[greyk47]

I've definitely been drawn into the mysterious gravitational pull of geodesic domes. never built one, but as soon as I have a place to build one, I plan on it. I've looked at a lot of different ways to build one.

the trillium domes that someone shared is definitely the 'nicest' version I've also seen loads of other 'hub' designs. personally I think zip tie domes are really interesting, seem the cheapest: https://www.ziptiedomes.com/geodesic-dome-hub-kits/index.htm

but seeing this just gave me an idea for a really simple hub design that would potentially be more sturdy than these single screw attached, plastic socket hubs.

what if the hub was simply a pentagonal puck of wood, and the spokes are attached with hinges? the complicated part of building domes is getting the angles right and using hinges mean you really only have to get the distribution of spokes around the hub right and the hinge will naturally fall into the correct angle? anyone got any land I can try to build this on?

[ghostly_s]

That many hinges is going to be quite expensive.

[a9h74j]

Or pocket-screws in place of hinges?

[greyk47]

sure but then you have to calculate the angle between each hub and spoke and cut the edges of the hub and boards to allow for flush angles when you screw them together. the whole idea behind the hinge is the angle will just naturally fall into place as you're building the structure.

[a9h74j]

Dumb of me to distract. With hinges you can also build flat on the ground (as with a paper-with-flaps layout), then start to form the shape, "latching" while you go.