I did have a look at the desert dome calculater in my planning stages, but I got the original idea from Joe Garlitz at Joes dome page http://www.orednet.org/~jgarlitz/observ.htm with his foam and stucco dome.
G'day Lester,
As you can see, I used 6mm plywood to form my dome, but I got the measurements from Joe Garlitz's website. Although not insulated (yet) with the little fan heater on it traps the heat in the dome very nicely, even with the slot fully open. Might have to tac some reflective insulation on the inside for summer though.....
Thats a 3 V Dome,, I thought Id abuse myself and make a 4V, Its going to end up similar. a little larger, and on the second storey of a 7m be 10m Shed.
See recent DIY post by me if you want to see the difference between a 3v and a 4v,,,a lot more triangles basically, but a rounder shape,.
Yes the desert dome calculator is excellent!! If I ever sell this place and move to an acreage, I will not only take my oby with me, but I will be building a 5 metre high dome and putting a serious telescope in it!
Yes the desert dome calculator is excellent!! If I ever sell this place and move to an acreage, I will not only take my oby with me, but I will be building a 5 metre high dome and putting a serious telescope in it!
I see your construction technique differed a bit from mine, there are no pics just yet, but my bottom ring assy is 3 layers of 17mm marine ply, laminated the top one the same same size as the inside diameter, the bottom two thw outside diameter, gives a step top fix in the first run of triangles. my shutter will end up similar to yours, a lot of thought went into the design of it, I dont want jamming, because it will have to be motorised. quite simply because I cant reach it, being vertically challenged,,
Yes, the slot door has been a challenge so far! It is still very stiff and I have to climb up on the sill to open it all the way. This is dangerous as up there I am 3 metres off the ground. I am working on alternatives. Problem is, being a low income earner....actually at the moment I am a no income earner.... the engineering and bending of metal alternatives is not acheivable right now. Now I have just found out that my telescope is going to cost $800 to update so its not totally useless. Not real happy with that company at the moment I can tell you!
I guess this is the true Maslow hierarchy of human needs
scope>bigger scope> even biggerscope>scope so Bl**dy big I need an observatory>observatory> how about some acerage out in the bush where I can locate this observatory>????wonder what comes next???
Me, I'm still at stage 2-
I tell my wife see, i'm really really good
Next comes an acreage with a great big mountain in the middle of it so you can build your 9V geodesic observatory on its summit!
Imagine if you could build one on top of everest...
Dome teaser pics
You can see the rest at 
! It is still very stiff and I have to climb up on the sill to open it all the way. This is dangerous as up there I am 3 metres off the ground
. I am working on alternatives. Problem is, being a low income earner....actually at the moment I am a no income earner....
. Not real happy with that company at the moment I can tell you!
