A guy making geodesic domes without hubs came up on my YT playlist recently. I went in skeptical, came away thinking this is the way I would go .. uh, you know, when I finally build my dome-abode.
If you have woodworking skills (and table-saw, chop-saw), it looks like a no-brainer. For better or worse, the guy goes on a long time about the template/jig he creates — its utility become obvious later when he begins to make the panels.
That's beautiful. I'm going to watch the whole video. My main interest is the sealing problem between the individual panels which seems to be an issue with almost any dome build except for the inflatables.
I've built on with hubs and it worked ok, we used thin plastic to cover it overlapping two panels on the horizontal seams but that is rather wasteful in material and allows less light in.
> My main interest is the sealing problem between the individual panels which seems to be an issue with almost any dome build except for the inflatables.
Right. The "natural materials" people ruined geodesic domes. Buckminster Fuller wanted the parts produced in factories, with tight tolerances, and assembled on site. Radar domes in northern Canada and Greenland were built that way in the 1950s, from aluminum and Fiberglas parts, and many are still holding up, abandoned and facing high winds and snow.
The hippie era wood framing with shingles approach works far worse. It's so bad that the author of "Domebook 1", etc. told people to give it up.
On that note: the 'Jacobs' wind turbines were used in those locations under some of the harshest conditions on the planet where such machines were installed and still worked decades later:
Sure, but it's a lot of seams, 100's of meters on even a moderate size dome, they are very deep (typically about 2" or 5 cm) and it add an enormous amount of work to setting up a dome. It also means you can no longer take it apart.
Yes, that's one possibility. One elegant way to do that would be to route a groove in the cross members and then to stick the seal in there. This still leaves a bit of a problem with standing water in that groove and frost.
Same for me with YT recommendations, but I had not watched yet. Bevelled long-cuts and mitres to produce nice joinery. Finish (stain) wood. Assemble pentagons and hexagons as units. Plans and details at:
I came here to recommend the same video. Its is a very interesting design. I think an cool application would be to build this first using semi-opaque greenhouse panels and then building a cabin within the dome.
If you have woodworking skills (and table-saw, chop-saw), it looks like a no-brainer. For better or worse, the guy goes on a long time about the template/jig he creates — its utility become obvious later when he begins to make the panels.
https://youtu.be/Sl9fEp-27EM