Finally Concrete

[Shawn]

The floor is poured, you see I used polystyrene foam to keep the pier pad and the floor seperate, Ill sisolve that out with petrol later, A step closer guys,,,YeeeeHaaaa

,,,

[ballaratdragons]

Excellent Shawn!

Good to see you got the missus working :lol: :thumbsup:

[rogerg]

Looks great, congrats! It's a big pad - 6 x 4m or so? Roll off roof shed I presume?

Roger.

[Shawn]

Not roll off ,,,Though sometimes I wish I had gone that way,,,Its for this...

Its posted somewhere else here , but for continuities sake ..

Thanks for the support guys..

[Shawn]

Hmmm one might think this is a cheaper option,,,WRONG

:rofl:

[stephenmcnelley]

Sorry i have not read any previous threads on the dome, but are the dome walls themeselves a metal or fglass, only ask due to the chines.

[rogerg]

Ahh, I remember it now. I assumed roll-off because of the shape of the concrete pad. It looks like it's going to be a very nice observatory.

Roger.

[Shawn]

Guys, shes glass on ply. with the support structure, a total of 600kg. Chines are just plastic moulding, used to hold 130 triangles in place prior to galssing, Im still seeing a therapist regarding three sided figures..:lol:

A Geodesic, crap loads of triangles, when arranged with patience and a sense of humour, can indeed resemble a hemisphere..

[bloodhound31]

Thats looking really good mate!

Baz:D

[Shawn]

Took the boxing off this morning, and melted the polyfoam, turned out really good, Ill wait a few days before I start loading up the inset steel pads for the building and the subfloor pier section, Ill post progress.

S

[Shawn]

Hows your goin Baz, sort that prob out with jamming slider ...

S

[bloodhound31]

Yes mate, theres a post and some pics in this forum of where I'm up to.

Baz:D

[GrahamL]

looks great .. heres an ignorant question .. whys the pier floor and pad sepperated ?

[mark curtis]

You are on your way now. Take it easy and slow and dont overload your finances like alot of others (me) do. I know you are at this time at the point of bursting wanting to get'er done.

[jase]

This is to mitigate vibrations on the pad resonating through the pier floor and up the pier and telescope. Having it as one piece of concrete would see vibrations effect the telescope as you walk on the pad. Vibrations and telescopes don't match.

The thickness of the pad slab can affect how much vibration is suppressed. My pad is 12" (300mm) thick, but even then I didn't take any chances and still separated the pier floor from the pad.

[Shawn]

Thanks for that Jase, I didnt see the question, or I would have responded myself,

Absolutely 100% correct, the pier pad is approximately 600 thick, the floor only 100.

Cheers Guys..

Edit
>>>> Ill add to that

Furthermore, as the Obs will have a false floor at approx 900, I did not wish to build the whole pier out of concrete, I opted for steel bearers set int the concrete, I will build a triangulated structure out of RHS "steel beams" to go as far as obs floor level, then the pier will bolt to that, the beauty of steel is If you get it wrong, fabricate it again...minimal fuss..LOL

[GrahamL]

:thumbsup:.

[Shawn]

Oops too late...

Hello mr Bank Manager, Sir...:)