Fixed Paramount MX

While I am without observatory, I sent the MX mount back in to Bisque to have it looked at. Had spent quite a bit of time on the forum looking for the source of my problems. I thought it was related to the time I banged it against the pier while trying to exercise it, but was assured by the Bisques that the mount did not have the power to do that.

So, finally convinced them to return it and look at it. It turns out that the worm gear was bent, and a couple of things were knocked loose and such. They were clearly flummoxed as to how this could have happened. Certainly not something I was going to be able to fix on my own.

So, I am eager to get back to using the mount now that it should be back in spec. This is another reason for implementing a dome this time around – hopefully no worries about banging the scope against the roof.

 

New Observatory Start in Arizona

Its has been awhile, because my wife and I have just retired and are in the process of relocating to Arizona. So, I have removed everything from the rolloff and moved the mount and telescopes to Az. We are still selling the New York house, so everything has not been moved yet. I am in Arizona with a subset of tools, getting our new-to-us house fixed up, cleaned, etc.

The new house has a couple of very nice features. 1) fairly dark skies 2) a separate, very nice workshop about the size of a double garage. 3) a small building meant to serve as a gardening shed, which I plan to convert to my observatory with an Exploradome top. The building is built very well, and has power, water, concrete floor. It happens to be 10′ 1 inch on a side, so the Exploradome should install nicely.

Original gardening shed

The picture shows the original building after I moved 3 large, beautiful pine trees which previously were right next to the building. The roof needs to come off, and pier installed. To keep the regular sized walls, the pier will be a tall 8 feet high. Hopefully I can make that work…

After several days of work, the roof is now gone. I installed the drip edge from the roof around the edges, hopefully the Exploradome roof panels will install in place.

I rented a concrete saw from Home Depot, and cut the floor where the pier will be installed. I was very nervous about this part, but it went very smoothly. The saw cut smoothly and wasn’t as dangerous feeling as I thought it might be. I cut extra lines in the center concrete, maybe that will make it easier to remove the concrete.