Loved watching the build of this observatory mate!! So well thought through and really functional down to the last detail. Hoping I can replicate this next year here in my backyard in Melbourne! Exactly what I want.
Hi mate, sorry for the late reply! Thanks so much for watching and for the compliments. I’m glad you found it useful and I wish you well in your build next year mate! If you get any questions, please ask, I’ll be happy to help👍 Clear skies!
Great video Simon. The Obsy is so well thought out and high spec. That office will make a superb control room as well. The future is looking good. clear skies mate
Simon I watched your build from start to finish. It is quite clear that you are VERY skilled in construction, I don't know if you still actually do the work or manage people at this point but you've got skills for days! Plus you make it look easy and it is not. Congratulations on your excellent obsy. Love the channel!
Thanks, that’s much appreciated 👍 I am still building and have been for 35 years, so now getting the hang of it🤣 Glad you like the channel, means a lot! Clear skies mate!
Great to see the progress on the observatory and hear your future plans. I too can’t wait to get a van to head out to dark skies but that will likely be a few years off yet. Good luck with all the other conversions when they start.
Stumbled across your first video in the build-series earlier today as it appeared in my recommendations. I ended up binge-watching everything from start to finish. This was a piece of art. Think I read in a comment in a previous video that you work in construction. Man... it shows that you really know what you are doing. Incredibly inspirational. I plan to build something myself, nowhere NEAR as advanced and solid as yours (think less "observatory" and more "advanced box")
Hey thanks so much for the kind words mate👍 I’m so glad you liked the videos! I really hope that you found them interesting and maybe even useful! You are correct, I am in the building trade, 36 years now! So I have to do a decent job or I’d never hear the end of it🤣🤣I’m in the obsey now imagining M106, video to follow soon I hope!! Thanks for watching and clear skies!
Thanks Jeremy! Seems a while ago now since you were here mate! I hope your build is going well for you, I liked the images you sent me, looking good👍 Clear skies!
All is good here, well…anyway, stupid question but, do you release the clutch’s before tracking on your Eq6R or keep them locked. Can’t get my tracking under 2 arc seconds, frustration setting in, second guessing everything.
@@woody5109 Hi Woody Frustrating issues only make you better! When you’ve sorted it out it’ll make you feel good! Definitely keep the clutches locked! Make sure you’re on level and Solid ground, level the tripod, make sure all clutches are tight. Take time to polar align and take time to balance the rig (with lens caps off) the weight of the caps can make a difference when balancing! Focus the guide scope the best you can, use multi star guiding and you should get good tracking, I get between .4 - .7 most nights! Hope that helps! Good luck mate👍
The workmanship in that observatory is top notch, Simon - very impressive. Your plans for the future sounds very exciting too (particularly envious of the camper project!). I’m struggling with my obsy at the moment. I’ve struggled with deep sky, and miss the connection that visual gives (previously owned 12” dobsonians), but my obsy isn’t really set up to run a big dob as the size is a bit restrictive. So I’m re-thinking what all this looks like at the moment. Quite daunting for someone who’s not especially handy! I wish I’d constructed it from timber rather than a Keter shed now, as I can work with timber much better.
Thanks so much Paul. The camper project sort of happened by accident as my works pickup failed it’s MOT miserably and forced me to get another vehicle quickly, the van just came along a bit sooner than I had ever planned! I get missing the connection with visual, sometimes it’s just nice to stand and look, without bothering about photographing it! It’s a shame about the obsey Paul, I hope you can get things sorted one way or another mate, but keep looking up👍 Clear Skies!
Hi Simon, I always enjoy watching your videos! Not sure how feasible it would be, but maybe you can use one of those motor magnets on one of your roof clamps to stop it from opening if you forget? Not even sure if that's possible but just a thought
Great video Simon, nice to see obsy all finished, and what a great job….you will love NINA best software out there, I also just swapped from an old intel NUC to the Mele quieter 3 mini PC….👍🏻
Thanks for keeping everyone up to date. I do enjoy watching your channel. I have a couple of questions... 1. Do you use any isolation between the copper (I am assuming it's copper) Ethernet between your house and the observatory? I'm thinking of potential nearby lightning strikes specifically (nothing one can do about a direct strike). 2. Why the move away from the ASIAir Plus? This is more a curiosity than anything... I am just beginning my journey and have an ASIAir Plus and have played around with both Stellarmate and NINA.
Thanks Joe, that’s much appreciated 👍 Firstly, my internet cable is a direct burial cable and is underground, until the house where it goes up the wall on the outside, but I don’t think it’ll be a problem! As for the ASIAIR, I’m not dumping it, I love it! I will use it on my portable rig. The reason I’m swapping it over is so I can control the observatory roof with Nina, which you can’t do with the ASIAIR ! ASIAIR is great and I can recommend it to anyone wanting to get into astrophotography, but you can do more with Nina😀 Thanks and clear skies!
Thanks @nikax5411 Good question, I only get condensation when the roof has been open all night, so if it’s not raining, the next day I open the roof to air it out, I don’t get much really to worry about anyway, but a cloth helps with a quick wipe down if needed! Clear skies!
Hi Simon Following in your footsteps. I have a question regarding the Ecutee gate opener. Is it possible to remove the gear from the shaft as I will need to extend the shaft by about 100mm from what I can see on the video and pictures? Thanks in advance - John
Hi John, if you find me on instagram (see link) I’ll send you a photo of how the gear wheel comes off! instagram.com/simonsastro_simonwallace71?igsh=MWI0aXl5bmZ0NnFoZA%3D%3D&
You can plug all ethernet cables into the hub and they will all talk to each other, no need to swap them if in the office. Ive just installed asiair app on windows 11, that will be a game changer for me
Thanks for the tip, I was going to try that, but if it works I’ll leave them both plugged in👍 The ASIAIR is a great tool and I will still use it on my portable rig! Nina will open and close my roof for me within an imaging session though, hopefully! CS
Why don’t you just plug the Ethernet into the asi air then use as station mode then you’ll be connected to the air in your houses router, could even use blue stack on your laptop to emulate the software,
Thanks for the suggestion, it’s a good idea, but I’ve already bought the quieter 3 now🤣 and I want to use the ASIAIR on my portable rig out in the field as it’s just easier 👍 Clear Skies!
