Polyhedra Starter Kit

This file contains patterns for the base part (black outline) and connector (red outline) for six types of polyhedron, sized for use with medium PG plywood/draftboard.

Polyhedra

They all have sides measuring 2.5" with matching connector spacing, but of course to combine different shapes you’ll need to come up with the proper dihedral angles, as the included connectors won’t work for that.

As always, show me what you make!

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Thank you kindly.

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Thanks so much! time to play!

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So many thanks. I was going to be trying to figure out the dodecahedron soon.

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This will be a huge time-eater! :smile: :+1:

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File? How do I download it?

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Right click on the image, and select “Save as.”

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Duh. Thank you.

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Thank you!

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Thanks! Might be a good project now that the holiday dust is settling…

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Here’s another dodecahedron. This one is based on the file up above, so you can see what size it turns out to be. I did some inlay work on this one, and backed each piece with clear acrylic (because I was out of translucent acrylic and I’m bad at waiting).
IMG_2920

I stuck purple fairy lights inside.
IMG_2921

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Fairy lights (like glitter) make all things better.

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Really nice detail in that!

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Ooh… sparkly!

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So I just printed out the dodecahedron, and all the connectors for it. I must be stupid, because none of the panels line up with the connectors installed.

Cut on 1/4 ply because at 1/8" ply there was WAY too much wiggle room with the connectors.

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Got photos so I can see what might have gone wrong? The tolerances are pretty tight, but if cut from 1/8" plywood they should fit.

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Ended up cutting them in 1/4" because there was WAY too much play in the connector holes.

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You need that, or the farther you get in assembly, the less likely it will fit together – especially that last piece! :wink:

Did you resize the whole pattern to make the slots wide enough to fit 1/4"? If you only resized the slots, the connectors won’t fit.

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At 1/4" the connectors fit perfectly, no resizing. But here’s my problem. The parts don’t line up allwith the good side facing the same way. The square holes don’t align properly. I have to turn some inside out to get one hole to line up on each edge, seen here.

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If you take a look at the image in my original post, you can see the holes are all parallel to the edges. That hole that’s not fitting looks like it is skewed about 30 degrees.

If the connectors were so loose you had to cut them at 1/4", it sounds to me like the pattern didn’t scale right in your design program. The pentagon should be 4" across its widest dimension. How does that compare with yours?

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