Printable View
I'm looking to 3D print a quasicrystal ball-and-stick model, consisting of equal length rods and dodecahedral balls. Here's a paper with images.
Do you think there would be any stl files publicly available (I couldn't find anything but I'm also very new to 3d printing). If not and I were to design it instead, how much tolerance would be recommended between the balls and sticks?
Nifty.
Consider buying the rods. Dowel and other materials will likely be quicker and stronger than 3D printed parts. For the dodecahedral balls, I'd usually use a tolerance of 0.05 - 0.075mm for a friction fit (so 10.1 to 10.15 diameter hole for a 10mm rod), but you'll need to experiment when you start the prints. You may need something more like 0.1 - 0.2mm clearance.
While I wouldn't recommend 3D printing the rods, if the piece isn't too large, then 3D printing the panels could be very interesting, as you could incorporate all sorts of other textures, colours, etc.
given most of the holes are going to be printed at an angle and we have no clue what printer you have or what slicer you are using or what settings you use....
A 0.2-0.25 mm clearance works well and allows for glue as well.
printing the rods is pretty simple.
What you do is the create a cylinder lying on it's side and then shave a mm or 2 off the base so that it lies flat against the printbed.
It will fit just as snug in the socket as a fully rounded dowel.
But with the advantage of easy printing and also printing in the correct orientation for maximum strength.
It's a really simple design.
2 parts - assuming all the dodecahedrons are equal.