sits in the roll off shed. I'll have to take a picture with everything set up. These are pre-scope setup. My scope now sits on an equatorial platform which is aligned to polaris. Since the shed rolls off, I can keep the equatorial platform set to it's last position without having to set everything up again. Also, I have manual setting circles. So that is set up as well. Now, I just open the shed, add the cameras or eyepieces and start observing.
Here it is closed up:
Here it is partially opened. I had to modify the track as it was binding. It now sits quite a bit back from the observation platform. The lighter square is a separate mini-deck that sits on a 5x5 concrete slab (it was an old satellite tv dish mout). The mini deck is isolated from the main deck so I can walk around on the deck without affecting the scope's view.
It sits on a pop-up castor system that lifts the whole shed up off the deck for rolling it back. I got the idea from this guy:
The arms sticking up at an angle have a small "L" shaped latch. When the arm is pushed down, the "L" block tips and wedges under a block. That keeps it up on the castors. To disengage it, I push down and ensure the "L" sits verticle.
This shows the arm disengaged. It's a 2x4 that has a door hinge in the middle. The 2x4 is split to the hinge. The ends of the 2x4 just wedge into a slot.
When I push down on the arm, the little "L" bracket pins the system so it stays up. There's just enough lift to raise the shed up onto the wheels, which allow it to roll freely back. One thing that's nice about this setup is I can easily pull the whole castor assembly out as it's not fastened to the shed.
Here it is closed up:
Here it is partially opened. I had to modify the track as it was binding. It now sits quite a bit back from the observation platform. The lighter square is a separate mini-deck that sits on a 5x5 concrete slab (it was an old satellite tv dish mout). The mini deck is isolated from the main deck so I can walk around on the deck without affecting the scope's view.
It sits on a pop-up castor system that lifts the whole shed up off the deck for rolling it back. I got the idea from this guy:
The arms sticking up at an angle have a small "L" shaped latch. When the arm is pushed down, the "L" block tips and wedges under a block. That keeps it up on the castors. To disengage it, I push down and ensure the "L" sits verticle.
This shows the arm disengaged. It's a 2x4 that has a door hinge in the middle. The 2x4 is split to the hinge. The ends of the 2x4 just wedge into a slot.
When I push down on the arm, the little "L" bracket pins the system so it stays up. There's just enough lift to raise the shed up onto the wheels, which allow it to roll freely back. One thing that's nice about this setup is I can easily pull the whole castor assembly out as it's not fastened to the shed.