As report under Shelving problems I have a question about draining the depression on the exterior of the dome of rain water. I was thinking of drilling a few small holes in the area but realized that it would drain into the interior of the dome.
Has anyone figured out how to remove the water? Its a special problem when opening the shutter which dumps onto the scope and mount.
Thanks for the input. I decided to use Big Stretch inside and out. My pad is a EZ pad made for hot tubs instead of cement. It works well..was half the cost of concrete. So far..dry as a bone inside. Dome operates smoothly. And I can be bear and cougar proof inside while viewing. Nexdome is a well engineered product and well priced. Very impressed with it.. Ready to convince my wife I need a new more modern bigger telescope than my childhood RV6 Criterion Dynascope.It belongs in a museum like me :).
not much you can do but wet/dry vac it off
no first light yet , the the pier is in the ground coming straight through the floor , the pier is dead center, the mount is a CGX-L with a 1400 EDGE HD scope, there’s no room on the scope for a dew shield, but with the dome its not needed.
very nice. So there is a center pier mount coming from under right? Have you had your first light session in your new dome?
no I didn’t use any caulking , I’ll wait till I see what happens when it rains
8” concrete pier 150cm into the ground
I have a 2cm space around the pier
I bought all the automation with the laser rain sensor, but have yet to install any of it maybe this weekend
Here is a pic of the platform
Russell, that's great to hear you assembled your Nex Dome. I'm planning on ordering one soon. Can I bother you with some questions?
What is the base? Concrete with plywood on top?
Did you have to use weather sealants around to caulk the dome?
What sort of pier are you using? Or you using the tripod to mount?
How is your central pier separated from the deck?
Did you get the dome control gear for automating with ASCOM?
Did you get the Shutter control?
Overall do you recommend getting the Nex?
I got the nexdome completely assembled today, issues
1 the door frame gasket is short by 70cm, on the corners the gasket is bunched up like an accordion
2 the door doesn’t come close to being sealed,
3. the shutter is extremely stiff, very hard to move, I rubbed paraffin wax where I could, that made it much easier.
4 the bolts on the bottom of the dome, the hit the wall sections at the posts, I reversed the bolts, and that solved the thumping and sudden stops , I used gorilla tape over the seems, it lowers the thumping by quite a bit.
my deck is completely level and all the posts are plumb, its 19mm plywood floor and layer out with published measurements, I would say the dome is not perfectly rounds in places the our skirt of the dome rubs on the walls at the wall seams , like the dome is oval not round
all in all I’m pleased with the dome, I’m sure things can be fixed
Russell
Any solution for the original post? I’ve been using a towel and leaf blower as well but if there was a working solution for keeping the water out that’d be helpful. My number one problem is the water collects often draws the attention of bugs and other critters if I don’t get to it fast enough. If I could keep the water from collecting that’s preferable.
I decided to redo the foam sealer strips which is much cleaner looking. Here is the story in Pictures.
I'm sure that some of my thump thump has to do with roundness of the dome. I spent several hours loosening every bolt in the walls and drilling a stake into the center of the dome. I then used a wire, won't stretch, and walked the wire, different lengths for each position, around the bottom, middle and top of the walls until it was round. I also took the dome off and loosened all of the bolts and pushed and pulled until I felt the dome itself was round. And yet on one angled wheel on a bay never touches because the top slumps lower than the other bay, it's physically lower by 3/8" than the bay the rotator motor is attached to. Also the thump thump continues which got worse with the weight of the water in the trough over the wheels.
I know the dome is out of round because I can watch the track move in and out in the same spot over different wheels around the walls. I like Ron's idea about filling the gap with putty or clay to make the wheels move more smoothly over the gaps. I was thinking about using a very stiff duct tape to test it and if it works and stops the stalling or as Steve said "loose purchase". But then, I'd have to deal with residual stickiness from the tape. Maybe cork or rubber stoppers might work, now my head hurts.
Since this tread is about Rain Issues my findings so far are:
1. The door can be sealed with extra foam sealer,
2. The door slumps a little and I must pull up on the door as I'm latching it,
3. Extra weight of water or snow on the dome increases the the strain on the motor and more particularly on the nylon gear. I've had small chips fall off a few teeth.
4. The bottom of the walls on a solid surface, I'm on pavers with joints, can let water in under the foam flooring. When it dries out a bit, it's been raining on and off for 4 days, I'm going to seal the bottom of the walls with a putty sealers.
As a side note: I much appreciate this forum then Facebook.
Steven
I've thought about filling the thump-bump gaps with a putty or clay. Something that could be warmed by hand - molded in place and then it would cool and harden a bit.
Steven,
Perhaps my experience with dome roundness and rotation problems can provide some direction.
When I assembled my dome, I scribed a circle on my deck per the published dimensions and was very careful to place the walls accordingly - which was made a bit tricky by the fact I have four bays which seem to have their own idea about how the would like to be placed. After some pushing and pulling, I managed to get all of the support columns secured on the circle. However, when I added the dome and the rotation kit, I had exactly the same issues as you.
As I examined the dome, it seemed to me that the bump-bump thing was caused by the wheels running well-toward the inside of the channel on the dome rather than in the outer, smooth area of the channel; which also meant the rotator gear was probably farther from the dome track that it needed to be. I also had a section where the rotator gear lost purchase with the teeth on the dome by just enough to cause it to slip two or three teeth before catching again. Additionally, I noticed that only a couple of the outer, angled wheels actually touched the dome.
After thinking about it a bit, I decided the published diameter must be a bit on the short side and figured the dome itself was probably the best standard for determining the optimal diameter for placing the walls. That said, I unscrewed all of the column supports and proceeded to push the columns outward (from the top) until all of the wheels ran in the smooth portion of the dome track, and all of the angled wheels touched the dome. Before starting this process, I removed the rotator gear so I could rotate the dome by hand to ensure it was not binding anywhere.
In the end, the diameter of the walls had increased about 6cm but the dome now rotated relatively smoothly (there is always going to be a little bumping), and outer, angled wheels, touched the dome all the way around. Also, the rotator gear now made full contact with the dome teeth with only minor tension on the adjustor. As a side note, I also removed the plastic rotator gear from its metal mount and discovered it was mounted off-center by about 2mm - which explained why it would slip a few teeth and then catch again as described above - and remounted it dead-center.
I have no idea if these steps will help with your problem but I am happy to report that, after finally solving the rotator/shutter firmware issues (thanks to Rodolphe Pineau), my dome is now operating smoothly in a fully automated setup. Something to think about.
Steve
There are comments under the shelf topic about rain that I'm addressing in this thread.
I added some additional foam instillation to the door and gasket which has kept out last nights and this mornings rain, 😊. I would change one thing and that would be using thicker/deeper foam from Home Depot.
I thought about a small drain hole. You sure it would drain in side the walls? I can use a towell in the summer (and do) but winter that water turns to ice and really piles up. With a warm spell today I just knocked it all off. I do dislike that the shutter drips into the dome when opening it. (on the scope as well). Only thing I thought of would be to put something (foam swimmies?) in the track. (though it wouldn't be pretty. It tape a vinyl skirt around the lower diameter of the dome and have the skirt flow the water out and off the dome. also not an attractive edition.
I simply "push" it out with a towel. If you start at one end of each section and then run the towel along the depression, you can get most of the water out in one swipe - a chamois works even better. The big issue for me (and it looks like for you) is water freezing in the depression. I purchased a cover for the dome and have been very happy with it - simply throw it on before a storm; and water and ice are no longer a problem!