LilRaverBoi

Okay, so as some of you may know, I have a huge interest (can I classify this as a hobby? obsession?) in geodesics. Ah, R. Buckminster Fuller...you were such a BAMF! A few years ago I built a 24' diameter 3v geodesic dome as a tent for an annual festival I participate in. Here's a pic if you're interested in seeing it. Anywho...in following my obsession, er, I mean hobby (whew...almost blew my cover LOL) in geodesics, I stumbled upon a website with plans to build a geodesic dome model. Well, it seemed simple enough...just a bunch of triangles and ya glue em together, right? And me being me, I decided....why build PART of the thing....why not build the whole darn sphere? At that moment, I really didn't comprehend the magnitude of what I was agreeing to, but proceeded nonetheless.

So ahead lies the story of the construction/assembly of my geodesic sphere model. ENJOY! (and luckily for you I photo-documented the entire process...yay!)

First off, tools needed:
-Scissors (Fiskars ROCK)
-Pencil (and sharpener)
-Straight-edge
-Push pin (to transfer plans to cardstock...because paper sucks and is too weak for my tastes)
-Glue
-Paintbrush/jar lid (to help apply glue)
-Small bulldog clips
-String

Okay, so at this point I printed out the 'plans' which needed to be reproduced many times. I had to modify the numbers used on the website since my desire was to create the FULL sphere and not merely part of it. This required some calculation and additional resources, but wasn't too hard with my knowledge of geodesic domes. The eventual 'plans' required 180 triangles to be cut (to make the 180 faces of the complete sphere...120 'A' triangles and 60 'B' triangles). Both types of triangles are isosceles....two sides/angles are congruent (identical size)...sorry if I'm nerding you out...geometry stuff. So all in all, there are 3 total lengths of sides (3v just like my big dome!). I found some cardstock in the cabinets in the hallway of the building I live in and 'commandeered' it for my own use (trust me, no one will miss it). Using the pin to transfer the plans and the pencil/straight-edge to connect the dots, I completed the designs.
Plans

Plans drawn out on cardstock

Now begins Phase 3...Cutting (Phase 1 was Research/Development and Phase 2 was Transfer of the Plans in case you were wondering how the heck this numbering sequence just suddenly evolved out of nowhere)

My trusty Fiskars scissors made quick (okay, not so quick....but effective) work of the cardstock. Here are all the triangles (actually they're irregular hexagons, but let's not split hairs here LOL) are cut. The tall stack are the 120 A's and the smaller stack are the 60 B's.

Scrap pile after cutting all the triangles

Okay, so begin Phase 4....Bending! Basically, all the edges of the 'triangles' (hexagons) need to be bent in to become tabs to later glue together. This phase was probably the most tedious of them all....540 bends to make! EEK!
This is what each triangle ends up looking like

All the bending done...finally (this took 1.5 days!)! 120 A's on the left and 60 B's on the right.

Begin Phase 5....Glueing (yes, it's spelled correctly...despite what spell check is telling me right now, I even looked it up on Merriam-Webster online and apparently 'gluing' AND 'glueing' are correct according to Merriam-Webster Online. Make up your darn minds!!). Basically, you take 6 A's and glue them into a 3D hexagon glueing (Again? Really? Red underline? Is this really necessary? ) congruent sides together. Likewise, you glue 5 B's together to create a 3D pentagon. My bulldog clips were a HUGE help with this and the paintbrush helped out a lot with even glue distribution.

Here are all the completed hexagons and pentagons (except a few pentagons still drying elsewhere). 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons total.

Here's the top pentagon with string glued into the middle. I'll reinforce this later.

Okay, so now that all the hexagons/pentagons are glued....it's time for Phase 6....Assembly! It all goes together in a specific way, but you probably figured that out by now.
Almost halfway done! This is from the inside (obviously)....clips show the recent glue-seams.

From the outside (so far). Looking excellent!

So yeah...somehow my plans got stretched larger than they were normally intended when I printed so it ended up being pretty large! But that's nothing more than a pleasant surprise!
Inside after removing clips

Added another level (sorry about the blur)

Outside with quarter for size comparison. Almost looks done!

From the inside...this one is kinda trippy cause it looks both concave/convex at the same time.

Final flap soon to be glued! The last pieces were pretty tricky since you are gluing 4-5 sides together at once...and the last flap you have nothing to help grab to pull things together or clamp.

Finished product!

No flash for better contrast


And while I had my camera out, I decided to make a quick video clip. Video quality here really doesn't do it justice...it's way cooler in person!


I realize I have very odd/obscure hobbies....some people like walks on the beach...well...I enjoy creating 180-sided polyhedrons. If you've got a problem with that you can just DEAL!

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lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

palmtree

I think thats pretty cool! Must have taken a long time, but just like gardening, its all worth it in the end!
Very nice job!

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MediaHound

Thats cool. Next one you can put holes in each side and put a light inside it. Then fog out your room with a party fog machine and you have a disco ball.
Anyway its cool enough the way it is, too. Thanks for sharing.

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Abnshrek

That looks like one of those balls they stick people in to walk on water (on a smaller scale).. I guess you could use some spray glitter and light it up :^)

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CoryS

That's definitely way cool! And you're right; Fiskars rocks. We haven't tried their scissors but their garden tools are great. That 24' dome is just incredible. And the event looks pretty cool, too. Is that a metal frame, maybe titanium or aluminum? Anywho, I could definitely see using something like that for a greenhouse. That would rock too!

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MediaHound

+1 for Fiskars

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LilRaverBoi

Oh yeah, Fiskars are the bomb-diggity! They're the bees knees LOL...always loved that euphemism cause it really makes no sense to me.

My big dome is made out of 3/4" EMT (electric metal tubing...also called conduit...it's the stuff they hide wires in in buildings). And there are a bunch of websites I know that manufacture/sell greenhouse domes. If you want, I'd be happy to share some resources for you/others to check out.

I just really love the way that geodesic domes look...the vast open spaces, strength and modernity/timelessness (even though Buckminster Fuller designed the first ones in the 1950's!) are truly inspiring to me. Plus they are very efficient, maximizing internal volume per building materials, require no load-bearing walls on the inside and they have less surface area to lose heat/AC through.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

CoryS

bomb-diggity?! Bees knees?! ROFLMAO! That's great! Btw, that was some totally awesome tunes. Thanks much for that!
And I'd definitely like to check further into the domes. So if you have any links, that would be appreciated too. For that or for optical posters. Those are awesome too.

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Sunlight makes plants grow and people live. -Me

Jack Daw

Just what the last picture looks like. A disco ball. Nice Job, Bryan. Lots and lots of work.

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Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

LilRaverBoi

Here are my bookmarked geodesic dome resources. The first three are contain greenhouse domes, the next group are general geodesic dome resources and the last set are dome-home resources. ENJOY!

Pacific Domes - Geodesic Domes, Event Domes, Shelter Systems, Greenhouse & Playground Domes - Sales & Rentals
Greenhouse kits, Geodesic Dome Greenhouse, Greenhouses
geo-dome prefab geodesic domes

Desert Domes - The Dome Calculator
Geodesic Dome Tent Construction Instructions
weasel.com: How I built my Geodesic Domes
Geodesic Dome Plans - Build a Dome Tent - Geodesic Dome Formulas - Dome Homes — ByExample.com

Timberline Geodesic Domes
Domes from American Ingenuity - Home
Domes - Manufacturer and Builder Dome Homes
Natural Spaces Domes

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Bananaman88

Too funny, Jarred! I picture LRB as always having the fog machine going, you know, just 'cause. Cool sphere, though, LRB! I always think of the Climatron at MOBOT when I hear anything about geodesic domes. Nice job!