Building a Geodesic Dome Greenhouse Part 2

Here is the second video in the series of building a geodesic dome greenhouse.  It covers 3 different hub designs (and failures) along with the details of how they are assembled.  I’m trying not to make them too boring, but after all, its just a bunch of diagrams, cutting and welding.  At least you can see some sparks fly!  There’s a couple of bloopers at the end too!
 

Below is the transcript from the video:

In this video I will discuss the hub design for this dome and the next video in the series will detail the strut design.  This is 3V 3/8th dome so it will require a total of 46 hubs consisting of twenty-five 6-way, six 5-way and fifteen 4-way hubs that will be used along the base.  Because of the large span, this dome is going to need a hub that can withstand a great deal of compression force.  Plus, it must be able to withstand the downward force from heavy snow loads during the winter.

The first hub design had hanger bolts anchored into the end of each strut.  The end of each bolt would go through a hole in a piece of schedule 40 3-1/2” steel pipe which was used at the hub.  The strut was tightened to the hub with a washer and nut.  This is the first prototype using the hanger bolt method and a PVC hub.  The triangulation between each section was extremely strong.  When I created a full scale prototype, the leverage of a full length strut and removal of the triangulated pieces cause the hanger bolts to easily pull out of the end of the struts.

The second hub design was similar to the hanger bolt design, except a hole was drilled through the strut and a washer and nut was inserted.  This was to create enough surface area to prevent the bolt from pulling through the wood.  However, testing a full scale prototype proved to be too much force against the strut and the bolt acted as a level and split the wood.

The third hub design is completely different. The strut is sandwiched between two spokes.  Flat bar-stock is welded to the hub at the appropriate angles and a bolt is placed through the top spoke, through the strut and fastened with a nut under the bottom spoke. This full-scale prototype shows how 4 spokes of a 6 spoke hub would be assembled.  A load test shows it can support my body weight on only 4 spokes, plus none of the other struts are used to strengthen the legs.  There was some slight bending of the bolts from my bouncing but there was no hardware failure.  Regardless, the final design will use 3/8th inch bolts instead of 5/16th.

The central hub is made from 3 ½” galvanized rigid conduit which is about ¼” thick.  The conduit is cut into 3 ½” lengths.  The galvanized zinc is ground off wherever the spokes are to be welded.  Please note that working with galvanized material, especially using abrasion cutting equipment or welding should be done in a well-ventilated area.  Also, you should always wear gloves and safety glasses.

I made up a jig that will safely hold the bar stock to the drill press.  It allows me to consistently drill a pilot hole in the same location near the end of the stock.  Since I have 480 holes to drill, creating jigs and templates is crucial for building an accurate hub.  Once the pilot holes are drilled, I switch over to a stepped bit that will finish the hole at the proper size.  I then flip the piece over and gently remove any tear-out from the bottom of the hole.  Once the holes are in the end of the stock, I then cut it to the correct lengths.  I built a stop for my abrasion saw so I could cut each piece to the same length.  After cutting off the ends, I can go back to the drill press and drill a new set of holes for the next set of spokes.

Now it’s time to start assembling!  This template has markings on it so I know where the locations are for the 5 spoke or 6 spoke hubs.  I just place the hub over the template and draw a small mark on the hub.

This jig is used to accurately weld the spokes to the hub.  The hub is placed over the post and each spoke is held in place with a pin.  By using this jig, I can weld a complete hub in less than 15 minutes.

All the pieces are welded together with a standard MIG welder.  Another safety note:  Please weld in a well-ventilated area and free from items that can catch on fire.  Also wear the appropriate gear to avoid burns from the hot metal and use a welding helmet to prevent blindness.  Keep fire suppression equipment nearby at all times.  No one else should be in the area while using a welder.

When each hub is complete, any dirt and rust is removed by sandblasting and is then painted with cold-galvanizing paint to prevent future rusting.  I hope you enjoyed this video on making a hub for the geodesic dome.  The next video will show how the struts are made.  Thanks for watching!

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Hanging It All On The Line

Why build support posts when you can use a super-strong dome?!?!




I needed to come up with a way to support and spread out some of my vine plants in the greenhouse. By removing a nut on the hubs and installing a coupling and eye bolt, it is an extremely strong point for attaching a cable system to act as a trellis.

Installing it is very simple, loop the cable through on one end and clamp it, feed it through another eye bolt on the other side of the dome, and bring it to another eye bolt to figure out the final length.  On this end, I loop it through a turn buckle.

Alright, moving right along….

Then just hook the turnbuckle into the last eye bolt and tighten the cable.

All that is left to do is to tie the plants on to the cables.  I also run some twine down to the grow beds so that the cucumbers can grow up it and attach to the wire.  Here’s a shot of the tomato and cucumber once they have really started to grow along the line.

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Expanded Shale for Hydroponics and Aquaponics

A little self promotion for my company....

Bigelow Brook Farm is pleased to announce a new partnership with The Aquaponic Source as a distributor for our expanded shale product line. The Aquaponic Source (www.TheAquaponicSource.com) specializes in a wide array of products providing complete solutions for the North American home aquaponic gardener. Along with their on-line store, they also provide an active and free community site filled with a vast array of aquaponic discussion topics and information for both novice and experienced users at www.AquaponicsCommunity.com. “We are extremely excited to be working with Bigelow Brook Farm and offer expanded shale to the aquaponic and hydroponic gardening communities. Finally there is a US based grow media with optimal growing properties!” says Sylvia Bernstein, President of The Aquaponic Source. “We think this will become a core component in the rapidly expanding soil-less growing market in North America.”

For more information about Expanded Shale, please visit our web site at www.BigelowBrook.com or www.ExpandedShale.com.

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Theft!

Hello to all my friends!

A follower has let me know that he saw one of my videos posted on another user’s YouTube channel.  I greatly appreciate the fact that they brought this to my attention.  I am always happy to produce and post videos which are always free for you to enjoy.  What I don’t like is some scumbag ripping and reposting my videos under their own channel.  It probably won’t be a surprise to you, but I am a YouTube partner and do receive some ad revenue from my videos.  (It’s very little, but every penny helps!)

If you happen to see one of my videos posted, and it’s not from the Web4Deb channel, I would be very grateful if you notify me of this theft.  Thank you for your support and I look forward to providing more videos in the future.

-Rob Torcellini

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Simple Suburban Farming How We Utilize Our Small 1 2 Acre Yard

Live in a small lot in the city or suburbs? Did you know that you can still produce a decent amount of food for yourself? Here in the U.S about 80% of us call the city or the suburbs our home but why cant we produce some of our own food too!

In this video I give a quick tour of some of the ways in which we are utilizing space around our yard to grow food. It is a work in progress but much progress has been made in the last 18 months since we started this venture. The goal for us is to produce as much of our own food as possible for now and eventually produce all of our own vegetables and fruit for the year.

We started with the chickens last year and some small garden spaces. The chickens have been the highest producers and most impactful addition to our small homestead. We feed them our food scraps and they graze in our yard; in return they produce six eggs per day for our family. That is a lot of eggs! Chickens are probably the only real livestock that we will be able to have here on our small lot and they are a perfect fit here.

The first gardening step we took was to watch the amount of sun that we get in various areas of the yard. Unfortunately the best area for gardening at our home is also the septic tile field and cannot be used. We decided to start with raised bed gardens. Closer to the house in a hilly location where traditional gardening would not work well. We current are using 6 3X6 raised bed garden boxed made for free from pallets. These have been able to produce many pounds of sugar snap peas, over 180 carrots, 72 onions, over 15-20 cucumbers per week, basil, lettuce, dill, spinach, cilantro, and a potato harvest coming soon. You can pack a lot of food into a few square feet with the square foot gardening method.



Along our privacy fence we have about 96 of space that was not being used. This does not get full sun all day but it gets plenty for more than half. A garden bed was cleared along the fence about 36" wide and amended with compost, peat, and some sand. We then layered planting here so that we have some climbing or taller plants in the back along the fence, some tomatoes a along, vining plants along the front bottom edge and some corn plants scattered along the front edge in between the tomatoes. This is proving to be a very dense and efficient way to plant along this area and will produce a huge amount of food for us this year.

In the back of the property we sectioned off a small 20 X 20 area and planted six apple trees. We covered the ground with free mulch from the city park and we now have an orchard in the makings. As these tress grow and produce more and more each year we will eventually be able to make apple cider, apple cider vinegar, pies, canned apples, and dried apple fruit snacks for long terms storage.



We have also landscaped up near our house and instead of flowers and bushes have planted an herb and strawberry garden. This will be a perennial garden and will continue to become more diverse each year. We also utilize space between other landscaped areas for tomatoes, cabbage, peas, beans, sunflowers, and flowers to attract pollinators. Even though these are smaller scattered spaces they have proven to be very productive.

Each year the gardens grows, a few more fruit trees are planted, a few more raised beds are built, and more land is cleared from grassy nothingness to food producing farmland. Although we are not buying a combine yet, the small suburban farm is an ever expanding adventure that we will never be finished with. Thanks for tagging along to see how the SSL Family grows  in the suburbs. 

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Chicken Tractor Construction of the Original Lawn Mower 2

Check out this video for part two of the chicken tractor construction. We are added a nesting box, back panel for the detachable part of the coop, and a watering system for the chickens while there are cruising around the yard. In the first part of the chicken tractor construction I added the wheel system that lifts the coop up a few inches to be moved and then allows for it to rest flat on the ground once out in place in the yard.


The wheel system was the trickiest to engineer but the nesting box, back panel, and watering system took the longest to build. I had over 60 minutes of video that I tried to condense into this 12 minute clip!  Now the chickens have water and a place to lay some eggs while out and about the yard.


The idea of this and any chicken tractor is really two things. First, we want to let the chickens have some new ground to scratch through for worms, grass, bugs, and just some new scenery. Secondly, I wanted to be able to easily move the run away from the coop for an easy once per year cleaning of the chicken area. This way I can roll it out and while the chickens are in heaven scratching away on some new ground I can quickly cleanup and add some fresh dirt/sand to the run and then push it back. So far I think that this chicken tractor has met both of those goals and it makes the chickens lives a little better and mine as well!






This post has been shared at:  HomeAcre Hop, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

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Top Bar Bee Hive From Reclaimed Materials 2

Ever wanted to have your own source of honey? Honey and beeswax have so many uses around the homestead and this is something my wife has wanted for quite some time. So, with our anniversary just around the corner I thought what better to make than a top-bar bee hive!

This is part two of the series on how I am building this hive....

I began by marking the angles on each side piece to match the angle of the end pieces. Using the table saw I matched the angle I had marked and ripped each side board at that specific angle. I was then ready to start assembly. 

I placed the end piece on the level surface of my workbench and propped the side pieces up against it at a right angle. I pre-drilled and countersunk each hole (4 per side) and attached the ends to the sides using 2 inch deck screws and wood glue. While the Glue was drying I started working on the legs. 

I clamped the legs in place on the end of the hive to match the angle of the sides. I then marked the extra that was hanging to be cut off. Once these were cut to length I then did some finish sanding on the legs and the main body of the hive to clean things up. The legs were used as a temporary stand and a coat of spray lacquer was applied to the hive and legs. 

The legs were attached to the hive using 2.5 inch deck screws and pre-drilled holes. I did not use any wood glue here in case I want to take the legs off or make changes to this later. At this point all that is left in this step was to connect the bottom of the hive.

The bottom of the hive will need to open and close so that it can be open in Summer to allow ventilation. I will also install a piece of hardware cloth to keep pest out while the bottom is open. I attached two hinges and a small latch to the bottom panel and then connect it to the hive. 

Once the lacquer had dried I did some light sanding on the surface and then applied a second coat on the entire hive. I am not applying any finish to the inside of the hive as I am not sure if this would be good for he bees. The inside will be kept dry and should not need any sealers anyway. 

Tools used in this video - 
Dewalt chisel set - http://amzn.to/1BbC4zv

All of these products and more recommended items from the SSL Family are available at the Simple Suburban Living 

General Store - http://astore.amazon.com/simpsubulivi-20 

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Music - "Crazy Glue" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/CrazyGlue

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6 The Bell Siphon

My original prototype bell siphon
There are two types of aquaponic growbeds:

• floating raft (plants floating with their roots in a constant stream of water)
• media-based growbeds (plants growing in some sort of rock/sand/gravel/beads)

Media-based systems are recommended for home hydroponicists because they are simpler and more reliable. Media-based systems are also referred to as flood and drain. The idea is you flood the growbed with the fish water (delivering nutrients and, um, water), then let it drain out (bathing the roots in air/oxygen).

Of the various ways to flood/drain a media-based growbed, the one that is easiest on the checkbook is a bell siphon. All a bell siphon needs are simple plumbing bits available at any hardware store. Oh, and a small pump. I loved the way the folks at EcoFilms explain it in their post about How an Aquaponics System Works:

"If the pump is the heart of an aquaponics system, then the auto-siphon are it’s lungs. A vital part of kit. Remember when you were a little kid and the teacher told you about the regular flooding of the Nile river and how fertile the Nile delta was to early farmers. Well think of the auto siphon as a kind of similar concept. It’s main purpose is to flood the grow bed drawing rich oxygen into the depths of the trough, oxygenating the plant roots and turbo charging the bacteria to do their thing."

Below is EcoFilms animation of how a bell siphon works.
[The red button toggles the animation on and off.]

A real-life system takes many times longer to fill than the time to drain (my initial prototype system with a single growbed took 10 minutes to fill and 1 minute to drain, ignoring the dribbly parts at the beginning and end of the siphon). I found the growbed in my system only needs 10 gallons to fill the spaces between the rocks, so the change in the level of the water in the fish tank is only 2-3 inches, about 10%.

Basically, when water reaches the top of the siphon, water quickly drains out of the grow bed, sucking air down around the roots and oxygenating everything. You can have a small pump running continuously, rather than a big pump turning on for only a few minutes once an hour or so. Since the pump is on continuously, the water in the total system is also cycling continuously, which my fish and plants love.

I didn’t invent the bell siphon, but I have developed a design that doesn’t require solvents, a design that can be manufactured with just plumbing bits and a mitre saw.

Ill show the bell siphon working in tomorrows post about the coanda discharge - for today the video just covers the parts and assembly of the bell siphon.

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2 Building the 365 Aquaponics System

My Original Prototype, Apr 20, 2011

For the next several days, Ill walk you through building "the 365 Aquaponics System," a wheelchair-accessible, 200 gallon aquaponics system and greenhouse for around $1000. The system youll see over the next several posts will be auctioned off during the Aquaponics Association Conference to raise funds for the Association.

Heres the schedule of posts - enjoy!

9.03 - Setting up the Tanks
9.04 - Installing the Bulkheads
9.05 - Connecting the Fish Tank and Sump
9.06 - Pumps, Timers, and Plumbing
9.07 - Installing a Float Valve
9.08 - Media Options
9.09 - The Bell Siphon
9.10 - The Coanda Discharge
9.11 - Floating Raft
9.12 - The Durso Standpipe
9.13 - The EMT Hoop House
9.14 - Moving the System
9.15 - The Final Accounting
9.16 - Storing Solar Energy for Winter

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Building the Aquaponic System Part 2 of 3

This is the second video in my series on how the aquaponic system is set up in the geodesic dome.  It details how all the plumbing is done.




In this second video, I’ll show how all the remaining plumbing is installed.  I’ll start with the line that runs from the central sump tank back to the main fish tank.

The pump is a standard quarter-watt sump pump with a float switch.  Eventually this will be replaced with a 12 volt DC bilge pump when the solar system is installed.  A threaded fitting is used to connect the pump to a 1 inch PVC pipe.  The piping is rated for potable water.  Then a check valve is in-line to prevent any water from back-flowing into the sump.  Next there is a union which allows the sump assembly to be easily removed in case it needs any maintenance.  Then the rest of the line that goes to the fish tank.

Since all these lines will be under some form of pressure and are being jolted from the pump turning on and off, they are all glued together with standard PVC solvent.  Also before using the system, all the piping is flushed out to remove any loose solvent or PVC shavings that may be remaining inside the pipe.

A little Teflon tape or liquid Teflon works great for threading various pieces together.

Earlier, I buried a section of 4” pipe to use as a conduit between the sump and the fish tank.  This is how the piping and electrical will run between them.  Having the union on the pipe really made it easy to lower the pump assembly into the sump and connect it to the rest of the line.  Don’t forget that this is a temporary pump until the solar is installed, so I just let the electrical run across the floor instead of through the conduit.

At the fish tank, the line comes up and out of the ground and over the tank’s edge.  I drilled a couple of holes near the lip of the tank so that the pipe could be secured to the edge.  Then I attached a 45 degree elbow to shoot the water down into the tank.  Setting up the pipe to drain at this angle forces the water to slowly swirl and most of the solids at the bottom of the tank will eventually work their way into the center.

Here are some of the details on how the fish tank overflows into the large buffer tank.  At the bottom center of the fish tank, there’s a 2 inch to 1 inch coupling that has a bunch of slots cut into it, acting as a screen.  This allows small debris through, but not the fish.  As the water level rises above the pipe, it starts a siphon which creates a strong suction at the bottom of the tank.  Any of the sediment that has worked its way to the bottom center gets sucked up and sent into the buffer tank.  The water entering into the buffer tank flows out at an angle which creates a swirl in the tank, slowly moving the sediment to the center where the pump for the grow beds is located. At the top of the pipe, there is a 1/4” hole drilled into an end-cap.  As the water level goes back down, the hole is exposed and the siphon draws in air, which breaks the water flow.  This is a very effective method for flushing out heavier solids over using a simple overflow.  A negligible drawback is that the water level fluctuates a couple of inches.

I start the overflow installation by drilling a hole in the tank and install a bulkhead fitting that has 1-1/8” threads.  I then install a threaded to slip-flit coupling so the 1”PVC pipe will attach to the bulkhead fitting.  The pipe then goes straight down into the buffer tank and then has a 45 degree elbow to shoot the water out at an angle.

Here is the pipe assembly for inside the fish tank.  The screen is a 2” to 1” coupling that I ran over the table saw to make some slots into it.  This piece sits directly on the bottom of the tank.  The pipe comes up to a tee where one end goes to the cap with the hole drilled into it, and the other end drains out to the buffer tank.

The piece that goes to the bottom of the tank wasn’t glued into place so that I could remove it just in case something does clog it.  Also the piece with the cap isn’t glued so that I can adjust the height of where it can stop siphoning.

Once the system was established, I discovered that pellets of food and duckweed would plug the siphon-break hole.  A piece of screen over the area quickly solved that problem.

This is a view inside the buffer tank showing how the water pours into it to help create a swirl flow.  The bilge pump sits at the bottom of the cone shape sucking up any solids that eventually work their way to the bottom of the cone.

The supply lines from the buffer tank to the grow beds are 1” PVC lines rated for potable water.  To keep them out of the way, most of them are buried under the floor.  Originally, I wasn’t exactly sure where all the beds were going to be placed and didn’t want to bury these lines while building the dome.  Instead, there’s a layer of sand under the brick.  The bricks and sand are easily removed and the supply line drops right into place.  Once all the plumbing is laid down, the sand is replaced and compacted and the brick flooring is reset.

At each grow bed, the supply line comes up from the floor and goes to a ball valve, which is used to regulate or turn off the flow of water. It then goes over the edge of the grow bed and pours the water directly in to the expanded shale.

The pump for the grow beds is a 12 volt DC bilge pump rated for 1100 gallons per hour and is located in the bottom-center of the buffer tank.  It is connected to a union so that is can be quickly removed for maintenance. 

Along the supply line there is a branch that feeds back into the tank where there are a few small valves which are tapped into the line.  These are used to shoot water back into the fish tank to help aerate the water and keep it moving a bit.  The fish also enjoy playing in the stronger currents.  I’ve also place a net over the tank to help prevent the fish from jumping out….again.

Up next in the series will be the grow bed design and construction.  For additional information, please see the description box or leave a comment.  Thanks for watching!

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Geodesic Dome Greenhouse quick update

A quick update on the Geodesic Dome Greenhouse project. The site clearing is nearly done. The hardwoods will be used as firewood. Some of the pines will be cut into lumber while the rest will be ground-up and used as ground cover and erosion control. Next step, stump removal and then the foundation!

Site before clearing trees.

Site after clearing the majority of the trees.

130 +/- year-old tree. Each tack is 10 years. Where were you in 1880?

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