While reading Alex’s destroyed Burning Man plan I was inspired by his mention of a dome. I did some research that discovered that making a cool geodesic dome isn’t all that hard or expensive and would allow me some small bit of style at Burning Man. That’s really all it took to convince me.
One of the biggest problems people seem to have with making a conduit dome is flattening the ends of the conduit so that holes can be drilled for bolting. Some people recommended a vise, which really doesn’t work well. Some people recommended various hammers which they said would be hell. Some people used a arbor press which worked well but broke often. Everyone said a hydraulic press would be THE WAY to go.
These are pictures of my new hydraulic press.
I went to Home Depot after getting the press and bought 36 10′ pieces of 3/4″ conduit. This will give me all I need to build a 2v 8′ raduis dome. That gives me about 200^2′ to live in at Burning Man which should be nice and comfy!