I don't think you've used big enough bolts to hold the pier down Mike.
Seriously, its really coming together for you. Hope this weekend goes to plan, and hope you end up with more than 18months of shots from those beautiful skies.
Used self tapping concrete bolts to anchor the panels, these are pretty cool and can be easily removed when the time comes
Tomorrow I will fix up a few lose ends and give her a good clean inside and out, fill in the pier footing to slab gap, lay the rubber floor and put in the scope .
This dome was purchased new by its previous owner about 20 years ago. Sadly he was
killed in a tragic glider hanger accident several years ago, so in honour of him I
have called my Observatory dome "Joe"
Rest In Peace Joe, thank you, it will be put to good use.
Onya Mike - way to go mate!! Does it rotate easily?
Hmmm ... nice T-shirt
Cheers, Marcus
Yeh rotation is quite good, sticks slightly at one point but not really an issue but I will have another look in daylight and see if I can get rid of it. Although the slab proved to be quite level, I think the panels may be able to be adjusted up or down a tad by shimming them but I will see. The shutter works perfectly though and all the seals looked good too.
Looks to be a lot of debris still lying around Mike.
If you want me to come down and get rid of that big thing with the black plastic bag over would be happy to help?
It all looks very good to me Mike. Why do I have this feeling that the last images are of highly evolved 'Gorillas in the mist' erecting their domed observatory?
Looking foward to seeing images without the wind effects.
I love the look of the slab, the pier and the dome and especially the location. For someone who lives in suburbia I am very envious of your location. Enjoy and I look forward to more amazing images of the night sky. To be able to go out and turn on a switch and start imaging is something I dream of. Have fun and I can not wait to see that big scope in there.
I had to fiddle with the elevation of the panels (glad I used self tapping bolts!!) as the dome was bending ever so slightly at points, enough to mean the roll over shutter could come off its rails when the dome was at at certain points pretty much fixed now....
Funny Bert, my mate Paul said the same thing when I was getting them all to line up for the photo
Cheers Mark, so far it has come together ok....
Yes will be giving it a good clean one afternoon this week
After sealing around the base yesterday, I put the mount and scope in this afternoon and polar aligned when it got dark. Because the inside of the dome is nice and dark I could see the pole stars beautifully through the very accurate Tak polar scope, I am quite confident of arc min alignment accuracy
Been a little over a month since turning soil and FINALLY complaining old Mike Sidonio has an observatory again and is out'a the bloody wind!
Imaging comes next
Mike
Gotta clean her though...
Last edited by strongmanmike; 03-06-2013 at 11:20 PM.
After sealing around the base yesterday, I put the mount and scope in this afternoon and polar aligned when it got dark. Because the inside of the dome is nice and dark I could see the pole stars beautifully through the very accurate Tak polar scope, I am quite confident of arc min alignment accuracy
Been a little over a month since turning soil and FINALLY complaining old Mike Sidonio has an observatory again and is out'a the bloody wind!
Imaging comes next
Mike
Gotta clean her though...
looks nice n sexy Mike
make sure you seal the dome joints on the outside to stop leaks. and for the record i fully believe the arc min manual alignment sidonio style its awesome
pretty much fixed now....
bah yey of little faith 
