Category Archives: Projects

Seven years of solar PV

Posted on September 3, 2018 by james

Seven years ago I blogged about us having a 3.64kW solar PV system installed on our roof. I thought it was about time I went through the figures to see how it has performed from the figures I submit each … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #14

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

The steel for my rolling roof finally arrived this week: sixteen three metre lengths of 25mm square section tube with a 2.5mm wall. The wait has allowed me to change the roof design several times 😀 This morning I wrote … Continue reading →

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My first 3d-printed object revisited

Posted on September 2, 2018 by james

When it came to assembling the case I’d printed it became obvious that the pillars supporting the circuit board really weren’t strong enough to withstand cables being inserted into and removed from the sockets on board the PCB. I decided … Continue reading →

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3D printer filament spool holder

Posted on August 29, 2018 by james

I decided at the weekend that I should have a proper support for the filament spool for the printer that would allow the filament to be pulled into the extruder without needing to negotiate any bends. The printer came with … Continue reading →

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Printing my first self-designed object

Posted on August 29, 2018 by james

It’s probably been time to bite the bullet for a while, so I finally decided to get on with designing something of my own to print out on the 3d printer. This is actually a case for the PCB of … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #13

Posted on August 23, 2018 by james

I hadn’t realised that we have a bank holiday weekend coming up, so in the hope that I’ll have a little more time available I decided to get some of the parts for the rolling roof ordered. First up are … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #12

Posted on August 21, 2018 by james

A last bit of frame building before I get onto other work. Probably getting the roof sorted so it can be made passably weatherproof. The internal warm room wall is now in place, with a door to get in and … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #11

Posted on August 20, 2018 by james

Tough day at the coal face, and I felt a bit “glow in the dark” as a result. The forecast was predicting 28C and I’d not be surprised if it didn’t go a bit higher than that. However, using a … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #10

Posted on August 20, 2018 by james

After validating my choice of wall height there wasn’t much time left, but I was determined to make some visible change no matter how small. I had a few bits of scrap 18mm ply that used to be part of … Continue reading →

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Building an observatory. Construction #9

Posted on August 20, 2018 by james

Evidence-based design always being best, between showers I managed to get the tripod and NEQ6 set up, with a bit of malformed roofing batten as a pointer that I could set at the level of the top of the 1500mm … Continue reading →

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