Nexorade and Rotegrity Tools

thingiverse

These parts are a set of tools for making self-reinforcing structures called rotegrities or nexorades using bamboo rods, superglue and fold back clips. You can skip printing the "flexible" parts but the other parts are the basics. Here is a basic set of instructions, but there are more in the pdf. "3d printed vertex jigs were used to produce rotegrities in the form of platonic solids. These include 2 node structures. My assemblies were made vertex by vertex. The procedure is (1) Gather parts: superglue, foldback clips, 1 bamboo rod per polyhedron edge, and one forming and one gluing jig per vertex. The number of jig sides corresponds to the number of edges in a vertex, that is tetrahedron, cube, dodecahedron, 3- sided-hosohedron: 3 sided jig, octahedron, 4-sided-hosohedron: 4 sided jig, icosahedron, 5-sided-hosohedron: 5 sided jig. (2) If required, bamboo rods can be soaked in water until they no longer float, this softens them and helps them bend rather than snap. Alternatively, basket weaving bamboo can be used. (3) Assemble rods in all slots of a vertex forming jig and clip the overlapping rods. Repeat vertex assembly on open rod ends until polyhedron closes . If vertices force rod bending and faces are closed with the right number of sides, the net is forced into 3d, and the correct polyhedron results. Vertices are concave on the polyhedrons’ outer surfaces. Hosohedrons have 2 sides per face, tetrahedrons, icosahedrons and octahedrons 3 sides per face, cubes 4 sides per face, and dodecahedrons 5 sides per face. (4) Fold back clips can now be removed and the polyhedron displayed in a form that can be taken apart (figure 5). Skip this step for a glued structure. (5) Remove one forming jig and replace it with a gluing jig, preserving position of underlying rods. Superglue between the rods. Remove jig when glue sets. (6) Repeat step 5 until vertices are glued hard and the glue and rod structure is complete (figure 9). I have used the resulting shapes as decorations and they have made useful plant supports