3D Printing Forum

This?

For some unfathomable reason I decided to build a geodesic dome sukkah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkah, and all very last minute-ish. The pipes are 22mm overflow, and the cloth is ripstop nylon, but all the connector hubs, feet and cloth clips (around 450 parts in total) were 3D printed. I didn't have the time to run any proper tests, so the hubs were very much a case of on-the-fly thinking. I tried using hot glue, but in the end we used around 400 screws to hold the whole thing together. Two of my daughters, aged 12 and 14, ended up doing most of the build because they decided it would be fun. It was, and crazy complicated to boot, but well worth it in the end.

It's roughly 4.6m at it's greatest diameter.

It was built top-down because it stands around 3m high and we don't have any suitable ladders. It's really light, so we drove pipes into the ground to anchor it.

I believe it's two world firsts: first (partially) 3d printed sukkah, and first geodesic dome sukkah.

We have tons of ideas for improvement for next year!

Almost complete:



Frame complete:



This should give you an idea of the scale:



An overhead view:

Given the fact that Sukkot has been going on since November 16, and ends the day after tomorrow... What is the strength of the geodesic dome? It is resistant to wind? Very strange sukkah, i think

Given the fact that Sukkot has been going on since November 16, and ends the day after tomorrow... What is the strength of the geodesic dome? It is resistant to wind?

So far it has held up really well. I should have really completed the bottom of the dome properly instead of using straight poles, because they allow the structure wobble a bit. That's one of the improvements we're planning on already.

Very strange sukkah, i think

Yup, and it has garnered a lot of attention in my neighbourhood. We have had hundreds of visitors. When it was being built most people thought we were constructing a climbing frame! It is, however, fully compliant with all the rules so it is a genuine sukkah. We have had a wonderful time using it, and managed to fit 20 people in for a meal, so there is plenty room.

My kids are insisting that next year we get rid of the chairs and tables and use beanbags and coffee tables instead, just to liven things up a bit.

Amazing what one can do with a 3D printer these days.

Alas, we have now, with the outside temperature around +1 Celsius to build the sukkah does not make much sense. Are you planning to put the model on Youmagine?

ivan.akapulko wrote:Alas, we have now, with the outside temperature around +1 Celsius to build the sukkah does not make much sense.

Well, Manchester is hardly tropical, so another improvement I'm considering is to use space blanket foil underneath the nylon with bubble wrap between the two for insulation.

ivan.akapulko wrote:Are you planning to put the model on Youmagine?

Not just yet. The Blender file I have is typical of a rushed project, totally unusable in its current state. As it is, there are quite a few improvements to the hubs that ought to be made to make them much easier to assemble, for starters not using screws which was a quick hack due to time constraints.

I'm stuck with the pipes I bought (don't want to spend a small fortune on thicker, heavier pipes) but I think that anyone wanting to build a dome should go for better quality pipe of a considerably greater diameter.

What with all the interest garnered in the press (various Jewish newspapers) I'm thinking of developing a DIY kit so people can build their own, and that means the pipes for that are going to have to be heavier, the hubs will have to be self-locking and I will have to design an actual manual rather than relying on screen shots (which worked out in the end though; one of my daughters somehow memorised the whole thing in a few minutes). Also, all the cloth will have to be sewn properly, and the fixtures for that will have to be developed as well, I simply use C-shaped clips with teeth.

There are various other issues that have to be addressed as well, so I'm in for a long haul

I will try to upload pics at some point so you can see the hubs and cloth/cable clips.

I thought you might be hiding some advanced radar tracking under that structure

And who said I wasn't?

I live near RAF oak hanger in Hampshire and the RAF have several very large domes in the area, I wonder if I put one in the back garden they may get confused

I can send you the plans, and you can go ahead with your evil plans and send us photos of jets landing in your garden. I'm fairly certain that most of us here will be very entertained as you explain to the poor pilots why you are laughing.

Only very simple, in Faberdashery's Glowbug yellow getting ready for Halloween, 209mm wide, 2mm thick.

Going to stick it on my front door

Just finished a job on my hub, to be used as a mould for a University student. 4 sections 200mm tall and the 5th the bow 116mm, all printed in Faberdashery's Arctic white, at 100um, longest print 28.5 hours.

Nice....white is tricky to print, but you like the result from this brand?

Yes, Faberdashery is one of my goto filaments, very good quality, I've never had a problem with their range and they have lots of great colours.