Deep Sky West (Midlands)

[tomato]

2 hours ago, Laurin Dave said:

Looking very good, how long till the twin Esprit 150s are in action?

Dave

Well, we have all of the kit, but we will get one up and running first  and sort out the dome automation, then the Mesu will earn it's keep...

[tomato]

Another milestone, the Pulsar 2.2 m dome after being in storage for 18 months, is now assembled!

A mixed reaction from the family now it is sitting in the garden. Mrs Tomato definitely wants a green one ( so looking at fibreglass paint), but our youngest granddaughter says I should paint it yellow and blue, put some goggle eyes on it and have the biggest Minion in the UK😄

 

[JamesF]

I'm with your granddaughter, I reckon

James

[Laurin Dave]

That looks just perfect as it is.. 🙂..  I always park mine with the shutter aligned over the door as it helps to keep the rain out . Also have p section stormguard around the door and as a drip strip around the dome.. 

Dave 

[Rusted]

Avoid green paint on the dome itself. It soaks up the sunshine and makes the dome very hot.
How do I now this? Because I have a green painted dome for camouflage!
I have seen 115F on a thermal gun, remote reading, digital thermometer.
And that was reading the inside of the plywood dome.

[tomato]

11 minutes ago, Rusted said:

Avoid green paint on the dome itself. It soaks up the sunshine and makes the dome very hot.
How do I now this? Because I have a green painted dome for camouflage!
I have seen 115F on a thermal gun, remote reading, digital thermometer.
And that was reading the inside of the plywood dome.

Does anyone with a green Pulsar Dome have a similar experience? Mrs Tomato will sit out in the garden and have to look at for hopefully years to come, so if she wants it green, that’s the colour it will be.😎

[JamesF]

Get her a pair of green sunglasses :D

James

[Rusted]

11 minutes ago, tomato said:

 Mrs Tomato will sit out in the garden and have to look at for hopefully years to come, so if she wants it green, that’s the colour it will be.😎

Wrong answer.

[PhotoGav]

30 minutes ago, tomato said:

Does anyone with a green Pulsar Dome have a similar experience? Mrs Tomato will sit out in the garden and have to look at for hopefully years to come, so if she wants it green, that’s the colour it will be.😎

I have a green Pulsar Dome and it is my favourite toy in the whole world throughout my life! It certainly gets hot in there in the summer, I’ve seen 40+°C on the temp gauge, but everything survives with no problem. The benefits of having a ‘camouflaged’ dome that is acceptable to the current Mrs PhotoGav outweigh any small peaks in man dome internal temperature! I often open the roof & door when it’s really hot - sometimes to point the solar scope at the thing generating all this heat...!

[PhotoGav]

1 hour ago, Laurin Dave said:

I always park mine with the shutter aligned over the door as it helps to keep the rain out .

Ooo, this is intriguing... please explain yourself a little more! The only problem I have with my Dome at the moment is slight water ingress just inside the door when it pours down. Try as I might, I can’t work out where it is coming in... so very interested to hear your experiences.

[tomato]

5 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

 The benefits of having a ‘camouflaged’ dome that is acceptable to the current Mrs PhotoGav outweigh any small peaks in man dome internal temperature! 

Thanks Gav, I couldn’t have put it better myself. I have just been inside it in the pouring rain (for once the weather is in sync with my astronomy requirements) and all dome and wall joints and door seal are watertight. Water is coming in through the base to plinth joint in two locations where I guess the RTV hasn’t stuck to the concrete.

I too am intrigued as to why the shutter would help keep the rain out from the door, there is a hell of a lot of water running off the bottom edge of the flat shutter when it’s raining.

[Laurin Dave]

Same for me Gav unless I park with the shutter over the door.. I had water coming over the top of the door,  this gives the door opening a little more protection as the shutter is a couple of inches proud of the dome. Heavy rain recently and not a drop inside..  

Dave

Edited October 5, 2019 by Laurin Dave

[PhotoGav]

@tomato - I ended up completely redoing the mastic around the outside of the base of the dome walls fairly soon after the install. It was leaking quite badly. I gunned it up good and proper and it is acceptably waterproof now. 

@Laurin Dave - was the water obviously coming in from the door frame? I think mine is coming from the join in the two dome quarters that ends up over the door. I wouldn’t want to move the dome round to put the shutter over the door and end up with the drip coming in through the join now rotated around 90° because that would be in my electrics / computer zone!

[Laurin Dave]

Mine was definitely over the door Gav,  I went in and took a look when it was chucking it down..  maybe you could try it with the shutter at 180 deg from the door

Dave

Edited October 5, 2019 by Laurin Dave

[PhotoGav]

49 minutes ago, Laurin Dave said:

Mine was definitely over the door Gav,  I went in and took a look when it was chucking it down..  maybe you could try it with the shutter at 180 deg from the door

Dave

That would be now then! Pouring out there... I will investigate and experiment. Thanks.

[Rusted]

A dome has a lot of surface area. It is also smooth. So rainwater can travel horizontally in a bit of a wind.
Perhaps rain could dam up against the shutter upstand if the dome shutters were at right angles to the wind.
So I always turn my shutters into the wind. It didn't seem to help to keep the rain out due to a local leak at the seams.
Though I felt much safer having the shutters pressed hard against the dome by the gales.
Rather than downwind and being sucked right off the dome!

[tomato]

Time for an update. As posted previously, Mrs Tomato didn’t like the white dome so it is now resplendent in British Racing Green. The weather has played havoc with the finish on the dome, how do outside painters make a living in the UK with the current weather? I only had this one job, could get on with it virtually any day of the week, and it still took nearly two weeks, dodging in between the rainy days. Anyway, it’s painted, and Mrs Tomato likes the colour, so it will stay like this until next summer, the ancient photons don’t care about the finish on the dome.

Mains power from the warm room is all in, but this will only be used for maintenance, all the imaging gear will be 12V supplied from the warm room.

And finally, we have now layed the interlocking rubber floor purchased from the Aldi centre aisle back in May What a nice psychological satisfying job that is, much better than painting.

[JamesF]

I like that flooring so much that I often walk about on mine in my bare feet

James

[Laurin Dave]

looks great in green

 

[Rusted]

Tomato green?

It looks as if it belongs there.

I wasn't allowed a white dome either.

But it's good to be green. 

 

[tomato]

BRG seemed the right colour, I was tempted to paint two white stripes down the shutter, but resisted.😊

[Rusted]

Bentley Observatory? Suits you Sir

[tomato]

Finally getting on to the good bit...

The refurbished Altair pier (purchased second handwith the dome) is now bolted into place, @Tomatobro machined up the Mesu adapter plate and sorted the 12V power distribution. 

Initial altitude adjustment completed with an inclinometer, a guidescope and camera attached directly to the main saddle will be used to carry out accurate polar alignment.

A single Esprit  will be on the mount for now, I will get back on the imaging saddle with this one before attempting set up of the dual rig. The dome drive will be high on the to do list however, at the moment I will have to set a reminder timer to go in there and nudge it round about every 40 minutes.😊

[Davey-T]

If it was me I'd shorten those spindly bolts and probably add a couple more.

Dave

[Laurin Dave]

That's looking rather nice..  won't be long now till first light, how exciting