Acrylic Spikey

thingiverse

A stellated truncated dodecahedron, featured in Mathematica's logo, was crafted using acrylic sheets. The first two attempts employed 3/32" clear acrylic while the third used a 1/8" tinted version. Mathematica aided in calculating angles for connectors (65.01°, 152.14°, and 164.70°) and isosceles triangle sides (1.36" for tall triangles, 0.91" for short). Due to an ordering error, the tinted acrylic's thickness was adjusted in connectors. Assembling this geometric marvel requires 60 each of specific triangles and connectors, forming 12 pentagons and 20 tetrahedrons initially. The most obtuse connector unites these structures. Attention must be given to orienting fat triangles correctly (longest side outward) and distinguishing between similar connectors. Cyanoacrylate glue was a messy choice; plastruct bondene provided better results in the second attempt. Laser cutting left a 0.004" gap per sheet, accounted for in design. Finally, weld-on acrylic cement proved to be the best adhesive method, relying on capillary action and setting within 30-45 seconds.