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New Pulsar 2.2m Dome

Steve 1962

By Steve 1962
in DIY Observatories

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pmlogg

pmlogg

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One thing that you could check with Gary is whether the rollers to come with your Pulsar dome have got stainless bearings in them. Mine didn't and although I oiled them,they rusted and the Dome became more difficult to rotate. I replaced them with the stainless ones and have had no more problems. The manufacture of the rollers (sold as pulley wheels)does supply with both types of bearings.

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Steve 1962

Steve 1962

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Last week I gave the "outside" of the plinth a few coats of smooth masonery paint and the dome arrived today.

Gary and Tony had a five hour journey down last night and this morning took about three hours to put it all together.

I have to say that the dome looks bigger (taller) than I expected it would in the garden, but it's very well engineered and Gary & Tony did a cracking job of putting it together - I'm really glad that I left it to them.

We were very lucky with the weather - it stayed dry while they were here and then, just as they were leaving, the heavens opened.

Anyway - here's some pictures of this morning's activity.

Now just flooring, power, light, network, alarm, desk, mount, polar alignment, planting ..............

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Scott

Scott

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Mate, ya gotta be happy with that and i'm sure your wife will be happy with the way it blends in with the garden. whats the internal diameter if you don't mind me asking? Must admit i'm a wee bit jeleous. (really nead to improve my spelling) :Envy:

Scott

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Breakintheclouds

Breakintheclouds

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Steve - I have a 2.2m Pulsar dome too. I hope you're enjoying yours as much as I do. Interestingly, regarding the planning permission, I've always had in the back of my mind that if challenged I could probably make a good case for saying it is a temporary structure. After all, mine is just screwed to some decking with a handful of screws - it could be released and moved around almost as quickly as taking the pegs out from a tent!

Please do let us know if you manage to get your dome automation working. This is something I would love to do, but am not sure where to start.

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Steve 1962

Steve 1962

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Thanks all - I'm very pleased with it - the only thing slightly wrong is that there's a few chips in the gel-coat but Gary has offered to send me some gel-coat repair which I think may be useful in future.

In answer to questions - Auspom - it's pretty well dead on 2.1m diameter internally. and Breakintheclouds - I tried the temporary structure argument with the Planners but they rejected it on the grounds that we had NO permitted development rights on our home at all - this was because they'd been removed as a planning condition when we converted it from an agricultural building in 2003.

Off now to silicone the dome to the plinth.

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JamesF

JamesF

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As regards the temporary structure I think you'd probably have been on a loser anyhow, to be honest. My understanding is that as a guide you should be able to remove the entire structure as if it had never been there within a reasonable period of time (say a day). If it's screwed to an existing deck that's probably quite feasible. If it has a big lump of concrete for a foundation it's rather different :)

James

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dmahon

dmahon

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As long as you have permitted development rights, I suspect it is under the required height and area to allow you to build without planning permission - temporary or not. Anyway, once built, if they don't ask you to take it down within 4 years you get to keep it.

It looks very nice. I've recently spent (insert large figure here about the price of a dome and pier) on the timber for a new fence and a log store. I quite enjoyed the building of it (almost complete) so I'm tempted to do something myself rather than get Alexander in or a prefabricated dome. But it does look very nice indeed and I might change my mind when I see it fully automated. The mrs said she liked the look of the Skypod, which came as a bit of a surprise!

Did I say it looked very nice?

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Steve 1962

Steve 1962

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Finished!

I've painted the floor with two coats of Bitumastic paint, sealed it to the plinth with black silicone, installed some old carpet tiles, wired it all up .... and moved in.

The wiring is a simple two way "garage" consumer unit with a 30mA RCB. I've only installed one double socket and I'm feeding the scope etc with an extension lead through duct under the floor. The lighting is two bulkhead fittings - one white and one red (I painted the inside of the clear cover with Tamiya Clear Red Acrylic Paint and made a light sheild from part of a coke can to hide the direct glare of the bulb). The way I've wired these up is through an on/off dimmer switch, then a two way switch which selects either red or white light - this means both are dimmable.

I've fitted an alarm linking to the house..and hence to my mobile, and a Gigabit LAN cable.

All of the cabling is enclosed in 20mm flexible conduit from eBay.

I've found that it's pretty straightforward to attach things to the fibreglass dome walls (without wanting to drill through it) - smaller items (light switches etc) , I just Gripfilled suitably over- sized pieces of marine plywood to the wall and painted them white before screwing the items to them. Larger items - like the board for the wiring - I Gripfilled battens (of varying sizes to take out the curve) to the wall, then screwed marine ply to these - it's solid as a rock.

The equipment bay is big enough for my two kit cases and a £12.99 plastic drawer unit from Pound Stretcher.

While working in the dome (with the slot closed because of the rain) I have noticed quite a bit of condensation forming - but that's soon cleared now I've finished. I'll be watching this to see if I need a de-humidifier.

..then, just need to fix the weather........ :huh:

Steve

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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

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Regarding condensation, which came up on an earlier thread, some folks asserted that if the place were well ventilated there would be no condensation. Alas, this simply isn't true. I know it's not because I tried leaving the rear flap open on my roll off and all sorts of other gaps open as well, but condensation still poured off the inside on certain kinds of day. I lined it with Topox insulation board and it's now fine. While this might be tricky on a dome there are spray-on finishes applying a thin insulated foam surface which seems to be very effective. A friend had this done to the inside of a panel van he was transforming into a camper. When I made a camper van I bonded camping mat to the inside on the curved sections.

Mind you, I think that a dehumidifier will deal with with far less fuss.

The dome looks splendid. My efforts are far more rustic!

Olly

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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While working in the dome (with the slot closed because of the rain) I have noticed quite a bit of condensation forming - but that's soon cleared now I've finished. I'll be watching this to see if I need a de-humidifier.

I certainly need a de-humidifier for my Pulsar Dome but once you accept that you need one, it is a simple and very effective solution which keeps all my gear in mint condition.

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