All Five Platonic Solids Puzzle

cults3d

A quick glance at my belongings reveals that I have a bit of an obsession with the Platonic solids...I've also been very into "coordinate motion" puzzles: puzzles in which all the pieces must move together in order to put them together or take them apart. With this project, I've attempted to exorcise both of those obsessions slightly. Now I own a wooden puzzle in which all 5 Platonic solids nest inside each other. There was even an article about this puzzle in The New York Times. But I've always found it somewhat unsatisfying; I'm not quite sure why. So I've tried my hand at making my own puzzle in which all of the Platonic solids nest inside each other. And each one is a coordinated-motion puzzle as well. Each individual puzzle consists of multiple copies of just one piece, which exhibit both the symmetry of each Platonic solid and the relationship between the symmetries of each. Everything is relatively easy to print. I would use fine detail (like 0.1mm layer height if possible) for the tetrahedron puzzle. I think everything else would be fine with 0.2mm. The cube pieces require a small amount of support, but I printed everything else without any support. Each STL file name indicates how many you need to print, but for reference: icosahedron piece: 4 copies dodecahedron piece: 6 copies cube piece: 4 copies tetrahedron piece: 4 copies octahedron: 1 copy The puzzles are tricky to put together, but also can be tricky to take apart. It always seems like you don't have enough hands to get the job done well! But I've discovered a cool trick that works on some of them. A hint: there's a mysterious force in physics which pulls outward in all directions from an axis on a body... I've also included, as usual, the Python notebook I used to design this puzzle. Enjoy!