Hi All,
I made some progress after a long break from just before Thanksgiving till now. My Exploradome is nearly ready to be lifted into place. The framing is partly done. I was going to use corugated metal for the outer walls, but it would be very hard to mount without some framing to hold it in place.
I'll attach a photo soon, but in a nutshell:
I used 2x3 lumber cut to 6 foot lengths (18 of them) 1 4x8 sheet of plywood cut into curved strips to be used as the base plate and crown. I needed a wooden ring. The studs were screwed and glued to the plywood strips three at a time. It looked like I was building six rocking chairs. They were tilted up and pretty much follow the curve of the round base slab, but about an inch inside that diameter. The studs ended up about 16 inches on center, but are flat to the wall, not perpendicular.
The plastic ring is in place but still not perfectly round. I'll have to lift it out, put some preload on the wood ring formed by layers of plywood, then force it to conform to the shape of that ring. The other method of deforming it's shape into a circle is cabling and shims to place greater inward pressure at the wider points. Keep in mind it is now only about half an inch out.
I agree with using more wheels, and intend to pick up a few here in town. They are not all that uncommon.
More news and photos soon. Oh...Andy, feel free to call. I'm still working killer hours, but I'm alive!
Thanks,
Steve
I made some progress after a long break from just before Thanksgiving till now. My Exploradome is nearly ready to be lifted into place. The framing is partly done. I was going to use corugated metal for the outer walls, but it would be very hard to mount without some framing to hold it in place.
I'll attach a photo soon, but in a nutshell:
I used 2x3 lumber cut to 6 foot lengths (18 of them) 1 4x8 sheet of plywood cut into curved strips to be used as the base plate and crown. I needed a wooden ring. The studs were screwed and glued to the plywood strips three at a time. It looked like I was building six rocking chairs. They were tilted up and pretty much follow the curve of the round base slab, but about an inch inside that diameter. The studs ended up about 16 inches on center, but are flat to the wall, not perpendicular.
The plastic ring is in place but still not perfectly round. I'll have to lift it out, put some preload on the wood ring formed by layers of plywood, then force it to conform to the shape of that ring. The other method of deforming it's shape into a circle is cabling and shims to place greater inward pressure at the wider points. Keep in mind it is now only about half an inch out.
I agree with using more wheels, and intend to pick up a few here in town. They are not all that uncommon.
More news and photos soon. Oh...Andy, feel free to call. I'm still working killer hours, but I'm alive!
Thanks,
Steve
