Platonic Solids Construction Kit

thingiverse

This project is an entertaining and educational venture that creates interchangeable parts for various objects. In this project, you construct fascinating three-dimensional objects known as Platonic Solids using easily printable pieces (polygons) that print flat in your 3D printer out of PLA, ABS, and other materials (ABS is preferred for strength and durability). The printed pieces snap together to form the solids. See an overview in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSkUIUW9zd4. And full details including files in this webpage: https://arachnoid.com/platonic_solids_2/index.html. For the Cube, you will need to print six of the cube_face.stl. This is the easiest object to make. For the Dodecahedron, you need 12 of the dodecahedron_face.stl. For the Icosahedron, you will need 20 of the Icosahedron_face.stl. For the Buckyball, the largest object (and not strictly speaking a Platonic Solid), you need 12 of the dodecahedron_face.stl (possibly already created, see above) and 20 of the hexagon_face.stl. This is a very large, impressive object when finished -- it's 14 1/2" tall (37 cm). In spite of the size of the result objects, the individual prints are rather small, the largest (hexagon) only needing a print volume of 149mm (x) by 141mm (y) by 6mm (z). All the other polygons are smaller. The design sources are all FreeCAD files. FreeCAD isn't so easy to use, but it's free. I'm sure the same results can be gotten from Fusion 360, but I don't like working in Windows (I prefer Linux).