One frequency dome covering

[eigenstates]

So I took the advice- got the starplates- incredible. Gonne use the 8' wall studs for the struts.

Question is- what is the math for coervering this thing. I know that if I want to make the top have only one seam, I have to leave an empty triangle- what is the degree of the angle of the empty space?

Any ideas for the bottom? I am using canvas drop cloth.

Thanks

[capjbadger]

The instructions should also give you covering ideas.

The bottom walls are easy. One rectangle piece will wrap around it nice and flat.

The top has a little more to it, but not much. Make a stencil of one triangle. Trace it 5 times on the tarp you're using so you end up with a hexagon with one wedge missing. Cut out the whole thing as one piece so you end up with a "pacman" looking shape. The edges of the "mouth" is your seam. Make sure you leave some extra for the seam joining.

Make sense?

[Ugly Dougly]

Starplates are the shiznit! <3
Can you erect the dome at home first?

Try astroturf for the floor; feels nice on barefeets.

Maybe shadecloth from teh gardening store for the walls, allowing a flow-through effect without the dusty aftertaste. You can get silvery plastic tarp for the cieling; others suggest a double layer there.

Happy camping!

[eigenstates]

The instructions should also give you covering ideas.

The bottom walls are easy. One rectangle piece will wrap around it nice and flat.

The top has a little more to it, but not much. Make a stencil of one triangle. Trace it 5 times on the tarp you're using so you end up with a hexagon with one wedge missing. Cut out the whole thing as one piece so you end up with a "pacman" looking shape. The edges of the "mouth" is your seam. Make sure you leave some extra for the seam joining.

Make sense? :)

`

It do make sense- however- is it really a hexagon? I thought the 'mouth' would have been more narrow?

[Ugly Dougly]

The mouth? You mean the doorway? When we put up a stardome, it was in my abscence, and the knuckleheads decided that one of the triangles that stood on it's apex was to be the doorway, so we made a step and constantly had to climb over this to get in. Obviously the better doorway is one of the triangles that points up.

[capjbadger]

It do make sense- however- is it really a hexagon? I thought the 'mouth' would have been more narrow?

Nope, the "mouth" is the same size as all the other triangles. Follow this thought...
A one frequency dome is made up of struts that are all the same length, right? So that makes all the triangles equilateral triangles. If you take 6 equilateral triangles and lay them out, you get a hexagon. You're just removing one of those triangles and sewing it to end up with a pentagon (like the top of your dome) but since the angles are "hexagon" angles, your pentagon becomes domed shaped just like the top of your dome.

Cut out some paper and try it out on a smaller scale. Might make more sense than what I can type here. Trust me, this works.

[capjbadger]

The mouth? You mean the doorway? When we put up a stardome, it was in my abscence, and the knuckleheads decided that one of the triangles that stood on it's apex was to be the doorway, so we made a step and constantly had to climb over this to get in. Obviously the better doorway is one of the triangles that points up.

No, not the door. The "mouth" we were talking about was my Pacman imagery.