LED Hedron - Magic The Gathering: Zendikar

thingiverse

Hedrons are ancient stone monoliths found throughout the plane of Zendikar. When properly aligned, hedrons become powerful tools of binding. This is my Hedron project. I've always wanted something iconic from Magic the Gathering to sit on my shelf of geeky staples - you know the usual: Sonic screwdriver, T-Rex figure, Lady Deadpool figurine, etc., etc. And with the release of the Battle for Zendikar block, I realized that the perfect object had been staring me in the face since October 2009. I've seen some Hedron models before, but none of them were quite right to me - they got the patterns wrong or just looked off in some way. So I set out to design my own, and this is the final result. Well, these are the final results because there are two variants here. I started out by making a smaller Hedron that easily fits in the palm of your hand, such as this. But once I'd finished it, I realized that A) it was a tad small for display on my geek shelf and B) the spacing on the interior was just barely enough to fit a 2032 battery with two LEDs taped to it. So I scaled it up, and designed the larger version to have built-in spots for six LEDs (four in the center pieces and two on the battery holder), a AAA battery holder (AA would probably fit as well; I just had a AAA), and a switch so it could be turned on and off easily. I couldn't be more happy with the final result. The files contain both versions: the smaller Hedron (STL files starting with "Hedron") and the bigger Hedron (STL files starting with "BH"). The bigger hedron design includes STLs for a base for displaying the hedron, as well as an interior mounting piece for the switch, battery holder, and two of the LEDs. I hope you like my Hedron project! I'm happy to help with any questions as always! --------- Update March 6 2016 ---------- Added a new small side file (BH_SideSmallRC_ButtonHole.stl) that has a hole for a self-locking switch 8 x 8mm. Added a new file (BH_ButtonHolder.stl) that will hold the switch in place if glued to the inside of the previously mentioned side piece. Added two new files: BH_BaseLarge_Magnets.stl and BH_BaseSmall_Magnets.stl, with spots for 1/4" diameter rare earth magnets to be used to hold the pieces together instead of using keyhole slots. Print Settings Printer Brand: Printrbot Printer: Simple Black Rafts: No Supports: Yes Resolution: 0.20 Infill: 90% Notes: Supports were needed only for the long tapering section of the larger triangular side pieces and were extremely minimal. I did a filament swap part way through on the side pieces, starting with clear PLA, then switching to gray PLA just before the final flat layer of filament, so that most of the interior face of the side pieces facing the LEDs is transparent, with just a single layer of gray PLA before the symbols start. The base plates were printed in solid transparent material because I don't have dual extrudes to do a layer of gray PLA on the outer edge of the sloped sides. Post-Printing I sanded down the sides post-printing and glued all the pieces together. On the smaller version, I also painted the edges a slightly darker gray - this was mostly to hide the transparent material of the base plates when the LEDs were off. How I Designed This I used the pattern from a papercraft Hedron that WOTC had released in PDF form for the patterns on the side of the hedrons. I cleaned them up in Photoshop, converted them to an SVG in Inkscape, and brought them into 123D Design. The patterns made 123D groan and hang up slightly, but it was worth it; they turned out great! The side pieces are designed to be glued together onto a matching base plate. One of the base plates will have two 4-40 screws that fit into matching keyhole slots on the other baseplate - insert the screw heads into the holes and twist to secure! There are two variants for the side pieces for both the large and small halves: the normal full-pattern pieces, and a version with a rounded corner section. You can mix and match when you print to have whatever combination of sides you want. I personally went with three of the normal sides and one with a rounded corner for each half, then offset the rounded corner pieces by one side from each other during assembly.