sizing gores

Started by hiddenwell, 05/06/2003 12:55AM
Posted 05/06/2003 12:55AM Opening Post
Hi,

Does anyone know how to/ where I can find out how to size gores? Someone has to have a cad program that allows you to take a hemisphere, cut a slit in it for the door and then divide it into gores. Cad program shoud be able to print out the various gore dimensions based on hemisphere radius and slit size ...

Can help/point me inthe right direction?

Dan
Posted 05/06/2003 02:10AM #1
Dan, I calculated the gore shape for my dome and posted it on my website where a student saw my crude, but precise, method and wrote an Excel spreadsheet to do just what you're asking. I can provide you the values to make a template if you tell me: the number of gores you want (the more gores the more round the shape of the dome), the diameter of the dome and the number of points along the gore (the more points the smoother the gore shape).

I hope this helps - Cal Sandfort
Posted 05/06/2003 02:53AM #2
Dan,
You will have a hard time finding an affordable Cad program that can do the unwrapping that you desire. A much more practical approach is a mathematical plot like Cal's method does. A fancy CAD program isn't always the most straight forward.

Good luck on your project