Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.
Dome Observatory
-
06-06-2019 9:28pm#1
Comments
-
I built one of these from a kit bought from this crowd. It was fairly pricey including shipping, and there were extra costs associated with building decking underneath it, and a metal telescope pier with concrete base.
It claims to be suitable for scopes up to 14", but I've actually found it a struggle to manage even an 11". Maybe it works if you're as skinny as the guy in the picture, and you get the pier offset from the dome centre by exactly the right amount.
But if you've got a larger scope or the pier is too close to centre, you will not be able to point at the zenith without being occluded by the dome clamshell. Or if you offset the pier too much and are a fat git like me, you won't be able to squeeze between the scope and the dome wall. They more or less acknowledged this was a design flaw by releasing a "dome zenith table" (at extra cost), basically a quick release mechanism for the dome top which pops it off onto a supporting trellis, making the zenith acessible. I've got one but haven't fitted it, as neither the dome nor the 11" scope get much use for the time being.
If you want get really fancy they've released a "Pod Max" which is whole different scale of beast (and price).0 -
-
-
I built one of these from a kit bought from this crowd. It was fairly pricey including shipping, and there were extra costs associated with building decking underneath it, and a metal telescope pier with concrete base.
It claims to be suitable for scopes up to 14", but I've actually found it a struggle to manage even an 11". Maybe it works if you're as skinny as the guy in the picture, and you get the pier offset from the dome centre by exactly the right amount.
But if you've got a larger scope or the pier is too close to centre, you will not be able to point at the zenith without being occluded by the dome clamshell. Or if you offset the pier too much and are a fat git like me, you won't be able to squeeze between the scope and the dome wall. They more or less acknowledged this was a design flaw by releasing a "dome zenith table" (at extra cost), basically a quick release mechanism for the dome top which pops it off onto a supporting trellis, making the zenith acessible. I've got one but haven't fitted it, as neither the dome nor the 11" scope get much use for the time being.
If you want get really fancy they've released a "Pod Max" which is whole different scale of beast (and price).
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have looked at the options you shown but they are way puta my budget, plus I get a real kick from designing and building things! I'm hoping to base my drive system on these, however that's still in its infancy design wise.0
Advertisement