CiB Cutting Hexayurt Edges

2010-09-04 21:30:00 GMT-0008 until Burning Man 2010.

You could do this easier and faster with a table saw, but I don't have a table saw. Plus, doing things by hand saves energy (no electricity needed!) and it will give you plenty of physical activity cutting the edges for an entire hexayurt. A PDF details the dimensions for the pieces and angles for the cuts. I believe my measurements and calculations are correct but if someone would doulbe-check that would be swell. Therefore, caveat emptor!

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I started by creating a jig for cutting. Using a protractor and a compass I defined an angle.

 

The jig was cut to the same angle.

 

A hacksaw blade can be used to cut at the same angle.

 

The angle cutting worked, however...

 

...it required an (albeit lovely) assistant. Also it was tedious, the hacksaw cutting generated a lot of foam shavings, and it left a ragged edge where the cutting occurred.

 

Rather than having to create separate jigs for each angle I figured it would be easier to mark off the amount to be cut from an edge and then to use a block of wood to limit where the cut could occur. Using a marking gauge was easy, though trigonometry was necessary to calculate the amount to cut off.

 

I clamped blocks to help guide the cutting. The block on the bottom was flush with the edge, so it is impossible to cut into the outside dimension. The block on top was used simply to protect the sheet from being crushed by the clamps. This worked OK ...

 

... with a sharp knife, and just following the scribed line. But it was tedious dealing with the blocks and clamps on the amount of edges that needed to be angled. With a large work table and a few assistants this would go fairly fast. But I don't have a large work table and my assistant was busy making a raised planting bed.

 

Ultimately I just used the scribed line and kept my eye on the outer edge to make sure I wasn't cutting away extra material. I have good eye-hand coordination so this was about as accurate as using blocks and clamps but took way less time.