New Dome Action

Spring is finally here! And I hope that I can get enough time to get what I need to get done with the dome before Fall hits again! I swear, I've had this recurring dream where alluvasudden it's Autumn again and it dawns on me that we haven't gotten the greenhouse ready for cooler weather and we barely even planted for Summer!

So, the thought has been turning in my mind about how best to cover the dome. If I we're to build another dome, I will do it with 2x4 boards with maybe PVC connectors. This would have given me an easy surface to attach paneling to, but instead I built this dome out of electrical conduit .. pipe. How do you attach flat paneling to a round surface like conduit?

The answer is above. Or, one of the answers is above. Perhaps the wrong answer is above .. that is the wonder of science and of trial and error. I think it's going to work out, though.

Each conduit strut on the dome will have one of these mounted on it. The channel on the bottom is where the conduit will fit into. The other side provides a surface to mount the paneling on. Each end of one of these boards is cut with 36, 30, or 27 degree angles depending on which conduit strut it is covering. The top surface is planed along the center at 10 degrees. Additionally, each tips' angles are also cut with the table saw blade at 10 degrees.

Here, we can see the dome with a good number of these boards mounted.

A view of the mounted boards from inside.

Your's truly, setting up to cut a triangular panel to be attached to the top of the mounted boards.

Me again, up on the ladder fastening a panel to the mounted boards.

There is a little slop in this process. Like Dad is fond of saying, we're not building a clock. But, there is some precision that must be put in place to at least get a feel for what the general tolerance of the structure is.

To cut 15 of these boards it takes me a little over 4 hours. Probably another 4 to 8 hours to get them up there, paneled and sealed. At this rate .. I figure I should be done-done by mid Summer.

A friend of mine asked about the material that I am using to do the paneling. It is called Solexx and it is truly magical material! Here is one roll. The other is still sitting in the front of my house so as to keep the neighbors and passers-by continually confused and perplexed.

More to come ...