Construction of Dome --- Sharing costs of lift

ckworrell · Post by **ckworrell** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:07 pm

Hello fellow dome builders. We have discovered that it is FAR easier to build our dome from the top down. In order to do that we are willing to share the costs/labor etc to share a Boom Lift, Scissor Lift, Heavy Duty Genie Lift all could work.

Thanks

Stickygreen · Post by **Stickygreen** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 1:05 am

your not the only one who discover this!

what size dome, and how many people do you have to erect it? these will be important pieces of information.

if it's a small dome, then I doubt you'll need a truck all to your self, you could probably just ask one of the cranes already out there for some help, and remember a little bottle of something always get's you better service...

DoctorIknow · Post by **DoctorIknow** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:36 pm

There was no way I could transport a commercial material lifter, and I would never depend on peoples promises to raise the dome manually,

so...

I made a lift out of a 40foot sailboat mast I got for $50 from a boat shop and if no one showed up, I could do the entire lift and build myself, which I did in a dry run in Sacramento.

Cut off 12feet of the mast and used it as a cantilever.

Ganged up a bunch of cheap Harbor Freight Tool pulleys. Before I lifted the dome for the first time, I tested it out to 500 lbs without collapse of the lift and felt it safe enough

For the very top pentangle section of the dome at the top, I doubled the tubing just to be safe, especially as I used 1/2" conduit. As you'll see in the photos, I took a huge washer and drilled five holes evenly so that there would be equal sharing of stress, and the stress would be centered. I knew no matter how hard I tried to make the lengths of wire equal, I'm no expert in nico press (ferrell) clamping, so I used turnbuckles just that were really helpful in making it all even-steven.

I guess it's about 7 feet up the mast I put four eyebolts to connect to guy wires to hold the thing up. Turnbuckles an absolute necessity to make sure the mast is 90degrees (a cheap fencepost level works great)

Anywhere there is hardware, I cut out pieces of plywood to the inside shape of the hollow mast and laminated several together, then I'd drill thru the mast and the wood.

The trickiest part was where the upright connects to the cantilever. The upright isn't too hard to make a perfect 90degrees with turnbuckles on each guy, but if the cantilever connection twisted at all it would be bad, so I it must be super strong.

Still near the ground:

The washer spreading the stress evenly:

The double struts in the top pentangle section:

Bizness end of the cantaleiver:

Guy wires holding the mast at true 90degrees:

On the playa, sitting on a 30x30 plastic tarp:

BTW, the covering panels are Aluminet on one side and Snow Camo on the other:

[/img]

Tiahaar · Post by **Tiahaar** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:48 pm

Impressive Dr.!! That's a sweet setup. (edited to ask about leaving the mast up inside...which I'd do being lazyish...maybe lash it to the dome top and remove the guy wires for the time being; then the pic came up of the mast out & cover on out on the playa. Nice!)

Jiva · Post by **Jiva** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:14 am

That is indeed a sweet setup, although a bunch of the pictures are not showing up for me. Can DoctorIKnow or maybe a mod take a look and see if there's a way to fix it?

Always interested in these kinds of creative engineering.

DoctorIknow · Post by **DoctorIknow** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:42 am

If the photos aren't showing up, maybe (???) you need to "Disable HTML in this post" and "Disable BBCode in this post" in your preferences ????

Anyway, heres a link to those photos and more of same:

http://picasaweb.google.com/DoctorIKnow/Dome#

CalebCamera · Post by **CalebCamera** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:54 am

You really shouldn't need a lift, or ladders.

I've constructed a 32' dia x 16' tall dome made of 8' and 10' pieces without a lift. Build top-down and you'll never need a lift.

One suggestion is to have a couple of sets of vise-grips and maybe a couple of channel lock pliers. Also a piece of round steel the size of the hole will greatly help. Line up the connection pieces with the steel bar and vise grip them together - slip the bar out and slip the bolt in.

Our dome takes 3 or 4 people about 2 or 3 hours to construct.

I hope this helps.

Dr.'s crane looks cool but way to complicated.

Burp! · Post by **Burp!** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:49 pm

Also have a several drill guns(multiple batteries, with one always charging) with bits and sockets for your bolt type. Ratcheting will where you out.

Construction of Dome --- Sharing costs of lift

Construction of Dome --- Sharing costs of lift

no need..