I have a Dome! and i`v had it for a while seems every time i start to work on putting my observatory together somthing happens to slow me down or stop me. i.e. sickness, injury, finances, family, work, zoning commission, etc. get the point. Well i am still trying, and will do so till they bury me in the _____ thing if necessary. Right now I have to repair some parts that have gotten damaged do to not being able to store them inside somewhere. This story starts several years back when I saw a dome for sale on astro-mart. to be continued I have`nt found anyone in my family who shares my astronomy Jone`s. My wife thinks I`m around the bend when I do things like buy a flat bed lumber truck and drive to Florida to get an old fiberglass dome to build an observatory with. I have to admit I did`nt know what I was getting into. She went with me but it was because she wanted to see Florida and walk on the beach not for astronomy. This was ok because it would have been very difficult to do it by myself. When I figure out how I`ll upload some pictures of the dome. The dome caught my eye because it was 12.5 ft. in diameter and had a hugh slit opening. Seems it was made back in the late 50`s. its heavy!!!!! double walled with a 3/4 inch thick alum. base ring. The dome has a main shutter, and two lower shutters that appear to have been removed manually by hand each time. there are some strange fittings and cables that i still havent figured out how they worked originally. to be continued. Well I got some pics up finally, shrinking them down was i little of a pain because the photo editor i used would not tell me the final size of kbs. untill i saved it. The wheels in the picture may not work due to their wheels being to wide, and not not having any bearings. I have the epoxy resin and fiberglass, and found some promising brazing rods for aluminum that may work well, i knew i could`nt weld the ring myself. I`m a stick arc welder, and that won`t work on aluminum. I`v seen some guys that could weld it with TIG, but you don`t learn that overnight and anyway they are wayyyy expensive. The main problem is going to be that this thing is like a tank getting it into the correct position to weld it back together and it be straight and flat is not going to ge easy. Anyway I still have`nt got a place to put it yet because the Zoning people are making life difficult. Well I`ll rant some more next time.