DomeSketch vs Desert Domes calculator

Strut calculator·desertdomes.com·Free; the site asks for donations and carries advertising.

An Oakland, California calculator dated 2002 and still up: pick a frequency (1V–6V), enter a radius, and read strut lengths with counts for the 3/8, 5/8 and full-sphere cuts and the connector counts, plus a reverse calculator from a strut length.

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 Desert Domes calculator leads

One screen shows the 3/8, 5/8 and full-sphere counts side by side; DomeSketch shows one cut at a time.
The reverse calculator works from a strut length you already have.
Twenty-plus years of formulas, bamboo and conduit build notes and a bibliography next to the numbers.

Where DomeSketch does something it doesn't

Lengths only — no hub angles, no areas, no materials, no model.
Counts are fixed tables per frequency; the page cannot cut a door or change the geometry.

Pick Desert Domes calculator if

You want the three cuts of a frequency on one screen.
You are reading the build notes anyway.

Pick DomeSketch if

You want more than strut lengths: a model, a cut list by material, openings and a build plan.

The run — 20 ft · 3V · 5/8 sphere, 2026-09-20

Entered: 3V calculator, Dome Radius 10, Submit.

A 3.486, B 4.035, C 4.124; 5/8 counts 30 / 55 / 80; connectors 15 four-way, 6 five-way, 40 six-way
DomeSketch: identical lengths and counts

Matches DomeSketch to the thousandth of a foot

Desert Domes calculator showing its result for the 20 ft · 3V · 5/8 sphere dome, captured 2026-09-20 — Screenshot of Desert Domes calculator during the run, 2026-09-20. Their page, their numbers; shown so the run can be checked.

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://www.desertdomes.com/dome3calc.html · 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.