We are renting a MATERIAL LIFTER (a one man, manual "fork lift" that will lift up to 600lbs 18' or more) to construct our dome from the top down. We're on tight budget and would like to share the cost with anyone who may need to use it. We're arriving EARLY Monday morning and leaving on the third when we dare to. It's actually not too exspensive it just bothers me to pay $280 for something we're gonna use twice for a total of 5 hours. Especially when we haven't gotten the massage table yet....lemme know via pm thanks. Spectacular burn to you!!!:D
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Very Happy
DOME BUILDERS.want to build from the top down? Material lift
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Greenltdistrict
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 12:14 pm
- Location: LA
How big is your dome, GLD?
We just built 2 domes in our back yard and have a great new secret to doing it alot easier...and Im surprised when we looked into Making and Building it on all the sites and honorable mentions...that no one used this trick....
One of our Domes is 80ft around the other 68 ft around...
here's the trick: Get yourself 4-6, 10 ft uncut EMT condiut(big enough to go around the bolts holding the stars) Use those to hold up each star/ or start of star, as you go around(building from the bottom to the top).
This made it so much easier and actually held the shape up as we added each layer so well it was amazing!!!!
Dome GIFT!
We just built 2 domes in our back yard and have a great new secret to doing it alot easier...and Im surprised when we looked into Making and Building it on all the sites and honorable mentions...that no one used this trick....
One of our Domes is 80ft around the other 68 ft around...
here's the trick: Get yourself 4-6, 10 ft uncut EMT condiut(big enough to go around the bolts holding the stars) Use those to hold up each star/ or start of star, as you go around(building from the bottom to the top).
This made it so much easier and actually held the shape up as we added each layer so well it was amazing!!!!
Dome GIFT!
Names pinemom, but my friends call me "Piney".
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DoctorIknow
- Posts: 861
- Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 3:07 pm
- Burning Since: 1998
- Camp Name: Camp Do Nothing
- Location: Thailand/Sacramento
Dome material lifter, Rube Goldberg crane
With some searching of boat yards, I found a used mast, cut off some for the cantilevered "arm" and was easily able to lift my 4 frequency
25' diameter 500 pound dome off the ground.
First step is to secure the upright perfectly 90degrees to the sky by
using four wire guys attached with turnbuckles to rebar. Each guy starts
about 1/2 way up the mast and enters the rebar about 10 feet away from
the mast base.
I made a funky, but functional, block and tackle from 6 sets of double
pulleys by drilling out the original pins and putting a stainless bolt
thru six pulleys top, six pulleys bottom, and some iron bar to hold 'em together.
I doubled up spars on the top "pentagonal" part of the dome that is lifted, as I didn't trust all that weight on just the "normal" set of spars. Note also, there is no stress on the very top connection: the weight is spread out to the five outside connection points:
Below are the turnbuckles at the ends of the spars, and although I cut
each wire exactly the same, it was very useful to "tune" the tightness
when the dome was slightly tilted as construction proceeded.
The main points of stress in the mast parts (at the fulcrum point, on
each end of the "arm" and at the top and bottom of the verticle, and where the guy wires attach) were reinforced with plywood I cut with a jigsaw to fit the exact (hollow) space of the mast. Bolts were run thru the plywood, and where needed, thru the aluminum mast.
25' diameter 500 pound dome off the ground.
First step is to secure the upright perfectly 90degrees to the sky by
using four wire guys attached with turnbuckles to rebar. Each guy starts
about 1/2 way up the mast and enters the rebar about 10 feet away from
the mast base.
I made a funky, but functional, block and tackle from 6 sets of double
pulleys by drilling out the original pins and putting a stainless bolt
thru six pulleys top, six pulleys bottom, and some iron bar to hold 'em together.
I doubled up spars on the top "pentagonal" part of the dome that is lifted, as I didn't trust all that weight on just the "normal" set of spars. Note also, there is no stress on the very top connection: the weight is spread out to the five outside connection points:
Below are the turnbuckles at the ends of the spars, and although I cut
each wire exactly the same, it was very useful to "tune" the tightness
when the dome was slightly tilted as construction proceeded.
The main points of stress in the mast parts (at the fulcrum point, on
each end of the "arm" and at the top and bottom of the verticle, and where the guy wires attach) were reinforced with plywood I cut with a jigsaw to fit the exact (hollow) space of the mast. Bolts were run thru the plywood, and where needed, thru the aluminum mast.