Sliding Roof
Season start
The plan is that 2023 will be the year the observatory achieves what the US Army refers to as IOC - Initial Operational Capability. That’s a fancy way to say lots of stuff still to be done, but the bare bones are there and it’s possible to observe.
Driving system
In my opinion, the most critical part still missing is the roof along with the sliding system. With my ’tackle hardest stuff first’ attitude, that’s what the initial focus should be. Thanks to the help of a local talent mr. Paweł Kulas, it was possible to install the rails on which the roof will move. This was not a trivial task, as each of the 4 rails weighs about 60kg. Together, that’s almost a quarter ton of steel…
On the slides were placed the swing-out carts. If anyone finds this information useful, I bought 5-roller articulated carts, model SP from Prog-Greg company. They look and perform excellently.
Roof skeleton
For me, as a person with no experience in construction, making a pitched roof is some kind of black magic. I am not afraid of calculating the angles, because it is a simple matter. However, taking into account all the thickness of boards, overlaps, splines, locks and other combinations is a more serious matter. Anyway, I’m so happy there are people who are willing to solve these problems for me.
The roof was protected with a vapor-permeable film.
The roof skeleton seen from the side is as follows:
Roof skeleton seen from underneath:
Roof skeleton seen from the front:
Cladding
I have no idea whether cladding is the right term to describe the act of putting outer layer of corrugated sheets of
metal on top of the roof skeleton or not. In fact, I have trouble naming this in my mother language…
Anyway, Several days later the skeleton was covered with trapezoidal sheet metal. The sheeting was ordered specifically to size. The advantage is virtually zero waste, and the disadvantage is about two weeks of waiting. From the outside it looks like this:
By the way, the photo shows off the next phase - the installation of the walls. But a separate entry will probably appear about it.
I am very pleased with the progress. The most difficult phase in my opinion - the movable roof is ready! There are still a lot of problems - the walls from the gables are missing. The roof rides, but the pergola is not properly rigid. The roof is heavier than I assumed. It can be moved, but it requires a lot of effort. If there is snow on it, moving it by hand will probably be impossible. But what the hell - there is a roof!
