Dome build: The real thing! Raising gores.

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All the plans of mice and men.. First attempt at lifting a gore proved the lower end of the ladder would block progress. Untie everything and reverse the 2 stretch ladder. Retie and try again. I added a short ladder as a horizontal standoff.

There is more friction than I would have liked on the rope but at least things were finally moving.

1pm, tired and hot. Five up, nine and two half gores to go.

I sweated through the 80F morning trying to establish a rhythm without much success. The gores want to collapse inwards until safely clamped and propped.

The heavy slit framework is impossible to lift safely even with the boat winch. So I'm just clamping the gores together as I plod on. Mostly working from the inside from stepladders. It will eventually reach a critical point. Where inward pressure is balanced by friction between the adjoining ribs.


The afternoon was spent resting during the worst of the 83F heat. Then straightening out the two folding ladders into one, very tall stepladder. First I had to oppose them across the obs. floor over the big  telescope mounting. Then gingerly climb to the very top to tie the ladders together at the crossbars. These [normally] floor stabilizer bars add an extraordinary level of lateral stability. But I'm not taking any chances at that height!


So I added four, orange, ratchet straps as guy lines and to further bind the crossbars more tightly together. I was able to use the sturdy, steel, wheel support brackets as lower anchor points.

The scenic view of the entire project, so far, for scale.

The top of the big stepladder is now rock solid but still falls [?] safely within the dome's internal curvature. Which allows the dome to rotate unhindered if I so choose. I shall leave these ladders up for external, working access, through the observation slit until the dome is complete.

I have taken the slit framework upstairs, in four pieces with the curved ribs seen sticking out on the right. Ready to lift them into place tomorrow. Without the stepladders it would have been impossible to control the sheer weight of the slit frame from below. I can hopefully rest the slit frame's top cross bar on the ladders. While I struggle with the weight of the heavy, birch plywood ribs with my third hand. So I can drive in the long, fixing screws. It might actually be easier to put the slit frame together and lift the whole lot in one go. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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