Lumihedron

thingiverse

My previous dodecahedron print was a test run for making something even bigger and better. Since I tried my hand at the GeoLight project about a year and a half ago, I've found the idea of creating lighting with 3D-printing really intriguing. My latest experiment is called Lumihedron, where I'm taking things to the next level. Fully printed, its diameter is almost exactly 10 inches. To achieve this, I designed each of the single pentagonal volumes to fill nearly the entire build plate on my Makerbot Replicator (1). Printing these out took 48 hours in total: *4 hours for each volume* and I did it 12 times. The entire fixture is held together with zip-ties except for the bottom pentagon. It's attached by neodymium magnets that are embedded into the print itself - something you can pick up at Home Depot. To secure them, a small amount of super-glue was applied to hold it all in place. Removing this attachment allows you to replace the light bulb whenever you want. In place, a 60-watt Cree LED bulb is screwed into a repurposed shop-light that's perfect for the top. To hold everything together, I attached a custom printed clamp at the base, which holds it firmly in place. The other part that makes this piece really shine is when I painted six of the twelve pentagons on the outside a glossy white and black - with just as much sparkle from inside. Now looking at them personally they do look very beautiful but when we try to photograph these creations unfortunately their pictures don't seem quite right. You can, however, catch a glimpse of how gorgeous they truly are in their window reflections even without direct camera shots. To make it really enjoyable & fulfilling project that it was meant to be I added six pentagons painted black on the outside but then coated white on the inside giving this dodecahedron so much light. This contrast adds beauty and elegance making these models a thing of wonder. Now here is what you should do: First off print twelve copies of my original model: The zip-ties used to hold them all together can vary based upon your requirements - while the rest are being tied in white I used ten neodymium magnets that stick out from each piece stuck firmly inside with super glue, giving me one unique pentagon to switch bulbs around freely for replacement. I've used this machine on numerous other occasions including the Replicator MakerBot as seen above at the time it was set up, but now my 2nd generation of machines have helped bring out its hidden strengths when producing detailed prints which result from high precision engineering skills combined with cutting edge technology that ensures a very smooth finish making even those hard-to-print pieces seem less impossible. At first glance some people might see no obvious flaws, until they look more closely where there are many. Still it’s okay if the model looks somewhat different than before – as I was aiming to do – here is an example below for illustration: In this revised printing, my main priority remained constant: producing something which truly shone out despite potential flaws. So keep that in mind before reading ahead. The printer's speed varied over 48 hours because printing one pentagonal piece after another consumed most time since its volume wasn't fully utilized by filling nearly half space left open inside; though doing twelve pieces didn't require much longer, just 4 additional hours went past overall.