PopLab: Geodesic Dome

Want to make a geodesic cardboard dome fort like Miss Rita. Here’s her tips and tricks. And be sure to tune into PoPLab every Saturday on our Facebook page!

Messy level: 2 (a lot of cardboard scraps)
(5 = Super messy. 1 = Not messy at all.)

Materials

• Cardboard (a lot)
• Duct tape
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Box cutter
• Cutting Board

Instructions

When researching for this episode, we found that these articles are the ones that helped the most.

Instructables: Cardboard Play Dome

Makercamp: Dome Den

What we learned

1. Make templates.

2. Make sure your longest triangle edge is along the bottom or top crease of the box you’re cutting out. This will save you the time of scoring that side and you’ll automatically know which side is the longest.

3. Don’t attempt to complete the project in a day. It’s much easier and less stress to do it over the course of a couple of days.

4. Assembling is easier with two people.

5. Try to use cardboard that hasn’t been crushed or damaged.

6. Produce boxes are thicker than regular boxes and work well as a base for the dome.

7. Once all the hexagons are roughly taped together, it’s easier to go in and secure everything if you place the dome up on some chairs so that you can get inside. (We used the Museum’s Big Blue Blocks.)

8. Use the strongest duct tape you can find. It’ll save you so much time.

9. Tortoises love it.