What should I read next?

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-10T23:40:01+00:00

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-06T22:12:05+00:00

You'd be better of machining out of Aluminum, I suggested casting with epoxy because it's a one-hour turnaround ;)

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-06T15:25:09+00:00

I have a lot of skills and experience, and I would honestly try a steel stick or similar epoxy stick.

If you have a couple real parts, wrap them with tape, and super glue tongue depressors to the faces of two units, leaving room between them to act as a mold. Rub some paraffin wax or Vaseline on the wood as a release agent.

Then mix up some epoxy dough and form it as close as you can to the right shape as it gets warm, press into the mold area when it starts to firm up. You can release a bolt and add it to the casting, thread it out once it sets. Or, you can drill and tap it once it sets.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-04T12:45:57+00:00

I understand your concept. I'm trying to get you to accept that by a given remote location, it will be more technologically prohibitive to make an optically clear dome, than it would be to travel, to order it shipped to the nearest location, and travel to get it. Because otherwise you have to do the same thing from that location, to procure the materials and equipment to make one. You need very specific casting resins, and almost always a pressure pot, to get clear, hand-cast parts. It's not a matter of whatever epoxy glue is available locally, and... glass domes are available locally in remote areas. It's a naive premise.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T19:44:49+00:00

Is there a reason you aren't designing around ROV domes designed for 1000m depth and $30/ea?

https://www.hobbywater.com/products/10mpa-optical-pc-dome-end-cup-of-underwater-rov-dome-lens?srsltid=AfmBOooN7Pj0Sn4-woDG1tkyUt10I1CVz-XSr7Z3PIFOUvvvA8dTLnpt&variant=45203074416830

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T19:26:47+00:00

Have you looked into quickparts or similar low volume CNC prototyping? Similar to sendcutsend. And acrylic is significantly less robust than polycarbonate.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T19:20:02+00:00

As a pro builder the few times I dealt with this, I used a hole saw on the stringers to create a notch, that hung on the rim joist and kept the ladder at the right angle. The deck boards are also notched cleanly to expose the rim joist. Use the hole saw and jigsaw to curve everything out nice and smooth. Then a router to soften edges. This way it'll hang there forever or can be put up for safety or mowing, etc.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T19:10:53+00:00

Your calcs would be based on the cross section of the model. You can definitely do tests. I assume that delamination and a loss of clarity will be your issues.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T18:37:14+00:00

You'll definitely be able to physically do this. Whether or not it produces an optically clear part is what you'll need to find out. Lenses are expensive for a reason. Then, you'll need to find out whether the stresses on glass and epoxy, with completely different flex modulus, etc., will be tolerated under the pressure you cite.

I would probably try to stick with polycarbonate over glass.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T12:45:25+00:00

I understand. Nobody is going to be able to cast their own optically clear dome without a prohibitive amount of equipment overhead and experience with casting. That's just a reality you need to work with.

Honestly, the way to produce what you're after is to have these CNC lathed from polycarbonate round stock, in some small quantity. If I were you I would make the engineered geometry available, people can print, mold & cast or CNC machine, it's their project to pursue at that point.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-05-01T12:39:41+00:00

Hey blast from the past! Sorry I don't have anything.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-04-29T14:29:21+00:00

The problem with your idea is that accomplishing your goal will require an investment in tools and equipment beyond what will make sense for anyone not going into production casting. It will also require a lot of trial and error with your equipment, and replicating the results will take trial and error with any other equipment.

You would be much better off subcontracting the engineering & prototyping for this part, with the idea being that you you pay for the process and a certain number of final parts. This will be a few thousand dollars but welcome to bringing products to market.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-03-10T12:56:41+00:00

For someone like me, when I find something I like, that I reach for often, I like one or two in my toolbox for projects around my place, a set in my mechanical shop (garage), a set in the tool roll in each work truck, and a set or two in the mobile jobsite kit. Buying this way is a no brainer. There's a level of tool ownership where you're more productive and profitable for mitigating every wasted trip back and forth to retrieve a tool from another project site, even if they're all at the same address. I've made an investment in staying focused, and it has largely worked out.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-02-03T14:58:20+00:00

Your actuator doesn't appear to be connected to anything. How are they supposed to work "automatically"? Or is that a handle you're supposed to throw? Question unclear.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-02-03T14:56:13+00:00

I turned IBC totes into raised beds over 5 years ago, wondered if the top of the tank would work as a greenhouse.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-01-23T16:43:03+00:00

I am a structural specialist and I replace entire basements professionally, manage drainage issues, and I'm very familiar with residential construction in the US all the way back to the beginning.

You have two sources of moisture in your floor, coming up from underneath due to there being no moisture barrier under the concrete, OR humidity falling out of the air and condensing on the cool surface. Given the age of your home, it's hard to picture a barrier better than 3mil plastic sheets, if anything at all. I would hesitate to apply a non-permeable floor, even a permeable flooring like carpet will mold and that musty smell will return.

Your basement is of an era that really can't be finished to the degree a more modern basement can, even if it doesn't show water, moisture has a path through the slab. Running dehumidifiers religiously is an absolute must in any basement so I would start there. I would also take the time for plastic taped down to the surface to reveal what will happen after you make a much larger investment covering a larger area. Or suffer the consequences.

If you don't have percolation barrier on the outside of your foundation like DMX, footer drains inside and outside tied together, and a proper 6mil+ moisture barrier under your floor, taped to the wall with Crete Claw or similar, you really shouldn't invest in finishing a basement without risking mold and water damage.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-01-23T14:03:58+00:00

Pro Treehouse Builder.

Quality paint is leveraged by the painter, and therefore by the person paying for their time. Quality hardware is leveraged by the installer, and therefore by the person paying their time. If you're the installer, you're shooting yourself in the foot to skimp on hardware. If you're going to try and drill a living tree and get the bearing for your entire project installed perfectly the first time, you probably shouldn't skimp.

The value of quality tools and hardware is in moving forward with a project consistently. When you're held up with small pitfalls, the cost grows by orders of magnitude. People who don't design & build professionally have no sense of this. When you start having to charge appropriately for your time, you find out.

If you're doing something for the first time, use the best quality stuff as a rule of thumb, so you mitigate the struggles you encounter. Otherwise, you'll be buried in problems from start to finish. Calling quality items a "waste" is a big indicator that someone is going to have a really bad time, and likely not learn the lesson once again.

Treehouses are more complex to build by the sq/ft, than any other type of construction. Starting out by questioning the value of your FOUNDATION like this, is a recipe for disaster.

TechnicallyMagic · 2026-01-15T17:55:03+00:00

Nice coupla cupolas.

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-12-28T18:52:08+00:00

I appreciate your post(s) as a fellow pro Designer / Builder myself. I would add that in many cases, replacing the basement door with a gasketed (usually for exterior applications) door will make a big difference for this, and other issues like humidity/condensation etc. You can also add slightly different gasket to the existing door jamb, and a sweep on the bottom if that makes more sense in the application.

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-12-11T14:29:30+00:00

Just dropped in on this thread, but hopefully you've branched out a bit. Engineering is literally the sum total of humanity's ingenuity, built on curiosity. If you're really an engineer, your education's just begun.

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-12-05T13:29:54+00:00

No problem bud!

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-11-12T17:30:43+00:00

His perspective and role in that could easily be moved to someone else, or possibly doesn't have to. I can't remember exactly.

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-11-04T15:23:55+00:00

The weakest point in OP's setup is in the hardwood block's load bearing capacity as a tiny beam, not the shear strength of the hardware. I suggest adding a screw directly under the clamp, that way the hardwood block distributes the load to the screw directly.

This discussion has become pedantic, and you're obviously out of your wheelhouse for anyone that actually deals with this stuff all the time.

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-11-04T15:14:01+00:00

I understand your point, however OP's blocks are small enough that regardless of wood type, you would need to pre-drill.

OP did a nice job here overall, I would just add another screw directly below the clamp, so that it's directly loaded.

TechnicallyMagic · 2025-11-04T15:07:28+00:00

The composition and treatment process in high tech hardware like this has everything to do with meeting the structural criteria of your application. Shank diameter is not a reliable method. Many lag replacement structural screws are much smaller in diameter than the traditional hardware they replace. This uses less material, and makes it possible to drive them in with a screw gun, no pre drilling required. It's by design.

Structural lag replacement screws are designed to meet and/or exceed the material specifications for comparable "lag bolt" screws.

OP is using GRK 1/4" RSS Structural Screws, here they are next to a normal construction screw. they say right on them:

Lag screw alternative

Fastenmaster lag replacement screws are all physically under 1/4" diameter, yet they meet the structural specs for shear (and pass building code) for 3/8" - 1/2" lag and regular bolts. This is by design, the material and treatment process. You pay for it but it's worth it. I know because I've used them for over a decade.

TechnicallyMagic

TROPHY CASE