Growing up my father bought a redwood and fiber glass Geodesic Dome kit and used it for a growing greehouse. It was so unusual and so I thought I would buid my own but the kits are not common to find on the east coast. The majority of Geodesic Domes are out west and very expansive to ship.  Plans are available on line so I decided to build my own. I knew the materials would be under $500.00 and involved a lot of repetative cutting using templates and jigd. I used 2 x 3 lumber and made the structure 15' in diameter. After  a month of cutting snd fabricating it too half a day to assemble on an existing concrete slab. The hardest part was cutting and framing the door opening which was done when the dome was complete.

A Lesson in Advanced Geometry

Building a Geodesic dome requires the proper

plans, layout, templating, and making jigs to

repeat the triangle members over and over.

There are only 2 triangle members: an 

equalaterial where all three sides are the same 

measurement and one that has the same 

measurement as the equalterial on one side

and the other two sides shorter but also the 

same measurement.  The three members that 

made each triangle requied a compound angle

cut both on the end and rip cut. Five triangles  

of tthe same type were bolted together to form a

hexagon. Final assembly connected all the 

hexagons together alternating the two types.