Reuleaux triangle

myminifactory

This week, Angus presented a fascinating shape on Makers Muse (1), one that rolls like a sphere but has three sides, making it a true triangle. This unconventional design will leave you questioning conventional wisdom and eager to try it out for yourself. To create the Reuleaux triangle, we use three intersecting circular disks, each centered on the boundary of the other two (2). This unique arrangement produces a curve of constant width, which defies our initial assumption that it would be a circle. Instead, this shape takes the form of a triangle (3)! So, what can you do with this extraordinary constant-width triangle? One interesting application is rolling them between two flat surfaces like ball bearings. Check out Angus' link below and give it a try for yourself. I highly recommend printing at least three Reuleaux triangles. The definition of constant width is quite straightforward: it refers to the Euclidean distance between two lines, which remains the same regardless of their position or orientation. To learn more about this remarkable shape, visit the following resources: MakersMuse YouTube - https://youtu.be/2eUWT9cI23o Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuleaux_triangle Leonhard Euler's paper on De curvis triangularibus (1781) When printing your Reuleaux triangles, feel free to use any color you like. I used Grey PLA from Rigid Ink (https://rigid.ink), but the possibilities are endless!