Wrapping up the season of 2022
Spring
2022 was a special year for me. My daughter turned one year old, and I slowly began to have free time. The construction of the observatory got off the ground, and I was able to continue things that started last year. The condition at the beginning of the season resembled a dump of concrete. A small part of the concrete blocks had been placed in place, but nevertheless the vast majority were scattered in almost random fashion. The situation looked like this:
Summer
I reported on the progress of work in the summer in previous posts. I managed to build the entire skeleton of the building along with the pergola on which the roof traction system will be mounted. For a skilled carpenter it would probably be a couple days of work, for a programmer who could occasionally get away for a few hours, and not every week week, it took six months.
Autumn
As autumn approached, there were fewer and fewer opportunities for work. However, I managed to make preparations for the next season. The biggest challenge will be the construction of the roof along with the railing system. For this purpose I acquired a set of C-profiles. Unfortunately, it was not without some minor oversight, which turned out to be of profound consequences. Well, when ordering the profiles I forgot to mention that they are to be galvanized. Each of the four profiles is 6 meters long and weighs more than 60kg. That’s a total of almost a quarter of a ton of steel. On the day transport it was raining a light drizzle. After unloading, the profiles started to rust within a few hours….
There was not much possibility of returning the goods, so I decided that it was appropriate to face the consequences. The rails had to be painted. Easier decided than executed. Painting the C-shaped profile on the outside is easy. The inside is not. The opening is only a small fraction is quite a challenge. I tried painting with a roller, but unfortunately it completely did not work out. So, more serious equipment was needed. For this purpose, I purchased a air compressor with a paint gun. After some experimentation, I found a paint that, when diluted, is suitable for painting with the gun. The painting was not a good job, but for the first time will do. The rails will be mounted in such a way that there will be good access to them and they can be clean and paint them again in the future. Painted they looked like this:
The final piece of preparation for the next season was the purchase of a decent table saw with the ability to cut at any angle, the so-called bevel saw. I wish I had bought it earlier, as it would have been invaluable when cutting the stays, and it will even be indispensable for the roof structure.
Wrapping up
Infrastructure-wise, it was a good season. It’s great to make some progress on the long term life plans. But short term, observing-wise the year 2022 was disappointing. I was able to spend some evenings doing visual observations and observed partial solar eclipse. Not much for a year.
