Hi all and welcome.
First I must apologies as some Tosser of a Dick Head at NTL: (the cable company DECIDED to cancel my account God knows why).
I also had a full items list and the amount it all cost but have lost all this data as well but as we built it as we went along and bought materials when needed from start to finish the whole project cost £700 but do check out the local hardware / wood merchants as they can be cheaper than B&Q are here in the uk.
So all data and pictures were lost but I did manage to find a few on my PC that I did not delete. So Here Is a bit of a review that I had to put together but the day by day and month build up of construction alas has all gone but I will try and remember how it all went and redo it here so here goes.
Well First of all we wanted to buy the land at the back of the house as the Local council had a school here that is now closed down and we wanted to buy the land. But as usual the council does not want to know so its time to move the garden shed forward about 6 feet and build the dome at the back.
So first of all here is the baby that is going to give us so much pleasure on the cold winter nights. I must also point out that we are both new at this and if you want to see how it all goes and you think that you cant build one. Then have a go I found it really great fun to build and cant wait to start my new hobby. If you need any info then e-mail me or the Mrs. at here at gazza.crisp@ntlworld.com
Yep its a baby ETX125
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So with a base built of some 8x6 feet it's time to start building upwards
Here you can see the main floor and the pier in place which is in fact in 3ftsq concrete the pier actually goes down 4ft and proved to be very stable
This picture you can see the main uprights in place and the plywood sides start to go on
While looking around a plastic factory I spotted some cladding so I thought this could be useful in a good finish and to water proof it. Also I would like to say that the floor and sides have 4" of foam insulation.
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Now to the Dome bit.
This in itself is the only problem I really had but after sitting down and drawing up some rough sketches it really was not that bad as you will see.
I must admit for a lot of information I must put you all in touch with Michael Cooks mega site for information as it sure helped me out including these two sketches below. http://members.rogers.com/michaeljcook/observatory.html
So its time to get the router out and cut out the circle for the roof
Wow you really need a router to make a good job
So with this all done its time to construct the dome and fit into place but due to no pictures its just a case of sliding it into place
As the dome is only 6ft in circumference it was easy to slide into place with the ladders in place a little push and hey presto
Dome in place now it's looking pretty good
Here is a shot of one of the four castors to stop it falling off
Here I fitted the skirt and just the hatch to go.
Here is a shot of the main beams and sub structure I touched the picture up so it stood out better
Looks pretty good after I sprayed the inside matt black
The rotator in place and the green material is just some packing foam about 2mm thick that lays against the skirt. This is good for two things
1 is it keeps the bugs out and
2 stops the wind and the rain blowing under.
The rotator is a ford wiper motor with an electric sun roof switch for moving it around works well.
The computer lay out with the pier in the foreground running STARRY NIGHT BACK YARD WITH PC CONTROL works very well and I recommend it to any pc control scope
The ETX125 in pose mode?
Here you can see the plastic wind shield (and yes it does miss the shed)
And a close up view
Here is a shot of two sheets of plastic that run in a rail so with the dome open you can place the shield around to protect your self from the cool wind's great for winter as the heater inside is a really good idea. (Note a message from Bill Arnett might need warm coat's instead of the heater will let you know when I can get a clear night)
The Finished product
Now you know why its called. . . "Pebble Beach"
So that concludes the dome building just waiting for a clear night and I will let you know how the scope performs and to upload some pictures.