Como Triacont. Puzzle #1

A three piece puzzle which assembles into a rhombic triacontahedron (a polyhedron with 30 identical rhombic faces). The basic piece resembles a spoon (and would hold liquid). Three spoons can be assembled into the rhombic triacontahedron, but it would be missing some parts. The other two pieces are spoon pieces with these parts added to them. The result is a three piece coordinate motion "como" puzzle where the pieces are all different.

The rhombic triacontahedron has a dihedral angle of 144 degrees. This is bad news for 3D printing because it means that pieces always have significant overhangs, and should need support. However, 3D printers are getting better and better at handling such overhangs. I use supports on all pieces because the faces come out very clean when I use them. Piece 2 contains a significant internal overhang which I did not even notice when I was setting up the print. I put support on the build plate only and it still came out fine. Your mileage may vary!

Although it might appear that the pieces don't interlock very well, this puzzle actually holds together quite well. This is the benefit of coordinate motion, all three pieces have to move for it to come apart. If the pieces are all one color this makes it more difficult to get apart. This puzzle is an interesting starting point for other designs. I have modified this design so that all three pieces are identical, the pieces are very fragile and hard to print. I also have two more designs which I may add, if I can figure out how to print the pieces.

Supports are strongly recommended for all pieces! The pieces are oriented the best way for printing in the stl files. If you find a better orientation, let me know.

These pieces have a scale factor of 5.73 mm, the resulting triacontahedron has a diameter of 48.5 mm. These pieces have an offset of 100 microns (0.1 mm).

As sized this puzzle is quite small, you may find it works better scaled up.