Quote Originally Posted by Xiahou View Post
Thanks.

I'm brainstorming on a way to remove the sand without having to dig it all. I know when sand falls onto various objects it can break it up for you, but I haven't thought of a good way to make use of that. I'd need another false platform on the sea floor with switches or the like under it that I could remove after I encased the form in glass. Then the sand would fall onto that and break up. That'd be alot of extra steps, but in a large dome it'd probably save enough digging to be worthwhile......
Torches are the easiest method IMO. I'd say do exactly as you already did for the existing one. When that's done, dig down three squares below the dome, then hollow out the bottom two squares of that for the entire dome footprint. Essentially, a two high floor below the dome, with a single block above your head holding up the sand. Place a torch on every square, then mine the ceiling. All of the sand will come down and break on the torches without mining required. That said, you'd have to mine the area under the sand, so it would probably only be worth the effort for a very large sand structure.