If you're in the UK, it'll take 1-2 working days. For other destinations please see the shipping page on our shop to find out more.

As many as you like! Hubs are made of a high quality long life springy plastic and are designed to be reused many times, just make sure you unclamp all the hubs before starting to dismantle your dome.

Usually if it goes a bit wrong it's because Shorts and Longs have been mixed up.

5-way hubs only ever have Shorts coming out of them (from every socket). This is a good check – if you get a Long or Short and hold it up to each of the sticks coming out of the 5-ways then that will hopefully diagnose the problem. You will probably have some Longs coming out of the 5-ways.

There are a few spare ball connectors, screws, washers, bolt, etc in the kit.

The hubs are the most expensive component, so there are not spares of those, but we have not yet managed to break one. Should you manage it, we will send you another for free.

Yes, please see our online shop for spares.

No. hubs make it easy to make nice rigid garden domes; and they are strong under even loads, such as wind or snow, but a climber will put too much stress on an individual joint and the ball connector will pop out the socket.

No, the ball connectors will just get pulled out of the sockets; simply unclamp the affected hubs with the allen key provided (it's 4mm by the way in case you've lost it) and pop the sticks back in.

After you have cut your sticks and screwed the balls on (see below) it'll take you less than an hour to build. If you want to make a raised base, or other alterations, then this will take longer.

It's nice to think of it as a very relaxed weekend project. With regular wood such as batten from a diy store or the sticks on our shop it should take about an hour to cut all your wood (remember there are only 2 different lengths, so you can cut multiple lengths at once); about an hour to paint the wood (or much less if you oil them); about an hour to screw all the balls on; and an hour to put the dome up. If you want to make a raised base, then this will add extra time.

If you use more natural wood (hazel, etc.) then cutting takes longer, but you don't need to paint / treat it.

Domes built with hubs make strong garden structures; strong fruit cages, arbours, etc. There is a concern in a public space that the dome could break if too many people lean on it.

For public space use and for other situations that have this concern we do make some 3d printed caps that help prevent this problem. please see the caps on our shop.

There are a few factors which limit dome sizes. But first here's the simple answer: If you keep the sicks widths to less than 32mm (1 1/4") and the diameter less than 5m (16') then you won't have any problems, the dome will be easy to build and take down.

In practice the limit is weight not size - Please see pages 8 and 9 of the booklet on the downloads page for details.
If you make the sticks up to twice as heavy then you might find that you need a few extra people to help whilst constructing the dome, but once locked up you'll be ok.
If you make them heavier still there's a chance the dome could not support its own weight and the sticks will pop out of the hubs.

Yes, but we recommend at least 2 people.

There are a few simple ways to make a door. These are shown on page 23 of the booklet, available on our downloads page.

Hubs are designed to last 10+ years permanently outside in the UK.

All plastic is UV Stabilised Acetal (see below for more detail)
All hub metal work is A2 (304) stainless steel
The screws for attaching the ball connectors to the wood are exterior wood screws - these will be hidden once the dome is built.

The brand of plastic is Iupital; it is an automotive grade weather resistant material made by Mitsubishi.
If detailed specification is required please see the data sheet on their website

Yes we do - click here to view on our shop

Please note that we do not provide full instructions for 3v kits.

Here are the stick lengths to cut for a few common sizes:

Please contact us for more information.

Please see our contact page for details.