As you have seen in the previous post I have completed the first of the Hexagon panels so the next step was to complete a Pentagon panel so I could be sure they would go together before forging on and making the rest of the triangles.
There are only 6 Pentagon panels to make and now I know they work and everything fits together and my two chop saws are set to the Pentagon angles I will press on over the next week or so and make all of the pent triangles.
Here is a picture of the two jigs needed for building this dome. The tall one is for Hex triangles, the other is for Pent triangles.
Making the triangles is simple once you have the templates built and checked for accuracy. You start by cutting the correct angles on one end of each of the struts. then you clamp the struts to the template and screw the struts to each other and saw the projecting ends off.
I will add a photo of this later.
As I am finishing each triangle and before I take it off the template I mark the apex of the triangle as this makes it fool proof when assembling the panels.
Here is a picture of the finished Hex and Pent panels before putting them together to test their fit.
You wouldn’t normally make the panels up like this before covering in plastic but as this is the first dome I have built I wanted to make sure everything lined up and the two panels fitted together.
Here is a picture of the Hex and Pent panels fitted together.
To give you an idea of the hight of the finished dome there is another Hex panel to go below the Hex panel in the above picture. The picture above does illustrate the curvature nicely.
So now I have to get stuck in to making all the rest of the triangles and covering them with plastic.
Ultimately there will be a detailed step by step article on the
Geodesic Dome Page of this Blog
More soon
paul
