R4-D4 Dome work progress 2.0

I'll be keeping all dome progress now in one post,

was getting a bit much trying to order when work was done when lol.

So far, the weekend I managed to get a lot done.

• measured and cut extension blocks.
• drilled and screwed them all into place.
• glued into place, curved panel no2.
• had problems with glue not drying on panel no2.
• had to fix glue problem by cutting out and redoing.
• cut and fitted more of the curve panel strut supports.
• sanded, applied wood filer, sanded and repeated.
• fitting curved panel no3.

And now for the pictures:

Friday lunchtime I measured up and cut to length the extension blocks needed for height.

Test layout of spacing them.

Then on the evening I positioned them to give me an even spacing, without the blocks interfering with where the lazy susan location pins will protrude up into the dome. I then marked and drilled clearance holes and using decking screws (left overs) I secured them in place.

Once this was done I could then get on with gluing the next curved panel edge. This has to be done, one edge at a time to allow the glue to dry and hold the panel in place. Time consuming and fiddly too.

Trimming the excess edge of curved panel.

And an artistic picture of the dome curves and flats

This is the dome with one side of curved panel 2 glued in place.....gluing the second side is when things didn't stick well.

I know now why it didn't stick. Basically the inside panel was too wide and therefore had to much land that couldn't curve enough for the curved panel to make contact with. It did in the lower, less curved part, but the upper 'tighter' bend it didn't.

Whilst this was not setting, I carried on with cutting out the remaining triangles.

And using panel pics to secure in place whilst the PVA glue set.

Here are two more artistic pics of the inside of the dome structure.

 Where the Holo projector unit will go.

Now onto the 'fail' part. As mentioned above, due to the with of the backing piece of wood, it didn't make enough contact due to the curvature. So I tried to force PVA glue between the panels to go under the panel, but after a day, this still hadn't worked & the edge still moved when touched.

So I started to cut away a bit at a time till the wood to wood contact was good. I then applied PVA glue to bond what was good wood. Once dried I started to fill out the area with wood filler.

More on this in next post.

In the mean time I got on with cutting more 'rear' pieces and glued them onto one panel at a time. This is easier to only have to clamp two parts, instead of juggling three pieces, clamping blocks & clamps!

This then made clamping the edge of curved panel no3 a lot easier.

Glued in place, panel pics helping to hold curve.

Other work done:

• mini locking blocks cut for the inside of the curved support pieces (pics to follow)
• PVA washed over exposed sanded wood, seals and helps with smooth sanding.
• a few coats of primer/filler spray on completed sanded & smooth wood work.

More in next blog, including electrical control of the holo projector servo unit.