I notched out 5mm thick at the ends to fix a steel plate with screws. I used glulams that were bent to the radius of the dome and cut down to size. It minimises the amount of connecting hubs you need. This is the reason most domes built are using this approach. Also they wrap around a sphere, leaving few equal pentaganol voids. So configurations that form hexagons are usually preferable.
Not as strong as triangles but they use a lot less material. Hexagons are both strong and use minimal materials. The reason is that the triangles join together to form hexagons. I said before there's a reason for most domes you have seen, are derived from an icosahedron. So the trick is to find a balance between looks and cost depending on your budget. However the more sides you put in the shape, the more it's going to cost you in materials, fixings and time to build. The more you do this, the more rounded the structure will become. (as illustrated) This technique works for all of the platonic solids, and to find how far they need to protude, use the same radius accross the entire strucutre. So to smooth it out and give it that spherical appearance, you need to find the mid points between the triangles and divide them up equally. Now an Icosahedron albeit strong, isn't a smooth and elegant looking shape in fact it's quite chunky and ugly. (a twenty sided shaped comprised of triangles) and there is a reason for this being the most common, I will get to later. Most common form you will have seen is a dome based from an icosahedron. (I know it's the boring theory side of things, but it's imperative that you get this right or you could run the risk of having some seriously costly problems later on in your build) All domes start from one of the 5 platonic solids, in short equalateral 3D shapes like a cube or a dodecahedron.
So here's a few examples and how to work it out. Basically to design your framework you need to have an idea of what kind of dome you're looking to build.
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