How to Build a Geodesic Dome on Top of a Pop-Up Camper

Slide on a pair of work gloves and safety glasses to protect your skin and eyes.

Pre-heat a solder gun. Rub solder wire onto the gun tip. Wipe the tip clean with a damp sponge.

Place two 1 x 18-inch pieces of metal conduit onto a work surface. Adjust the short ends of two pieces of conduit so they are flush with one another at a 135-degree angle. Touch the solder wire to the connection point between the two pipes. Touch the hot solder gun tip to the wire to bond the connection. Continue this process with six additional 1 x 18-inch pieces to create a metal octagon.

Clean the top of the camper with a clean cotton cloth. Solder the octagon to the top of the roof. Cut out the roofing surface on the interior of the octagon with a coping saw. The diameter of the hole is 23 1/2 inches.

Solder two 1 x 18-inch pieces together atop one of the 18-inch octagon edges to create an equilateral triangle. Continue this process with 14 additional 1 x 18-inch pieces to create seven additional triangles.

Solder the remaining 1 x 18-inch pieces in horizontal fashion between each of the existing triangle tips. The total number of metal triangles now equals 16 -- eight aiming upward and eight aiming downward.

Solder a short end of two 1 x 11 3/4-inch metal conduit pipes in perpendicular position to the respective corners of one upside-down triangle to create a 17th triangle. Solder the tip of the 17th triangle together. Continue this process until all six remaining 1 x 11 3/4-inch pieces are in place. The do-it-yourself dome is now complete with 24 triangles.

Cover the dome with a transparent tarp. Trim excess tarp with a pair of scissors. Bond the tarp to the dome with permanent epoxy.