Preliminary Construction

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 Sanity Test Assembly

Prior to continuing 'mass' production of the 'sticks' it seemed a good idea to assemble a hub or two to check that there were not gotchas in the process so far. I selected the topmost pentagon of the design....5 triangles of 2 short sticks (A) and 1 medium (B) were used.





5 'A' and 5 'B' sticks + kit


Attach the Ball Joints to the 'sticks'







Press the Ball Joint into the 'Hub'


Complete all of the 'Hub' Connections and lock with washer, bolt and  winged nut.



5 satellite Hubs to form triangles complete the uppermost pentagon of the Geodome.

There is plenty of freedom in the Hubs which will reduce as you tighthen the locking plates (washers) using the winged nut and bolt. 

No Issues were seen as yet and I need to reread the Design Advisory notes as they recommend a max stick diameter of 3.4cm and from my version above....no such limitation comes into play. Looking at their publicity shot its possible that if the sticks below were not tapered they may start to inhibit each others movement...particularly in the case of a Hexaghonal hub...where everything is somewhat closer together.


Pentagonal Hub using 'tapered' stick design.


For just now....I am happy and its back to making more sticks for the fore-seeable future. In parallel I have started to launch enquiries on polythene covers etc which I hope to report on in the near future.


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