Day 216 – Tiling space with a weird squiggle

Day 216 – Tiling space with a weird squiggle

Day 216 – Tiling space with a weird squiggle 640 480 mathgrrl

I’ve been having fun watching the math that Mike Lawler (@mikeandallie on Twitter) and his kids discuss on video at their blog mikesmathpage, and thinking about how to get my own 8-year-old son interested in watching those videos. Their post from yesterday, Penrose tiles and some simple 3D variations, has three great videos that are very visual and so I started with those. In these videos Mike and his kids examine various tilings of 2-dimensional space and various tessellations of 3D-space, using the following models:

Much thanks to Mike and his kids for making their mathematical journey available for others to learn from, and also for using our models as part of their explorations!

In the second video, Mike and his kids show that two very odd shapes can be used to fill 3-space because pairs of them can combine to make a cube, which of course fills space. In their third video they use 3D-printed models and ZomeTools to show that Rhombic Dodecahedra also fill space. The following model combines these two ideas, using four copies of an even stranger object to construct a Rhombic Dodeahedron:

And that’s the weird squiggle that we’ll be filling space with today:

 

Thingiverse link: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:71484

Settings: Printed on a Replicator 2 with raft but no supports, on a glass platform with blue painter’s tape, at 80% scale, with two pieces of each color. On .3mm/low the pieces took about 12 minutes each to print and made a model was very tight and difficult to assemble, and nearly impossible to take apart. On .2mm/low the pieces took about 16 minutes each to print and have the same problem. Hopefully the clearance will loosen up with repeated use, but if not then I will try to figure out the OpenSCAD code that made this model so that I can increase the clearance.

Technical notes, OpenSCAD flavor: VeryWetPaint made their code available and I’m going to attempt to annotate it to make clear how it works. To understand this code you’ll need to learn about Minkowski sums and .dxf extrusion in OpenSCAD.  Here are some things I don’t understand yet about this code: (1) why does it seem like the two helical pieces that are removed in the “difference” operation are so different, and (2) how was the .dxf file made and what is the equation for whatever that helix is? I’ll update later if I figure it out; please comment below if you know!

// mathgrrl annotation of rhombic puzzle piece code
// code by VeryWetPaint on Thingiverse
// http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12489
 
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// parameters ///////////////////////////////////////////
 
sz=30;
sa=sz*1.5;
tw = 240;
 
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// module for making a rhombic dodecahedron /////////////
 
// here VeryWetPaint has the elegant idea to contruct the 
// Rhombic Dodecahedron by intersecting six rectangular solids 
 
module rhomb()
{
minkowski()
{
  // take six rectangular solids and intersect them
intersection()
  {
rotate([45,0,0]) cube(size=[sa,sz,sz],center=true );
rotate([-45,0,0]) cube(size=[sa,sz,sz],center=true );
 
rotate([0,45,0]) cube(size=[sz,sa,sz],center=true );
rotate([0,-45,0]) cube(size=[sz,sa,sz],center=true );
 
rotate([0,0,45]) cube(size=[sz,sz,sa],center=true );
rotate([0,0,-45]) cube(size=[sz,sz,sa],center=true );
   }
 
// this sphere rounds all of the edges with Minkowski sum
  sphere(r=2,$fn=16);
}
}
 
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// render of twisty piece ///////////////////////////////
 
// here VeryWetPaint takes away two corkscrew pieces from the 
// Rhombic Dodecahedron, leaving one corkscrew piece behind
 
difference()
{
// start with the Rhombic Dodecahedron
rotate([0,0,45]) rhomb();
 
// take away one corkscrew piece
linear_extrude( 
file=”spiral.dxf”, 
height=36*1.7320508075688772935274463415059, 
center=true, 
origin=[28.782,28.43], 
twist=tw, 
slices=64 );
 
// take away a rotation of that same corkscrew piece
 rotate([0,0,120/4]) 
linear_extrude( 
file=”spiral.dxf”, 
height=36*1.7320508075688772935274463415059, 
center=true, 
origin=[28.782,28.43], 
twist=tw, 
slices=64 );
}


UPDATE: Scott Elliott (VeryWetPaint) has uploaded a new .dxf file and OpenSCAD code on Thingiverse with some helpful descriptions and bonus OpenSCAD code in the comments below. Thank you, VeryWetPaint!
3 Comments
  • The two helical subtractions aren't actually different, that's just an unnecessary distraction. My original spiral.dxf had been created for making a trisection, so it was optimized for a script to subtract 240 degrees (2/3 of a revolution). The extra subtraction removed a further 30 degrees to bring the total to 270 degrees (3/4 of a revolution).

    For your benefit I incorporated your comments, simplified the script and DXF file, and uploaded new versions to Thingiverse as Rhombic270.scad and Spiral270.dxf. It generates exactly the same STL with a single twisted extrusion, so it should be easier to figure out what's really happening.

    To assist you in understanding how it works, I offer the following OpenSCAD script that demonstrates what happens if Spiral270.dxf is intersected with a circular ring. It demonstrates how this new Spiral270.dxf covers a 270-degree arc at every radius, yet each arc is slightly different depending upon its radius. (ie: distance from the origin)

    // choose an inner radius from 1-25
    radius=10;

    // intersect a ring of the specified radius with the spiral figure
    // (result will be a 270-degree arc)
    intersection()
    {
    difference() { circle(radius+1); circle(radius); } // makes a circular ring
    import( "spiral270.dxf" ); // the spiral drawing
    }

    • Wow, this is great, thank you! Sorry it took me so long to get this comment posted. I appreciate you taking the time to help me understand your code! And your bonus OpenSCAD script really cleared things up for me about how this shape works.

      One more question: How did you make the .dxf file, and how can I make a 271 version in order to construct a looser model? The internet tells me that .dxf is an AutoCad format, which I haven't used before – but if you have an equation for the shape then I can recreate it myself in other ways.

  • The first sketch was created in InkScape by drawing a spiral, duplicating it, and rotating the duplicate around the origin. The second sketch was exported from OpenSCAD by taking a projection (cut=true) of the combined sketches that my old script generated; I did it that way to ensure the new script and sketch generated a piece that was 100% identical to the old script.

    But I would caution against using a 271 degree piece because the added angle will create vanishingly-little slack near the origin, while it may generate excessive 'slop' near the edges. If you need to add a gap, a tiny minkowski sum would undoubtedly work better because it could add a consistent volume to the entire surface of the extruded spiral, thereby cutting away a consistent thickness from the entire surface of the finished parts.

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