Geodesic Dome with Bamboo Sticks (hexdome)

Example

For a dome with a diameter of 90 cm (as in the cover picture; banana for scale), you benefit from essentially only two strut lengths (92,5 and 81 mm), and you can also use standard 20 cm bamboo sticks (reference) with minimal waste by cutting them at 92.5 mm and 173.5 mm (= 92,5 mm + 81 mm) from the stick's flat bottom.

No matter the dome size you choose, you will always need 130 connectors (approx. 170 g of filament in total). 

Details

With the help of online calculators, you can easily generate the stick length required for your preferred dome size. Remember to deduct 3 mm for each strut length calculated there. I recommend the following calculator which also offers a 3D animation of the resulting dome: https://acidome.com/lab/calc/#1/2_Inscribed_Fulleren_on_Piped_D87_2V_R45_beams_500x1000 where you can specify the size under “sphere radius” under the options on the left.

For a dome that is 100% mathematically accurate, you would need multiple variations of the same connector with slightly different angles between the three legs and slightly different input angles. To keep it simple and as the additional effort would hardly be visible in a small-scale model with bamboo sticks, the legs of this model are all 120° apart from each other and the angle of entry is 7.5° on all legs. You can use the attached f3d as a starting point for modifications. 

Printing

Prints without supports. If you don't mind different colored connectors, this is great to use filament leftovers. I recommend using sequential printing for best layer adhesion (in PrusaSlicer: Print Settings → Output Options → Complete individual objects). 

I designed the model from scratch with inspiration from this connector by zuberio.