My dome is a classic geodetic design of the Buckminster
Fuller variety. Full credit is given to him and also the pioneer
of this Foam-Dome design, a guy called Joe Garlitz.
Joe's pages are a better source of details and dimensions if you
want to tackle it. Check
out Joe's page here.
Photo's shown here are sorted chronologically
to try and illustrate how it went together.A lot of it was trial and error
as I
have never made a dome before! The dome is now
complete except for minor details and aesthetic improvements inside.
I now have a FAQ's page
for the most commonly asked email questions. I will update this site
as new stages and photos
are taken.
The top door remains in the slot track and rolls the entire length of
the slot to suit which part of
sky is the target. The bottom door is removeable and is the access
in and out of the dome.
Halfway through making the rolling top door I changed my mind about
the type of wheels
so some pictures may be a bit misleading. The wheels are nylon with
brass bushes pressed in.
The doors are now complete and weatherproofed,
You might note that the colour has changed...this was done after a
daytime test.....green paint was hot to touch
at an ambient daytime temperature of about 20 C, so I tried conventional
white outdoor paint..
This was much better, but it makes it hard for a dome to blend into
a typical outdoor garden setting :)
UPDATE: Concrete rendered the entire dome as of January 2005.......
The papier mache idea worked for about 5 years but started to crack and leak.....
UPDATE: NOV 2006: The Entire Dome was moved so I could build a pool for the kids!
The move was easy, a new and better slab was poured, the wall was unbolted from the old
slab and moved in one big piece to the new slab. And my brother and I easily lifted the dome
over to the new wall/slab position.
I also tried a full 'Dress Rehearsal' with the telescope inside, just
to test what wall height would be best.
Joe's wall is about 30 inches I think, and I had originally roughly
estimated I'd need about 36 inches or 3 feet.
After doing the test I decided I would get away with about a 2 foot
wall. There is plenty of walk around room inside
and still room for a small desk for a computer etc...Joe has done well
to estimate practical dimensions for the project :)
Any comments or suggestions would be very welcome.....email
me at:
astrosteve at bigpond dot com dot au
(replace the at with @ and remove all spaces)