Rain Dome

[Anonymous No.175694]

Just thought I'd share this project with /sci/; I'm putting together a small (21ft diameter) geodesic dome skeleton with a transparent plastic membrane on an elevated wooden base. Inside there will be a rug, a recliner, and two electric blankets (one to go under, one to go over). This is a place to curl up with a good book and read during rainstorms which are frequent where I live. I want to be out in the rain to enjoy the sound look and feel while staying warm and dry. Power will be supplied via buried extension cord and internet via cantenna.

It is a frivolous luxury but one I thought some here might appreciate and want to make their own.

[Anonymous No.175697]

Oh great, I mistakenly said /sci/ instead of /diy/. Now every comment will be about that instead of the topic.

[Anonymous No.175700]

enjoy going deaf kid

[Anonymous No.175704]

How are you planning on covering it? Individual panels, strips or one sheet of plastic? How are you leak proofing it? Also, 21ft is a little oversized for an easy chair, you sure you're not going to be living in this thing? I've got a 16ft modified 1V and I comfortably camp in mine over the summer.

[Anonymous No.175705]

I used to do this with blankets and a giant beach umbrella. i know that feeling you are going for op

[Anonymous No.175711]

>>175700

THIS

I'd srsly think about using glass, or several layers of plastic to try and attenuate the massive amounts of noise this is going to make.

Still sounds like a nice idea, I may look at making a geodesic greenhouse for my chilies and accidentally make it large enough to fit a chair inside.

[Anonymous No.175718]

>>175700
>>175711
hur dur rain drops gonna make me deaf

[Anonymous No.175722]

>>175718

Sitting inside a giant drum while 1000 drummers go to town on it will.

[Anonymous No.175724]

>>175718

The kid guy troll once told me I was going to go deaf from building a giant ball pit in my spare bedroom. He said the sound of the balls banging around would harm my hearing and the neighbors would hear it across the street from me it would be so loud.

I think something traumatic happened to the kid guy with sound when he was small child, like his grandpa blared an air horn at the back of his head while he received his daily molesting.

[Anonymous No.175727]

>>175724

Oh you. Did you make the ball pit?

[Anonymous No.175729]

>>175718
I've been in structures like that during a hard rainstorm. It is pretty fucking loud. So loud that you can not hold a verbal conversation at all, even when yelling. The instant solution is to not have the material stretched tight. It doesn't need to be sagging loose, just not drum tight.

[Anonymous No.175730]

>>175722
>>175711
>>175700

The type of UV and fire resistant plastic that you would want to use for this type of structure does not make a good drum skin. The sound isn't any any worse than rain on a tent cover or a metal roof and yes I know from personal experience not the power of imagination since I work for a company that builds fabric, poly and vinyl structures.

[Anonymous No.175732]

>>175727

Not yet, but I'm going to. I'm still looking around for the best deal on balls, or ideally some place to snag them for free. (It costs a fuckton more than they're worth to have them shipped.)

[Anonymous No.175734]

>>175724
>>175732
proof your a kid, you cant build it can you kid?

[Anonymous No.175737]

I want to use a single sheet of plastic for precisely that reason, but most DIY domes covered that way look aesthetically terrible. If I go the panel route I will be using cut to spec pieces of lexan and silicone gel sealant.

[Anonymous No.175739]

>>175730
>>175729
I don't know guys, I've spent the first 14 years of my life living in plastic-sheathed geodesic structures and they're loud as fuck no matter what kind of material you're putting over them or what tension (easier said than done btw - difficult to stretch a simple plane over the curved one as you will find out) you can pull them to.

Plastic is loud. Dear god it's loud. I got used to it but it took years.

OP might consider putting a roof vent and a screened-in skirt around the bottom row so he can enjoy it during nice weather too. They get hot as fuck.

>>175724

There is no kid guy, kid. Everyone says kid, kid. Stop being a kid about it, kid.

[Anonymous No.175740]

>>175734

[Anonymous No.175749]

>>175740
>wants to build kids play equipment
>not a kid

[Anonymous No.175760]

>>175737

Layout the projection of the dome's surface as it would look if you 'unwrapped' it (see picture for the idea). Depending on the dome size you might be able to get this all out of one sheet of plastic but usually you'll need to use more than one and just match up the seams. You do have to have the right equipment to weld plastic for this but there are lots of tutorials online as to how to do this on the cheap.

This way you can get a form fitting cover that won't leak. The only downside is that if you accidentally punch a hole in it you need to replace the whole thing.

Oh, and securing it to the dome so it doesn't flap is a bit of a bitch as well but not impossible.

[Anonymous No.175761]

>>175739

Sounds like you had a fun childhood. The noise is manageable if you use a heavier vinyl which has more of a thud sound when hit by rain vs the sharp crack of harder poly materials. It's also a good idea to put some other barrier between you and the roof if you're trying to sleep in the damn thing during a rainstorm though.

[Anonymous No.175763]

>>175760

oh fuck I forgot the picture, here it is lol.

[Anonymous No.175767]

don't lay on top of an electric blanket

[Anonymous No.175768]

>>175767

Especially not in the rain haha.

[not_me No.175771]

Looks like this thread turned to shit pretty quickly.

But, kidders gonna kid, I guess.

Anyway, OP, I think you've got a great idea. It's gonna be pretty loud, but you (and the portion of /diy/ that doesn't suck) will figure out how to get around that.

I'd recommend putting at least one of those dome shaped windows I've seen on ships that protrudes out from windows on the bridge. You can see through them when it rains without the use of wipers or blowers, but I have no idea what they're called.

>pic related

[Anonymous No.175780]

Why not put glass in evey triangle and seal it good I know that increase costs dramatically but the noise would be muffled and you could actually see the rain ?

[Anonymous No.175781]

I would also create a storage or sleeping area in the area beneath the elevated wooden structure . Also I was wondering how you plan on burying the extension cord ?

[Anonymous No.175786]

can you make this yourself like from cutting the wood and then stapling or nailing them together what kind of wood would you use ? How do you secure it to the ground or the wooden structure it will res on ?

[Anonymous No.175791]

>>175771

I thought those little windows had a motor in them, which rotated them fast enough to throw water away.

[Anonymous No.175792]

The entry will be a removable piece as in the picture or a door like structure ? also what would be the pros and cons of using plastic beams for the actual structure ?

[Anonymous No.175797]

>>175780

If you feel like making that many windowframes and cutting that much glass, go to it. It's not a very practical way for one person to accomplish this design though.

No, I'd say that if it's your first time building a dome that you should experiment with poly sheeting at first since it's cheap and readily available so it won't hurt too much when you make mistakes. Once you've got your methods for covering the dome and attaching the sheeting to the structure sorted out you can always replace the poly with a better, more expensive material. I will give you one hint though, if you attach wooden spacers to the outside edges of the dome structure it saves you from damaging the structure itself while you're attaching and removing any covering you may be using.

[Anonymous No.175799]

>>175797 Only a weak lazy ignorant fool would not do something because of the difficulty I assume we are all adults who could reasonably accomplish something that a mexican does everyday ?

[Anonymous No.175801]

>>175694
Geodesic domes are awsome becuase their structural strenght scales faster than the load of the structures, thus you can build one huuueg.

Dunno really about a small one, I could imagine other more classical structure involving large glass panes to be better chillout spaces, not to mention better insulators.

If you stick to the dome concept and go with plastics, put some vibration abosrbing material between the plastic and wood. And consider to use a thick hairy mat or other sound absorbing furniture or additions to dampen the hammering of the rain(if you belive that to be a problem).

[Anonymous No.175802]

>>175786

You can cut all of the struts easily enough according to plans you can find online. You don't want to nail this together since you might need to reposition things as you put the dome up so the best way is to use a peg and wafer system as in the picture or if you feel like doing some really complicated miter joints you can cut the pieces so that you can screw them together.

As for anchoring, you either build a deck you screw it to which would be advisable if it's going to contain furniture or if it's going to be something like a greenhouse on open lawn you can use land anchors to tie it down securely.

[Anonymous No.175807]

>>175792

What do you mean plastic beams? Like extruded plastic lumber or plastic PVC pipe? Both would be hard to work with. The extruded plastic is a pain in the ass to cut and drill and is heavy as shit and the PVC pipe would be too flexible unless you used large diameter thick walled stuff in which case it would be really expensive.

If you want to do less cutting or if you're better with metalwork than wood you can use EMT, that's the metal tubing you see outside buildings that contains the electrical wires if you're not sure. With that stuff you just have to flatten the ends, bend them to the right angles, drill them and bolt them together. The only problem is you need to cover them with one large sheet of material or figure out some fancy way of attaching leak proof fasteners to them that will hold whatever type of panel you are using.

[Anonymous No.175823]

>>175791
Maybe they do have motors in them. I have no idea how they work, only that they do work (although I admit I don't know how well or if it'd be worth it to install one or more)

I tried Googling to find out about them, but didn't find anything. I don't even know what they're called!

[Anonymous No.175825]

I have two translucent rooflights in my room. Rainy nights are so fucking great.

[Mr. Married !!aLfIg3pjRUP No.175828]

I've been dieing to build one of these in my back yard, for storage, projects, and maybe a place to hide when my wife is being psycho.

Any tips for doing it on a budget? How about making it water-proof and insulated?

[Anonymous No.175834]

>>175828

If you want to insulate it, it would be best to do solid walls so that you can secure the insulation and have a nicer finish. If you still want to use a flexible material cover then you'll have to insulate it like a yurt using fabric like old blankets (probably a bad idea unless the structure is heated since it'll retain moisture and eventually mold) or you could use foil insulation but it would be ugly as sin so unless the structure is a utility building like a chicken coop or greenhouse it still isn't a good option.

If you're trying to build a solid walled structure on the cheap the best way to do it is to accumulate the materials slowly, taking advantage of deals and steals as you come across them. I check with my local lumberyard on a regular basis to see if they have any seconds or rougher boards that have been picked over and rejected. Often times you can get usable material for next to nothing if you ask the foreman, just don't expect top quality.

[Anonymous No.175838]

http://torrentbox.com/download/1601149/DIYSelf-Sufficiency.torrent

There's a book in this torrent called Cloudburst in the Recipes, Plans and Processes folder that starts with a 16ft dome project. It's not the same one I've built but it covers the necessary information.

Make sure to seed if you download.

[Anonymous No.175860]

>>175823

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen

ta - da !

[Anonymous No.175912]

>>175694
You're the guy who wrote the "homeless guide" for your friend, aren't you?

This shit will be loud and get very hot quickly. Make some sort of ventilation system and use a thicker vinyl material to damper that some what. You might also look at covering the inside of the dome too. This will provide you with some dampening as you can allow the outside to be a little less taught as well as act as a safeguard against leaks.

Frame going to be wood or PVC or what?

[Anonymous No.176027]

>>175838
Thank you.

[Anonymous No.176595]

>>176027

Just remember to seed, that's all the thanks I need. Hey it even rhymes!

[­­ No.176746]

>>175838

torrentnewb here, I did the link and it took me to another site and cant find the torrent..

[Anonymous No.176754]

>>176746
ay good sir I had the same issue as a fellow amerifag anywho here is the url that you are looking for. http://isohunt.com/lite/files/378057753/

[Anonymous No.177045]

>>176754

This is the isohunt listing of all the files in the torrent, can also download from here
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/378057753/self+sufficiency?tab=summary

I'm glad this torrent is getting so much attention, maybe I'll do a supplemental release sometime in the future but I think this is enough reading material for most people for a while.

I actually compiled this in response to the 4chan community thread being such a disapointment. I figured that the main problem was everyone was speculating about what needed to be done but didn't have enough information to make educated decisions about what was necessary for such a project.

Maybe having something like this will allow people to get a start on the projects that they want to accomplish. If anyone is still interested in intentional communities there's even a book in the Planning folder about them.

Cheers!

[Anonymous No.177058]

>>177045
"This torrent has been censored as required by US courts."
>Okay.jpg

[Anonymous No.177066]

>>175834
My area is particularly hot....south Texas. Cold is not a concern, but heat really is...we have about 8-9 months of 90F + weather.

I wouldn't mind setting it up as a temporary storage area and then later transitioning it into something I could use as extra living space.

[Anonymous No.177678]

>>177058

The jackboot moves quickly.

[not_me No.177679]

>>175860
Thanks Anon!
>Rule 7

[Anonymous No.177705]

Wear noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs so the rain wouldn't drum so hard. Or just make it out of glass/plexi, that way you could see your garden getting soaked.

Leek-proof the same way you leak-proof a polytunnel.

[Anonymous No.177708]

>>177045
>>177058
Paste the man a fucking magnet link already, you scrubs. Torrent files are so 2011.

[Anonymous No.177765]

Make sure, of course, that the floor is elevated enough that water doesn't leak in under it and flood you out.

[Anonymous No.177766]

>>177705
>leek-proof

When the vegetables rise up against their oppressors, OP will be prepared.

[Anonymous No.177780]

Noise won't be a problem if you make it from thicker stuff and don't stretch it tight, as people have already told.
When was the last time someone complained that being inside a tent in a rain sounded like "1000 drummers" ?

If you want it to be clear, heat from the sun is going to be a big problem during the days.
This is of course negligible if you _only_ use it during rain, but building some kind of water resistant ventilation would be advisable, as would building it in a shadowy place.
Unless you want to build a sauna.

[­­ No.177832]

>>177045

Do I download each link seperately or is there a way to do all files at once?

[Anonymous No.177933]

>>177058
>>177678
>>177708
>>177832

Here's the .torrent file for anyone else having issues.

http://www.mediafire.com/?vv73urb7f84w5l3