ScopeDome’s New Roll-Off Roof Observatory

First Look – The ScopeDome Roll-Off Roof Observatory

We’re delighted to see that ScopeDome has announced – just yesterday – that they are releasing their new Roll-Off Roof Observatory product, starting at a very competitive €6,000.00 (approx £5,000 at the time of writing). It’s something we’ve known about for a few months, following their release of images of a prototype back in September 2024, but until now we haven’t had any information on pricing or specification. It’s a first for ScopeDome, who are well known across the globe for their excellent range of dome observatories (the clue is in the name!), but haven’t previously attempted a roll-off roof observatory.

What Is It?

That’s a very good question! Information at this stage is pretty sketchy, and mostly only in the form of images – for example we don’t have any dimensions yet and very little idea of options. So – this article will be updated in due course when we have the full technical details! However, here’s what we do know.

It’s Lightweight – Very Lightweight.

The observatory is built from custom-cut, but off-the-shelf components, and is based around alumininium strut – I think 30mm gauge. It’s a product that is marketed by Bosch Rexroth, among others, and is very popular for use in building production lines and packaging machinery, as well as finding many uses in scientific laboratories as a way of constructing test equipment and racking. It’s used in all Pier-Tech Inc’s observatories in the US, and we ourselves used it in a recent government project amongst other things. The advantages of this strut are that it’s available in a number of configurations, and because of its design, it’s able to be joined in many different ways, and can accept all manner of mechanical parts, bearings, wheels and more. Essentially, it’s a very grown-up version of Meccano!

Set within the aluminium frame are panels made from Polyester Laminate – again this is a lightweight material (roughly 2.5kg per square metre), and relatively strong in smaller sizes due to glass fibre reinforcement. It has a gelcoat on one or both sides (one side in the prototype) which gives a surface that is similar to glass-reinforced plastic (GRP). To keep the strength (especially on the roof) the panels appear to be roughly 600mm wide and are set within the strut using rubber gaskets. The panels are available in a range of RAL colours, and ScopeDome have also said that for €5,575.00 you can buy the frame without the panels, so that you can cover it however you wish.

With a structure as lightweight as this, it’s going to be really important to bolt it down to prevent it being blown away (much like a fibreglass dome) – and in this instance that is achieved with ‘feet’ that are bolted to a number of padstones. The floor of the observatory (at least in their prototype) comprises 18mm OSB, which again is set within the aluminium strut frame in a number of discrete pieces. Looking at the drawings, we think this all makes sense, and it should be possible to use a range of foundation types – including a single large concrete pad or hardstanding, or even ground screws (though you might need rather a lot of them).

It’s Automated

We’re pleased to see that not only have ScopeDome designed the observatory to be automated from the start, they’re also offering their rail system, motor module and control card (their RS485 Card) separately – so it can be used on other ROR observatories (including our own bespoke ones). Apparently the motor system has a maximum roof load of about 500kg, so that’s a good amount of power coming from the motor. Like their dome motors, it’s a 3-phase motor running from an inverter supply (so it only requires a single-phase supply).

What About Size?

We’re assuming for now that the price is for a roughly 2m square observatory similar to the one pictured (and in the 3D drawings below). However, taking the build method into account, it’s clear that the design could be adapted to make larger – or even smaller – observatories. No doubt they’ll be announcing the actual dimensions in due course.

How Might it be Used?

Our view is that the observatory is intended to be largely operated remotely – which explains its automated roof and compact size, and justifies the choice of a very small door. However, that seems (for now) to be at odds with their choice of a manually-operated flap on the South side (above the door)… which would of course need to be opened physically. We’ll be interested to see if they have a flap-opening mechanism that can tie in to the motor control in due course.

We also note that in their newly-release drawings, the observatory is depicted as having a desk in the South-West corner, and some quarter-circlular windows in the panels of the flap – both suggesting that ScopeDome anticipate some users being physically present in the observatory – perhaps in the daytime. If so, we’ll be interested to see if a more spacious version follows.

Any Concerns?

It’s a bit early to say because we haven’t seen the finished product yet, but there are a few things we’d like to understand before we began to deploy these here in the UK (as always, we expect to offer ScopeDome’s ROR with our own installation service). Here’s what we’re thinking about:

Roof Drainage

One concern we have is the design of the roof, whereby the inset panels look like they may have a tendency to pool a few millimetres (perhaps 10mm) of water on the individual panels (the panels are inset into the frame). Even with rubber gaskets installed, standing water has a tendency to lead to water ingress, so we’ll be interested to see how this is resolved. We note in some of the prototype pictures, there does appear to have been a board installed over the roof in order to keep water off it… but there’s no hint as to what the solution will be in the final version.

Security

At present, this doesn’t look like a particularly high-security design – not only is there only a basic lock on the prototype’s door, but there are just a couple of simple bolts on the outside of the drawn version above. So for now, that would either need beefing up, or would only be suitable in an otherwise secure area. Even if the locks were reinforced, externally bolted hinges would be easy to unbolt, and in fact the entire structure is bolted from the outside, making it possible to disassemble, or at least weaken the structure with just an allen key. It’ll be interesting to see how this is addressed in the final version.

Configurability

Our experience of designing roll-off roof observatories over the past 15 years is that no two are ever the same. Even when you have a popular size (e.g. 8′ square), we still have differing wall, floor and roof heights to accommodate different equipment and their users. Whilst we don’t doubt that it’s possible to have ‘off the shelf’ sizes, it will limit the market for ScopeDome’s offering if it’s not possible to configure the wall and roof height, and floor dimensions of their product.

Our Conclusions

It’s always exciting to see a new product enter the market, and we’re delighted that we’re able to offer ScopeDome’s new Roll-Off Roof Observatory to our customers alongside their excellent domes. Whilst we’re not sure how often the current configuration will the ‘right’ for our customers, we’re looking forward to learning more about whether it can be configured in different sizes.

We can see that for users demanding a relatively low-cost, easy self-build product, it’s definitley got a market, and their motor drive looks like it could be a step-change from other ROR motor drive products on the market (we’ve got an article on that coming soon!).

Do re-visit this article as we’ll certainly be updating it as more information becomes available.