Greenhouse: Building a geodesic dome greenhouse, 0 by tropicalaria

tropicalaria wrote:
We next went back and added the rest of the side struts, leaving only the open pentagon on top.

Here's a closeup of one of the hub connections, showing how everything is attached. The first screw is attached closer to the hub, at an angle. I actually insert the screw at a steep angle and then pry it back to tension the strap a bit. When the screw goes all the way in, it tensions the strap even more, taking all of the slack out of it and pulling the joint tightly together. The second screw is then placed further out to provide greater strength. This being cedar, the wood is quite soft, so two connections is a must. Also the second screw prevents the connection from rotating, adding more stability. As I mentioned above, these are 22 gauge straps, so they're a bit stiff to work with, but strong. My DW actually climbed up onto the first tier at one point when we were pushing the connections into place, and I can attest that the joints are better able to support weight than the struts themselves.

She's the one that said that I should include this closeup photo, but she didn't know that I was going to mention her climbing up on the structure. :)