Dome build: Skeletal shutters fitted.

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Monday: Trimmed notches on the insides of the [central] shutter ribs, top and bottom [for hours!] just to clear the slides.  I do now have the ribs closer to the dome but it's still not optimal. Paused for lunch to think about it. Perhaps making new ribs to longer radii is the answer?

Further notching of the ribs [for more hours!] finally achieved clearance. I could now screw the shutters to the slides. They proved so free moving that they moved in the wind while I was taking photographs from down on the ground.

The shutters are not very straight and the cross-braces are all over the place. No point in doing much more than this until it was proven they would work. They will have to come back down to be straightened and covered in ply for stiffness. They are sagging and wobbly in their present, skeletal form.

Screwing the slides to the shutters was easy at the top because they were fully exposed when open. At the bottom I was just able to get the drill/screwdriver in between the dome and the shutter when I pulled the slide fully out. Otherwise it would not have been possible because of the woodwork getting in the way.

I lost one shutter to the wind this morning as it slid off the dome at the top and crashed down onto the veranda! Fortunately there was no damage, except to my pride. More aches and pains after another days of endlessly climbing ladders. You would not believe how many times I have to climb up and down in a day.

Take my advice and build your own dome on FLAT ground. Preferably a flat floor with a secure roof over it! So you don't have to collect every tool and drag tarpaulins over everything at the end of another exhausting day. The cost of a hired lift cannot compare to the wasted man hours just going up and down ladders!

Tuesday: Warm and very windy. I spent some time fitting new battens to the shutters. More time opening out and sealing between the panels. I need to cover the shutters to keep the rain out, instead of using worn out lightweight tarpaulins. The roughness of the dome is really taking its toll.

My wife suggested polythene on the shutters for its clarity and waterproofing. This would allow natural light in instead of making the dome very dark inside. I still have some DPM film which is quite heavy.

The images show the compound tilt on some of the shutter battens. I think the top slides need to be raised at their outer ends. That will flatten the top battens. Not sure about the lower battens which are pointing inwards. Both ends are flush with the outer edges of identical ribs. I'll try pushing the bottom slides outwards at the center.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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