Dome Assembly

R&J Uber Dome Assembly and Detailing

The R&J dome is an awesome piece.  It and the aluminum skins were the final cards in motivating me to set off on an aluminum droid project.

-- Two layers to best duplicate the screen used dome.

-- A composite design that takes the best of all screen used domes and puts them in a controlled design package.

-- The hard part is already done - perfectly with laser and CNC.

Pre-assembly :  Everyone starts off by marking the pieces....  Don't know why.  You become very familiar with them as you work through the fitting.

Pre-assembly:  Very high tech tool to remove pieces from outer dome.   Thin hack saw blade wrapped with tape (for handle).

Pre-assembly:  Take your time.  Cut top pieces first as the lower pieces become less robust after panel removal.

Pre-assembly:  These will all be used when detailing.

Pre-assembly:  All the dome parts after removal.  Pack these away.   Won't need them for a while.

Pre-assembly:  Important pre-fitting.  This should be done only after you have cleaned up the laser slag from the panel openings.  See the gap at the top....  That will have to be corrrected as you work through the assembly.

Pre-assembly:  Rotated with inner dome fully seated.  I sanded the inner dome with a random orbit sander and wet sandpaper to get the inner dome to fit inside the outer.

Pre-assembly:  Top view during fitting.

Pre-assembly:  I decided to use the lower HP opening as my reference point for further work.  I traced the opening from the outer dome onto the inner dome with a permanent marker (with the inner fully inserted), then drilled a center hole for the cutter bit.

Pre-assembly:  Here you see the tracing circle in marker, the center hole, and the scoring from the hole cutter.  Scoring does not have to be very deep.

Pre-assembly:  After the circle is scored in the aluminum, I cut lines from the center hole out to the scored circle with a dremel.  You can grab each of the resulting wedges and rock them a few times to break them free at the scored line.

Preassembly:  After you clean up that first HP hole you can reinsert the inner dome and trace the outlines for the remaining cuts.  Remove the material with a dremel.  This will take a lot of time and effort, but it comes out nice. 

Note:   If you are not planning to have an opening door on a particular panel, it is not neccessary to cut out the inner.  The extra metal will add strength.  Also notice that most of the marks from turning the dome are gone now from sanding to fit the inner dome.

Pre-assembly:  Pie pieces cut from inner dome.  I left a 0.25" lip around opening to provide a backpiece to each of the panels.

Joining the dome pieces:  Use your aluminum prep, then paint the inside of the outer dome with JB Weld.  I press fit the dome here and line up the openings.   Next step will be adding clamps and cleaning the excess adhesive away (while it is still wet.

Clamps temporarily in place.  Denatured alcohol is used to clean the excess JB Weld after it is pushed out during the clamping process.  Do not let the JB Weld to cure any place that you don't want it.

After the clamps were removed, I filled small gaps with JB Weld, then gave it a couple of days to fully cure.  I wanted a polished appearance, so here it is after countless hours of sanding and buffing.

 To Be continued…