instructables

Cardboard Geodesic Dome

by skvely

This tutorial will show you how to build a small geodesic dome out of cardboard. I originally made mine for my cat,
but you can use the principles in this tutorial to scale this up or down to t your needs. This took about 5 hours.

Supplies:

Cardboard (not too thick)*

A few sheets of paper
X-acto knife or box cutter
Pencil
Fine-tip ball-point pen
Ruler
Stapler/staples or brads

*I had about 2500 in² (17.5 ft²) and used most, but not all of it.

Step 1: Choose Dome Size

There are two main decisions you need to make about your dome: (1) What 'level' of dome complexity and (2) how
big you want it.

(1) The idea behind a geodesic dome is to take a perfect (half ) sphere and tessellate, or give at faces to it. The more
faces, the more it smooth it is like the sphere. There are many levels of tessellation, but for the sake of my sanity, I
chose "2V" (as de ned by Desert Domes website), which has 40 faces. If you want to choose higher levels, be my
guest, you can see the details in link.

(2) Now, you need to decide how big you want your dome to be. This will be entirely up to you, based on the amount
of cardboard you have and what you intend to use your dome for. Here are some handy dome dimension
calculators for a "2V" dome, which has 10 AAA triangles and 30 ABB triangles:

Calculate dimensions based on dome radius

Calculate dimensions based on strut/triangle size

I recommend using the radius method (note that it is ra dius , not diameter!) to get a rough triangle size, then use
the triangle size calculator if you want to use rounder numbers.

Cardboard Geodesic Dome: Page 1

If you want to follow my example, I used 13" (shooting for a 26" diameter dome) to get a rough triangle size, then
rounded the A length to 8", which gives a B length of 7 1/16" for a nal radius of 12.9443".

Step 2: Create Triangle Templates

A "2V" dome has two types of triangles: AAA and ABB, where A and B represent di erent lengths. To cut these out of
cardboard, you will need to create templates out of paper.

If you want to make your own templates, here is how I recommend doing it:

1. Near the bottom of a piece of paper, draw a line horizontally representing the base of the triangle,
that is A long (in my case, 8")
2. Find the middle of this line, and draw a perpendicular line vertically.
3. Place one end of the ruler at the end of the horizontal line, then intersect the ruler with the vertical
line at the distance of the other two sides (either A or B, depending on the triangle).
4. Draw the third side, connecting the ends of the rst two lines.
5. Draw parallel lines to each side a certain distance away. These will be aps that are used to connect
the triangles. I made mine 5/8".
6. Make angled lines around each corner so that when you fold the aps up they don't hit each other. I
made mine 1/2" away from each corner.
7. Draw a series of dots along the inner triangle. I spaced mine 1" apart.

You will need to trace around these templates, so I recommend using thick paper or cardstock.

If you want to make templates the same size as mine, I have provided PDF les below for the AAA and ABB triangles.
When you print them, be sure your printer options are set to "Actual Size" and not "Scale to Fit Page".

Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FS8/1VO4/K9G9OARB/FS81VO4K9G9OARB.pdf
…

Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FMP/AGDB/K9G9OARC/FMPAGDBK9G9OARC.pdf
…

Step 3: Trace Triangles

Use your templates to trace the necessary triangles onto your cardboard. Some things to note:

Cardboard Geodesic Dome: Page 2

 Put the glossy side of the cardboard do w n , trace on the dull side.
Alternate your triangles up/down to save space

I found the best way to trace the triangles was to:

1. Firmly hold the paper down the whole time to avoid slipping
2. Draw a dot at each corner (helps to realign triangle if it slips)
3. Manually trace the angled corner sections with pencil
4. Use the ruler to help trace the long edges (dull pencil helps)
5. Use the ball-point pen or other sharp object to poke holes into the cardboard (through the dots in
the template) along the fold edge

Step 4: Cut Out Triangles

This is the most e ective way I found to cut out the triangles:

Don't use scissors, it will bend the cardboard too much.

Use X-Acto knife or box cutter to score/cut the top layer of cardboard
Lift the cardboard up and push the knife all the way through to cut the other layer(s)

Step 5: Fold Flaps

Use a hard ruler to fold each ap up along the perforated line.

Cardboard Geodesic Dome: Page 3

Step 6: Assemble the Dome

Assemble the dome according the diagram, keeping the triangle down.
the seams on the inside.
I suspect you could use brads to similar e ect, or
I used staples, 3 in each edge, but it was di cult to come up with your own solution.
get the staples through. I used a larger stapler for
edges where I could fold the triangle down to get If you want to leave a cat door, leave o one of the
better access to the edge, and a smaller stapler (with lower AAA triangles.
less "lip") to do the nal edges where I couldn't fold

Step 7: Insert Cat

If your cat is anything like mine, this will be no trouble at all.

Great job! What are the chances of getting a copy of your original plans/ diagrams?, as I'm not the
sharpest tack, and it would be incredibly helpful if I could just print your drawings, and trace them
to the cardboard to make one for my cat. Thanks!
I added printable templates, enjoy.

Cardboard Geodesic Dome: Page 4

Thank you very much! Keep up the great work.

There are some measurements missing in "3" and "4". My 10yr oldcould not follow the original
instructions as you stated to form the templates. Neither could I.
I added a printable template, if that helps.

The measurements I used are at the end of step one (where you determine what size you want).
It's 8 inches for A and 7 1/16 inches for B, if you want to make one the same size as mine.
Thanks

Thanks! I added walls and inverted a section to make a satellite dish.

So cool!

I took a philosophy class from Bucky Fuller in 1969 at Southern Illinois University. He loved to talk.
He also invented the geodisic dome.
No. Walther Bauersfeld came up with the idea 20 yrs before Fuller (
Geodesic dome - Wikipedia)
. Fuller is credited with naming it. That is like saying that columbus discovered america. How do
you discover something that is already populated by many others and has been visited many times
by other cultures as well.
I stand corrected. Thanks for the information. There seems to be some confusion on the subject.
Encyclopedia Britannica gives some credit to Fuller
https://www.britannica.com/technology/geodesic-dome . But I have a feeling he just popularized an
existing idea. I built one in 1988. There was lots of volume but nothing seemed to fit in it. I used it
as storage but there was little floor space and lots of mid level space.
Are you sure inserting the cat is easy? Yours looks skeptical in the picture. :)

I assure you she loves it. She has claimed it as her own.

Aw. I stand corrected... =^.^=

For attaching the triangles, I recommend getting a BIG needle, and sewing it together with string.
(Push holes first with a spike.) This has the advantage that you can easily maintain / upgrade /
dismantle the structure.
I made mine a little bit bigger but being stuck at home I had all the time in the world to figure it out.
It includes lighting, TV built in to the wall and shelves.

Looks awesome! I considered making mine child-sized, but wasn't sure I had enough cardboard (or
motivation). I should have mentioned you can put rectangles on the bottom to lift it higher, glad to
see you had the idea too.
Thank you! My main motivation was not having to watch gaming videos on YouTube anymore
But it took 5 large cardboard boxes and a pack of glue sticks. Lots of time and patience.
Regarding the teal table with yellow lines, it looks like the kind of thing that would have a variety of
different applications but: What is it primarily sold as/ What do people mostly use it for?
Sewing/quilting? Matting/framing?
You use it with a rotary cutter, sort of like a very sharp pizza cutter, used in cutting fabric.

It's a rotary cutting mat (you'll sometimes see it called "self-healing") used for quilting/sewing.

What a great idea. Your instructable is beautifully done with great pictures.

You could, but since the ABB triangles come in groups of 5, you'd have to make 2 templates for
them (one combined, one separate). You'd also have to make sure the distance between the two
joined triangles is the same as the distance between two separate ones. You couldn't do it for AAA
triangles, since they don't join along an edge.
Cardboard Geodesic Dome: Page 5
Great post, thank you.Popular Science made a human size one in the early 70’s I wondered if you
could made it with the corrugated plastic like they use for large campaign signs or foam. Then paint
it with rubber roof paint. It would have to be attached to a platform. That would be more durable
then the tents used be displaced persons.
I remember Popular Mechanics building one of these as a kid's playhouse back in the 60's. They
claimed that if you spray painted the cardboard it would withstand the weather for quite some time.
Yes! I built the very one, about 10 inches in diameter, and mounted it on thin plywood with wood
glue. Then I painted it forest green, mounted the ply on the end of a 2x2 stick, and put it up as a
bird house. A common English sparrow moved in and built a nest but that color was the undoing of
the progeny: the eggs hard boiled in the heat of the sun. Geez. Still, it lasted two Alaskan winters
before I took it down. Thanks for the memory!
Very nice Instructable. I made my cats a couple of quonset huts out of cardboard boxes and tee
shirts. I had some sheets of thick foam to make the arches out of. So far the cats haven't destroyed
either of them.

Good work. You should enter this in the cardboard challenge.

I built model domes years ago, but lost interest. I found the easiest way was to draw a pattern on a
sheet of paper and then copy the sheet of paper. The results are not as durable as cardboard but
easier, and just as visually pleasing. If you must build out of cardboard, I suggest using "beer
carton stock" ( it is also used to package some ice cream products). It is easily cut with scissors
and is pretty much impervious to water. It is not corrugated.

https://www.google.com/search?
ei=sFqcXp3wPIjatQavjo_gCw&q=beer+carton+stock+paperboard&oq=beer+carton+stock+&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgCMgUIIRCgATIFCCEQoAEyBQ
ab

If you get serious about designing domes, you need to learn spherical trigonometry. Once
mastered, you can design any frequency dome you want.
It that a video on step one? its not working if it is, or maybe it a picture with a youtube arrow on it
and its confused.
It is not a video. I used a gif (not animated) that looked fine in every viewer except when added to
instructables. I replaced with a jpg. Looks a little worse, but doesn't have the white thing in the
middle.
Thanks thats a great instructable im sure the cat will tear it to bits in no time :-)
Maybe that just my cat
it eats boxs for breakfast!

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