Went together fairly good, I need to be more careful and read the instructions, more carefully ! Other than the door latch and the shutter motor things have gone pretty smoothly! I still need to install the dome rotation kit and plan on doing over the next few days!
I wish you great success. My biggest mistake was NOT FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS! It seemed several steps along the way were straight forward with little assumption need, but I was wrong. This caused me to take apart and re-do several steps that otherwise would have been exact the first time if I would have just read the instructions carefully! Can't want to see your progress!
I have the same problems with horizons but I do have this little gap between neighbors and trees where I can see exactly south right to the horizon - but it's a narrow gap! I'm hoping to catch those really southern targets when they pass through that gap so I am trying to protect horizon with the right pier height. I'll be building mine in the spring - I'll keep you posted but I am 100% positive I am going to be referring back to your most helpful build journal!
Well I also run HyperStar, so I would have used their formula and then dropped another 2". This would be totally for peace of mind and nothing else. I think on my Observatory Build post over at CN's I show my horizon view etc. I am not in any idle situation with my observatory. I have a garage to my east/south east, a utility pole to my south, a neighbor’s roof and chimney to the south south east, a utility pole to the south west and a line of trees to the west. So, I'm mostly looking north/east and then in between all I just mentioned. I get heat off my garage roof. But I love my set up and even thought I don't have an open sky to looking any direction and down to the horizon, I am making the best of it!
Yep I found it, the RED is where I can't point the scope due to obstructions, Yellow is where I can point but need to get 25° to 30° above horizon, Brown/Green full open and can point most anywhere in those marked areas.
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/638267-looking-to-add-an-8-nexdome/page-3#entry12144353
I see your dilemma - glad the fix isn't too overwhelming!
But now that you have the mount and know the exact height, would their formula have worked or would you be hitting the dome/motor even at their numbers? It sounds like I might have to give up a bit of horizon views to drop the scope down enough to clear.
I used their formula, but also didn't use their formula. I should have been more precise with measuring and calculating the height. But I 100% forgot about the shutter motor housing dimensions in my calculations. A costly error. I also knew I was going to swap out my mount for more of an observatory level type mount. The mount that came with my setup, the CGE Pro was starting to have tracking and pointing issues that seems like I was going to need a major tune up to correct. So, I build the observatory with guess what new mount I would eventually get etc. Well my assumption wasn't exact and the observatory was already built at that point. I will end up raising the entire deck by putting adding an additional base paver under the cement deck post block. This will raise it uniformly and I get an additional 2" of height by doing so.
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That's interesting. I definitely want to be remote - it's the whole reason I'm getting the dome. So having to watch it to make sure it clears is not good news. Did you use their formula? I wonder if a counterweight on the front of the dovetail would let you slide the OTA down the dovetail and give more clearance. I'll do some more research for sure!
I wish it was 1" shorter. If I'm not paying attention, when slewing nad the dome is rotating there have been instances whre the top edge of the OTA would collide with the housing of the shutter motor. I've learned to keep an eye on it and work around the issue. But, as it is, I can't use it remotely from inside my house and I have to be inside the observatory to make sure this doesn't happen. But, I actually prefer to be in the observatory when using my equipment. I may consider building up that end of the desk to like a step height raise deck, on the observatory side. This will raise the structure and the issue will be solved.
I just read your construction thread. VERY informative! When all is said and done, has the pier height been an issue with the C14? Nexdome says to take the distance from the center of the aperture to the base of the mount (in my case, 11") and subtract that from 53". Did you follow that same formula and did it work?
Thanks!
Thanks so much for the info! Great job on yours!
premabs, with in the observator, I'm pretty much center, with may s pier diameter to the south. Here is my complete buid thread: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/638267-looking-to-add-an-8-nexdome/?hl=%20scotts
Thanks
I know this thread is a bit old but maybe you'll see this. I am laying out my setup and am trying to calculate pier placement. Your setup looks lile a C14 like mine. Did you have any problems with pier placement and clearance and did you just center the pier? Thanks!
What size was your base? Would it have still work if you had two bays?
Another cool looking photo of the new dome!