3 Day Weekends are meant for Projects! Part 2

Wasn't able to get as much work done today as I was hoping, but what it lacked in quantity, it made up in quality.

I had originally thought about primering the Inner and Outer Domes today, however the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wasn't quite at that stage yet. There are still several components I need to mount to the inner dome, so I'd rather get those all squared away instead of cutting and drilling on an already painted dome.

The big win for today was that I got the Inner Dome to fit on the Mounting Ring! Once again, it was my dremmel tool to the rescue.

I was having just a tiny bit of interference during the fitup, so the first thing that came to mind for a resolution was to add a chamfer to the Inner Dome. Putting this angled edge on the dome will allow the two pieces to more easily slide together and is pretty common design feature for mating parts like this.

After about two passes with the dremmel tool, I fit it up. It was still a bit tight, but it fit! Took some light tapping with a rubber mallet to get the Dome to seat all the way on the Ring.

With this achieved, I was now also able to drill the alignment holes between the Inner Dome and Mounting Ring. These match drilled holes will hold small screws, which will lock the Inner Dome and Mounting Ring together. So once the Mounting Ring is spun, the Inner Dome follows.

For the first hole, I picked a spot on the rear side which could easily hide the defect if I had messed up. Due to there being little openings on the dome, there wasn't much visibility to where I was drilling, so my first shot was mostly a guess.

I like to leave little notes for myself..... :)

As you can probably tell, my first hole didn't turn out too well. I drilled it too close to the bottom of the Dome, which did not leave enough space for the nut to be run down on the screen on the inner side.

Missed it by that much!

Well, that's part of the fun of this project! It's all a learning experience. My second hole was dead on, so I can now take the measurement and apply it to the next several holes around the circumference of the dome for when I'm ready to final install the two parts. For now, just one for alignment purposes.

Next update should include some more parts coming in. I just received word that my 3 Holo Projectors are ready to ship. That should be the final structural part of the entire dome! 

Until then,back to reality...