DomeSketch vs Geo-Dome 3V tool
A UK dome builder's site: enter a radius and get strut lengths, areas, hub counts, panel counts and a colour-coded plan with the mitre angles to cut each beam, for a 2V and a 3V (3/8) dome.
Also listed in the builders directory (unpaid, unranked). That listing and this page are separate: the directory never mentions this ranking, and this page judges the tool alone.
Where Geo-Dome 3V tool leads
- Cut angles for timber beams, rounded to the half degree, on the same page as the lengths — DomeSketch does not give bevel or dihedral angles yet.
- Panelised counts (45 'X' and 30 'Y' panels) drawn on a colour-coded assembly plan.
- Articles on timber dome building from someone who builds them.
Where DomeSketch does something it doesn't
- The 3V tool is the 3/8 cut only; there is no 5/8 option and no 4V or higher.
- Lengths are shown to two decimals; no model, no materials, no openings.
Pick Geo-Dome 3V tool if
- You are cutting timber and want the angles now.
- You are building a 2V or a 3V 3/8 dome and want a plan to build from.
Pick DomeSketch if
- You want a 5/8 dome, a higher frequency, or anything beyond the frame.
The run — 20 ft · 3V · 5/8 sphere, 2026-09-20
Entered: Radius 10, Calculate.
- A 3.49 × 30, B 4.04 × 40, C 4.12 × 50 (3/8 cut); hubs 6 five-way, 25 six-way, 15 four-way; floor area 309, surface 628.3
- DomeSketch 3V 3/8: A 3.486 × 30, B 4.035 × 40, C 4.124 × 50 — the same to the rounding shown
The tool is the 3/8 dome; the comparison used DomeSketch's 3/8 cut for the counts. Lengths agree at the two decimals Geo-Dome shows.
About our side of this page
DomeSketch is our product; this page is written by us. Its numbers for the run are computed from the geometry when the page is built and are the same as the reference table. What DomeSketch does not do:
- Class I icosahedral only, 1V–8V: no octahedral, no Class II or III, no Kruschke or Mexican subdivisions (Acidome, Simply Differently).
- No bevel, dihedral or mitre angles and no timber cut lengths net of a joint (Geo-Dome, Acidome).
- No reverse calculation from a strut length (Domerama, Desert Domes); no lath cut optimisation (Simply Differently).
- Feet and inches only in the interface; millimetres only in the STL export.
- Prices and mix yields are placeholders and the page says so; the materials estimate is rough.
- No hub cut deductions for any specific connector (Sonostar).
Sources
- https://geo-dome.co.uk/3v_tool.asp · checked 2026-09-20 · run by hand in a headless browser; screenshot on this page
Runs made 2026-09-20 · prices verified 2026-09-20 · a person did every check; nothing here was scraped. Entries older than 90 days say so rather than disappearing.
Every page here says when it was last checked; a stale entry keeps its date rather than being quietly changed. A corrections address will go here once there is one.