Folding segments from spheres into planar ones (square, rectangle, triangle, star, etc.) or three-dimensional shapes (tetragonal pyramid, cube, tetrahedron, etc.) is a popular puzzle. Currently, there are various "disposable" puzzles (usually made of wood or plastic) or sets with a number of tasks (IQ and Quadrillion from Smart Games, Leu, Klikko, Lonpos etc.) on the market.
This project offers every imaginable component from 1 to 5 balls with straight or right angles between ball center connectors. It can thus serve as a source of spare parts for the aforementioned games, as the basis of a completely new game or perhaps as an aid for teaching crystallography 🙂
You can find specific tasks and puzzles on my Patreon.com profile.
We print from PLA; although the density is lower, the individual segments are comparable to commercially available balls.
We print on the hemispheres, glue the pairs of halves by briefly immersing them in acetone and then pressing both surfaces together, or with cyanoacrylate (secondary glue).
For a smooth surface, we print in 0.1 mm DETAIL quality.
The easiest way is to print each segment with a different filament. However, it is possible to color white PLA (just use tempera paint, then spray with clear varnish).
The author marked this model as their own original creation.