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It must have taken much time to prepare the dome for the mock up...but it seems that what you lost at preparation stage you gained with the actual build.
Very interesting and effective approach.
Would love to see some pictures of inside the dome and your arch preparation.
Keep it up! Look forward to watching this build through to completion.
That's a heck of a lot of brick cutting!! But I'm sure it will pay off!
It was a lot of cutting but the jigs made it pretty easy. I started off with 36 bricks per course (full circle) and my plan was to cut each successive course to span from mid point to mid point of the bricks below. It worked pretty well for the first several courses, but as you know, a little creep in the bond eventually throws everything off. That, and I think in my initial calculations I failed to compensate for the elevation change on the outside of the course (about a half inch) between courses and my bricks were cut a little wide. This also contributed to joint width on the inside of the dome. Once the bond was off it required more on cutting 'on the fly'. I also, ended up reducing the number of bricks per course because of variations in joints etc. Like other builders, I have learned plenty that I would do differently if I were to build another.
It must have taken much time to prepare the dome for the mock up...but it seems that what you lost at preparation stage you gained with the actual build.
Very interesting and effective approach.
All the best
Bert
Thanks Bert!
It absolutely took a lot of time but I learned a lot in the process. The learning was probably the biggest advantage and if I were to do another, I wouldn't mock it up. But it helped me understand the process long before actually applying any mortar. The biggest thing was my self-imposed deadline and knowing that without a lot of prep work during the long winter, there would be no way to get it done in time. Heck, it snowed a little here on May 11th!
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