42 fresh, uncut lengths of 3/4" EMT (electrical metal tubing) from Dome Depot

We cut the lengths into 2 sections for our frequency 2 dome using a bandsaw, then filed away the nasty burrs. A freq. 2 dome is still very strong, even with the 5 foot struts.

Using a hand driven hydraulic press, we flattened the ends of the struts. We used a jig, so that we could
quickly slide struts in and out. This process was very slow and time consuming. BTW, for anyone who hasn't used a hydraulic press, please realize that they aren't electric or anything, you still have to pull/push a lever to flatten the things. Some might be electric, but not the one we used. Bring a couple of your friends or this will be much more tedious. Our friend traded us time in his machine shop for some good beer. *drink afterward*

Delirious from hours of flattening..

And we thought the flattening was slow..
Drilling the holes was even more tedious. Well, not so much tedious as it was just painful. I really thought the drill press was going to explode or melt or something. We destroyed about 10 bits. As the drill pushed through the EMT it was the loudest, most jarring sound imaginable, and when the bits would bind up, siezing the drill instantaenously, it was just.. painful. Use lots and lots and lots of cooling!! A constant, steady stream of oil squirting right on the hole will help a lot (we found out towards the end, sadly). I would NOT reccomend trying a hand drill here.

A simple jig for bending the struts to their correct angle. Simply push the strut until it hits the railing. At this stage don't worry too much about 1 or 4 degrees. The struts will shape themselves when you build the dome the first time.

They didn't believe that it would work! They said we would fail!

Assembling top-down is the way to go. We've tried both - bottom up requires more people to hold struts in place. The upside is that they don't have to hold as much weight. I would rather do it a simpler way (top down) with fewer people to get it done quick.

Done! Wha ha ha!

It may help to color code the dome. Our color coding was black at the top 5 vertices, white on the next level, and red at the bottom.
That way when you want to put it together quickly, you can easily grab a "white and red" or a "red and red". Even in low light.

Even though it uses 5' strut lengths, it is still very strong. We were able to hang a skychair
and a hammock easily. We could climb on it, as long as the weight was not applied to the middle of a strut. Weight bearing must happen at a vertex!

To test the structural integrity, we decided to push it to the point of failure.
To do this, we applied more and more weight, closer and closer to the middle of a strut.
Eventually, the strut folded, but it took a relatively heavy (180 lb) person hanging
and kind of bouncing up and down before it did. When the strut folded, it
was the only one that did. In other words, just because one strut folds, doesn't
mean the structure will come down. Quite the opposite! (It does however, lose its
nice rigidity..)

EMAIL FOR QUESTIONS/DETAILS/WHATEVER : kristopher.collins@gmail.com