A major milestone has been reached! The roll-off roof actually rolls off. Over the last week the wheels were installed and the supporting angle irons straightened so that the roof moves cleanly. In addition, the full shear wall has been put in place over the framing.

Of course, the pictures. Here is the observatory with the roof in the closed position. Clicking on an image will take you to the gallery for full-sized and other pictures.

And now, the roof open.

Here is a close in shot of one of the four wheels that support the roof. It is welded onto the 6″ tube steel rafter.

We are working on a solution to prevent the roof from sailing off in a high wind. We may use interlocking angle irons to keep the roof in place. I am worried about the curved roof now (a bit late!) as it will form a nice wing to create lift. The roof may weight 1,000 pounds, but the wind up here can be very strong.