Building the Octagon Pt.67 Quart "circus tent" in a pint pot.

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Tuesday: Went around painting more surfaces with the Safe-Way, rot protection, mineral juice. Including all the boards on the veranda. Was tickled by tiny 'storm' flies and tiny 'money' spiders flying in on strands of web. The decorative dragonflies were obviously not keeping up with their predatory duties.

Took down the pretend dome of plastic conduit and measured up the telescope and mounting. Just to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that you can't put a quart of telescope into a pint pot of dome.

So? Which part of: "Your pier's too tall" don't you understand, Chris? 😉

Answer: "I may be in limbo but I'm [far] too old to become a limbo dancer."

The difference between man and beast is that only man would try and put a large telescope in a dome of half the necessary size. 

Now, that's, what I call a lot of offset!
43cm or 17" to be exact.
Star diagonal floor clearance is 70cm or 27".

I think the realization is dawning on me that there is a folded refractor in my stars. Well, in the shed, actually. It's that, or make a very tall, dome bearing ring. Failing that, it means taking the chainsaw to the pier!

Now, for those waiting with bated breath for the next exciting episode of "Badly Made Models" I give you Pt.4 "The Taller Version." As I have already "given up the day job" I have little to fear from criticism of my artistry or construction skills. This is just a scale mock-up to see how form affects function as well as appearance.

The red circle represents the "best fit" hemisphere which will go inside this small scale suggestion for a rotating roof form. Though, for accuracy, one should make allowances for the depth of any "woodwork". So all construction materials must lie outside this circle. The red dome really is the minimum allowable dimension. Nothing must "stick out" inside the dome or the moving telescope will surely find it! Note how the ring of taller triangles visibly shrinks in comparison with the lower ring of trapeziums. Yet, seen from above, the "circus tent" looks distinctly "pointy." You may rest assured that the traditional red and white [or yellow] stripes will not be a feature of the full-sized version. Now I just need to add a ridge and I shall have a bi-pitched, octagonal observatory to be proud of. Well, that's the theory.

Wednesday: Spent time clearing up the building site and surrounds. The smaller timber off-cuts had been piling up without any real plans for organization. Stones and even oversized gravel had become redundant now that the site was level with the rest of the garden. Not to mention the overshadowing birch trees had finally gone. The sunken site was completely unusable for foot traffic before we barrowed in the 20 tons of self-compacting gravel. Leveling absolutely transformed the site into a useful space.

As did bringing in the finer gravel for a clean and comfortable walking surface. Not dragging clingy sand all over the place was a huge bonus. Previously, I could clearly see my regular walking routes between the site and other places to collect tools and materials. The sand was oddly brown and very noticeable against the darker soil and lawn grass.
 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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