Uploaded September 2012 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
It was a Damian O'Connor build that reminded me of the type of stars used in this build, he used the 12 dots 4-pointed star. With the 5-pointed star, that is curves like a 21 dots heptagon, it is possible to build a nice open structure with 12 circles, overlapping each other like in the flower of life (a flat combination of 19 circles and some partial circles, see Wikipedia). This structure can be pushed inward to turn into a dodecahedron that has the perfect combination of strength, flexibility and size to build a big ball with 12 of them, connecting them similarly as pentagons in a dodecahedron. The final result has 72 pentagons on the outside, so I guess a more proper name would be a 72-hedron. I focused on finding such a build after receiving comments from KENTAI000 and ledwatchman (both great builders) on my build 'Hyperbolic dodecahedron, Ningboballs' from 8 days ago. KENTAI000 explained on his channel a few days ago why he gave up, the dodecahedron unit needs to be both strong and flexible, a seemingly impossible combination. The 2 things against my build are that a towel (or pillow) is required to rest the big build without getting damaged, also it seems to be unavoidable that some joints pop open. As a dodecahedron only tesselates in hyperbolic space, there is bound to be tension in a build like this, the result I got may be the best possible way to put 12 dodecaedra made of magnets together in a dodecahedron formation.
Link to a better icosahedron of dodecahedra I created nearly a year later (July 2013):
youtube.com/watch?v=X_kenpSYddY
It was a Damian O'Connor build that reminded me of the type of stars used in this build, he used the 12 dots 4-pointed star. With the 5-pointed star, that is curves like a 21 dots heptagon, it is possible to build a nice open structure with 12 circles, overlapping each other like in the flower of life (a flat combination of 19 circles and some partial circles, see Wikipedia). This structure can be pushed inward to turn into a dodecahedron that has the perfect combination of strength, flexibility and size to build a big ball with 12 of them, connecting them similarly as pentagons in a dodecahedron. The final result has 72 pentagons on the outside, so I guess a more proper name would be a 72-hedron. I focused on finding such a build after receiving comments from KENTAI000 and ledwatchman (both great builders) on my build 'Hyperbolic dodecahedron, Ningboballs' from 8 days ago. KENTAI000 explained on his channel a few days ago why he gave up, the dodecahedron unit needs to be both strong and flexible, a seemingly impossible combination. The 2 things against my build are that a towel (or pillow) is required to rest the big build without getting damaged, also it seems to be unavoidable that some joints pop open. As a dodecahedron only tesselates in hyperbolic space, there is bound to be tension in a build like this, the result I got may be the best possible way to put 12 dodecaedra made of magnets together in a dodecahedron formation.
Link to a better icosahedron of dodecahedra I created nearly a year later (July 2013):
youtube.com/watch?v=X_kenpSYddY
