Uploaded October 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The unit is based on an 8-sided trapezohedron (=antidipyramid or deltohedron), as it has the same symmetry. However, there is a wide rather smooth path around the 'equator' of the shape. A 6-sided trapezohedron is a special case, known also as a rhombohedron as it has diamond shaped sides. Trapezohedra with more sides have kite-shaped sides. The lattice that is formed is not a regular lattice, when you continue to build with the same logic on all 8 sides of every unit then soon you would need overlapping units, which doesn't work of course. In principle this problem can be solved in hyperbolic space, but these units of magnets are not suitable for that. Therefor the build resulted in a cube, where in the center the units are only connected to 4 other units. This leaves a nice crystal look in the center of the build, that cannot be seen clearly in the finished build, thus I took various pictures while the build wasn't finished to show this.
The unit is actually the result of forgetting how to build another unit that I had laying around for about 2 months. I found again how to make that unit, it will appear in the next video.
The unit is based on an 8-sided trapezohedron (=antidipyramid or deltohedron), as it has the same symmetry. However, there is a wide rather smooth path around the 'equator' of the shape. A 6-sided trapezohedron is a special case, known also as a rhombohedron as it has diamond shaped sides. Trapezohedra with more sides have kite-shaped sides. The lattice that is formed is not a regular lattice, when you continue to build with the same logic on all 8 sides of every unit then soon you would need overlapping units, which doesn't work of course. In principle this problem can be solved in hyperbolic space, but these units of magnets are not suitable for that. Therefor the build resulted in a cube, where in the center the units are only connected to 4 other units. This leaves a nice crystal look in the center of the build, that cannot be seen clearly in the finished build, thus I took various pictures while the build wasn't finished to show this.
The unit is actually the result of forgetting how to build another unit that I had laying around for about 2 months. I found again how to make that unit, it will appear in the next video.
