Polypanels for Constructing Polyhedra
Polypanels for Constructing Polyhedra
3D
Published 2020-05-14T14:18:27+00:00 • Remixed from Polypanels // Square, Polypanels // Triangle, Polypanels // Hexagon, Polypanels // Decagon, Polypanels // Pentagon, Polypanels // Octagon
These are polypanels specifically designed to construct polyhedra. Each panel's shape was originally designed by Devin Motes at Make Anything, and he even created the decagon as a favor to me. I encourage everyone to checkout his polypanels on his website along with all his other awesome creations, and even contribute finacially to support his efforts if you see fit to do so: https://www.makeanything.design/polypanels
This project and all designs were the creation of my son who knows just about everything there is to know about polyhedron shapes. It was his idea to create holes in each shape to make it simpler to construct each polyhedron (room for fingers to reach inside to help snap the hinges together). Each polypanel has a cutout of the same shape placed in its center with edges that are half the length of the full shape (excluding hinges).
The idea was to create enough polypanels to be able to construct each of the 18 convex uniform polyhedral one at a time (make one then take it apart to make another) which consists of 5 Platonic Solids and 13 Archimedean Solids. In order to be able to accomplish this a total of 160 polypanels must be printed, and of course you can select any colors you like to print yours:
80 x Triangles (green) | 240 Triangles to construct all 18 shapes at the same time
30 x Squares (blue) | 140 Squares to construct all 18 shapes at the same time
12 x Pentagons (red) | 84 Pentagons to construct all 18 shapes at the same time
20 x Hexagons (yellow) | 68 Hexagons to construct all 18 shapes at the same time
6 x Octagons (orange) | 18 Octagons to construct all 18 shapes at the same time
12 x Decagons (purple) | 24 Decagons to construct all 18 shapes at the same time
I've attached photos of each constructed polyhedron that includes the name of the shape and the pieces required to construct it. There is also a photo showing the polypanel constructed vertices of all 18 shapes in a single photo.
This was a really fun project that my son and I worked on together, so hopefully it will also bring some enjoyment and creative learning to you and your kids (of course, this is a fun project for just grown-ups too).
Enjoy!
I used my slicer to layout as many of the same shapes on the build plate to streamline printing. I also tried various infill percentages, but found that 0% provided the easiest effort to interlock the hinges while still being durable and maintaining a solid connection.
| Date published | 14/05/2020 |
| Support Free | YES |