Rhombic Dodecahedron Infinity Lamp
Introduction: Rhombic Dodecahedron Infinity Lamp
I wanted to add some space to my house. An infinity solid seemed like the simplest way to do this.
I have been keeping an eye on infinity mirror type objects for years now. Infinity mirrors are great to see, but I never felt the urge to build one. That was until I saw the video below, where <PERSON> and <PERSON> build an infinity rhombic dodecahedron. I love the shape, and how it nests unlike the conventional dodecahedron. I wanted to build one.
A rhombic dodecahedron is a Catalan solid, meaning it is built from a quantity of the same faces. Rhombuses are the parallelograms that make up this solid with a length to width ratio of √2:1. Dodecahedron means 12 (faces). It has 24 edges, 8 places where 3 joints meet, and 6 places where 4 joints meet.
The one property that sets this solid apart from many others is the fact that it fills a space perfectly with no gaps (nests perfectly), like hexagons do in 2D. In practice this means that the shape of the rhombic dodecahedron is visible in all the reflections. 492
This is unlike the normal dodecahedron, where you get a fairly chaotic pattern.
Step 1: Materials and Tools
The files for this project can be downloaded from my site or with the corresponding steps.
https://ytec3d.com/rhombic-dodecahedron-infinity-l...
The download includes all files for every step and the STEP files should you want to change things.
I built the dodecahedron with tools and materials I have access to and am familiar with. Wherever possible I will mention alternatives in [square brackets].
For materials I use:
* 3D printer filament (black PLA was used)
* 2x 355x295mm 3mm thick PMMA one way mirror (Dutch supplier https://www.pyrasied.nl/product/spionspiegel/) [3mm transparent PMMA with one way mirror foil should also work]
* WS2812 60 leds per meter led strip
* [any 5050 led on a 60 leds per strip should work]
* CA glue with activator
* Hot glue
* 5V power supply of 4A or more
* A fuse of around 4A.
* Teensy 3.2 or any other microcontroller with more than 8k of RAM.
* Thin electrical wire
* Painters tape
Optionally I needed:
* Medium and fine sandpaper (180 grit dry and 600 wet were used)
* Matte black spray paint
Tools :
* 3D printer
* CO2 laser cutter
* [jigsaw or table saw can cut acrylic as well]
* Hot glue gun
* Soldering iron
* Wire cutter
* Wire stripper
* spring clamps
Step 2: 3D Printed Parts
The STL files are included in the downloads.
I am quite familiar with 3D printers, so naturally I do gravitate towards using it. For this lamp you will need:
* 24x Edge pieces (RDIL-P02-00)
* 8x 3 joint links (RDIL-P03-00)
* 6x 4 joint links (RDIL-P04-00)
* 24x Edge cover (RDIL-P05-00)
* 7x 3 joint cover (RDIL-P07-00)
* 6x 4 joint cover (RDIL-P06-00)
* 1x Base (RDIL-P08-00)
* 2x 3 way mold (RDIL-P91-00)
* 2x 4 way mold (RDIL-P90-00)
All parts can be printed on a basic printer. I used a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.2mm layers. The parts may need to be oriented before printing (solidworks maintains wonky axes). My parts were printed in black PLA.The material you print in should be easy to glue, looking nice and not let through too much light by itself.
All parts print with the visible side facing the printbed. If your printbed is free of damage this means that a clean printbed will create good looking parts. If you have a worn out bed like I do, you will need to clean the parts up.
Step 3: (optional: Preparing the 3D Prints)
Since my printbed has a lot of pits and scratches, I needed to clean up the parts. The faces stuck to the printbed had pits of up to 0.5mm deep, and plenty of scratches. This ended up taking quite some time, but did product very clean looking parts. 582