Drats, I thought something was missing, or at least there that shouldnt be,. seriously though, I thought , build the whole dome, got a laser level crosshair type, so when its finished Ill cut the slot accurately in the crappiest part of the construction, remove the uglies ... .
I'd say cut the opening after the dome is complete and reinforced or fibre glassed. Doing anything before the dome is complete in shape will only weaken it, perhaps to the point of collapse without some kind of strengthening.
Hey thats something i had not planned on doing,,,darn good idea, though it does mean getting the glassing stuff out twice, because the slit assy will need to be glassed into the whole deal..Ill do it though , makes good sense..
Yoy see what I mean by tesalating hexagons and pentagons, No straight lines apart from the base ring and five others that go across the top of the dome at 1/5 of the radii... cunning huh..
Shutter, partial full , hinged sliding up , sideways. hmmm. Anybody done anything like this, I see lots of ideas on the net, but no real feedback re the benefits / shortfalls of different approaches...
if you slide the shutter side ways, you can have it in one piece and have it going past the zenith. If it slides up and over the top it would be a bit more tricky to move and be able to see past the zenith. The side ways opening could easily be operated manually.
Im no mathamatician either, got the sums off Sir Buckminsters Site, all I need to work out was the ring inner size, that was hard enough. Im thinking Lester has a point about the meridian, Im also thinking, weatherproofing, how about a half and half, since a slide to one side or other would be problematical to build. bottom couple of feet hinge out or slide to side, the rest up and over..
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Yes/ no...
Thanks for the input guys,,,
Oh yeas who wants to help get my forum started. Its sort of happening, and I have a few freinds on board now, but a boost of material would be appreciated. If it all goes pear shaped, so be it,
I am always looking for the easy and practicle way to get a job done. One piece shutter that slides to the side has less joins that have to be weather proof. Okay it would not look as good, with track to the side etc. So with all the effort you are putting into it your idea with hinged lower section and the rest to slide up and over the top, would deffinately look better.
Its always good to bounce ideas off of others. The more I think about it, I think your way now seems very good.
My brain hurts just thinking about what you are going through though.
Getting eassier now jjj, less possible ways of making a mistake, If anyone ever here decides to build one of these...
Never Never trim a triangle to make it fit,,,force it as best you can and let the error ride. honestly if you trim your stuffed...Its the way they work, so I cut all a mm or two too small, for the second run, went much better, the overall shape maybe an oblate spheriod but , who,s going to pick it, on the second floor without a balcony...LOL
. seriously though, I thought , build the whole dome, got a laser level crosshair type, so when its finished Ill cut the slot accurately in the crappiest part of the construction, remove the uglies ...
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