|
Hi Peter
Overall I am very happy with the Dome. I settled on this style of dome because it is situated in a reasonably windy area. Not particularly high wind, but constant wind. It is high on a ridge, with fairly constant wind from the south. So I thought the slit style would be better. I think I made a good choice. As a side note, given the location and the wind, I am thinking of calling the dome "Windy Ridge Observatory".
I did encounter a few issues. Just minor problems that should not happen. But I will start by saying that Sidereal Trading were great with the help and guidance.
There were a few items that didn't initially get shipped. The missing rubber door seal was noticed by Sidereal before I noticed and they shipped it immediately. Great. But there were also some nuts and bolts missing. I was told that should this happen to let them know and the parts would be shipped straight away. But for a few dollars I couldn't be bothered waiting so I went to Bunnings and bought them.
I will be blunt and say that the assembly instructions are ..... atrocious. I was warned about this, and it is not a real big issue, at least for me. And the tips I got from Sidereal were really helpful. But this is one area that Nexdome should focus on.
And the last issue, and really the only one concerning the product, is that some of the holes on the walls were drilled too small for the bolt I had to use. So I had to redrill about a dozen holes. Once again, not a big issue really.
My dome, at the moment is fully manual. I do intend to automate, but I thought I would take small steps and get it built first. I am glad I have. There is a yahoo group for Nexdome and there is a lot of discussion about automation.
Overall, very happy. And I think it looks good.
Btw – don’t be fooled – I read on one of the o/s forums that its a half day job to get this done. It took me and a mate 2 days.
Hope this helps with your decision. If you want any more detailed info, let me know.
Darrell
|