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Dome

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Dome was originally purchased from a supplier in Tucson.

No leaks, has handled high winds (60mph) with no problem

The shutter works in 2 parts. A large shutter slides back over the top of the dome. A smaller shutter then hinges out from the dome. This is NOT the double shutter system where both shutters slide up over the top of the dome. I have had trouble with those types of systems.

A number of modifications have been made, primarily to the rotation and shutter control systems. The original hardware (motors, track, etc) were excellent, but the software had problems. As noted below, both rotation and shutter controllers were replaced with Arduino based systems.

An ASCOM driver was written to allow the dome to be controlled by various software systems (for example, theSkyX).

ExploraDome

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Price (orig Cost):

 $1500 ($8000)

Notes:

This is the 8 foot dome with aluminum roof panels for a 10 foot square building. I used a pre-existing building.

Has an 8 foot pier (2 four foot sections) with Paramount adaptor plate to hold the mount high.

Originally automation hardware/software by Foster Systems to open the shutter and rotate the dome.

Replaced the tracking and shutter controllers with Arduino based systems. Image 4 shows the Arduino tracking controller (smaller black box) on top of a 12V power supply. Image 5 shows the Arduino Shutter controller.

Modified the tracking system to improve reliability and accuracy. Figure 3 shows an added fence on the rotation motor. Originally the dome position was determined by counting the holes in the track. This gives 1 cm precision on the dome position instead of the original 4 cm.

Wrote a VB.NET ASCOM driver to drive the 2 Arduino controllers.

Includes dome and 10' wide building panels around top of roof.

The Dome was painted with a special Arizona paint to reflect the sun, cooling the building. Originally the building was at 135 F.

Images 3 and 5 show Home Depot radiant barrier material fastened to the dome interior to further reduce Arizona heat. This stuff is amazing! The building is now down to 90 F, so the 2 air conditioners can get it down to 82 F.

Figure 6 shows someone else's dome, showing how the top shutter slides back over the dome and the lower shutter hinges open.

Buyer needs to remove dome, ship it to destination.