Uploaded May 2022 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
Thanks to viewer Witty Welkins for the suggestion of building a molecular version of an octahedron, a shape I had not built in this form before. This is a re-upload of a previous video I did of this shape because I wanted to make a tutorial video instead showing a better way to build it that I discovered recently. Turn on subtitles/captions for extra onscreen tutorial information.
The regular or platonic octahedron has 8 equilateral triangular faces and 6 vertices, and is the dual polyhedron of the familiar cube, or regular hexahedron.
This fairly large one in the video is made from 7 custom designed sphere subunits for correct geometry, each made of 8 × 18 ball hexagons, 16 × 12 ball triangles, 6 rings of 8 balls, and 6 squares of 4 balls, total 8 × 18 + 16 × 12 + 6 × 8 + 6 × 24 = 408 balls per sphere. For the 6 outer spheres I left out 1 square of 4 balls for the ring of 8 balls that connects by a tube to the central sphere, giving a slightly revised total of 404 balls per sphere. 1 sphere subunit is built with reverse polarity for the core from 408 balls and is decorated with yellow gold, the other 6 outer spheres are decorated with rose gold. To build with reverse polarity, build the same way from the opposite end of the same line of magnets, or wind each piece from the same end of the line of magnets but in the opposite direction, or build from the same end of the same line of magnets but simply turn each piece over as you make it so the opposite sides are facing up before assembling.
6 octagon tubes of length 15 rings of 8 balls each connect between rings of 8 on the surface of the outer spheres and the core sphere.
12 octagon tubes of length gth 26 rings of 8 balls attach between 12 ball triangles on the surface of each outer sphere creating right angle joints for the whole octahedron. The tubes interact differently with the spheres at each end of each connection, but both ends bond pinched 2 different ways between the edges of 12 ball triangles: 2 rows of 4 at one end, and 2 rows of 3 with 1 extra ball at either end of the other end. This end bonds less strongly but the overall strength of the connections is sufficient for the whole shape.
6 × 404 + 408 = 2832 balls for the 7 spheres.
6 × 15 × 8 + 12 × 26 × 8 = 3216 balls for the connecting tubes.
4 support pillars of 25 × 8 = 200 × 4 = 800 extra balls for supporting the octahedron on one sphere (vertical orientation).
I used a grand total of 2832 + 3216 = 6048 balls for the large octahedron alone, + 800 balls ( 4 support pillars) for the octahedron in vertical orientation = a greater total of 6848 neodymium magnetic balls (5mm diameter).
#ledwatchman #Neocube #Neoballs #Nanodots #ZenMagnets #Speks #Buckyballs #NingoBalls #CyberCube #KlikyBalls #NeoQube
Music track is High Wire by The 126ers, from the YouTube free music library.
Thanks to viewer Witty Welkins for the suggestion of building a molecular version of an octahedron, a shape I had not built in this form before. This is a re-upload of a previous video I did of this shape because I wanted to make a tutorial video instead showing a better way to build it that I discovered recently. Turn on subtitles/captions for extra onscreen tutorial information.
The regular or platonic octahedron has 8 equilateral triangular faces and 6 vertices, and is the dual polyhedron of the familiar cube, or regular hexahedron.
This fairly large one in the video is made from 7 custom designed sphere subunits for correct geometry, each made of 8 × 18 ball hexagons, 16 × 12 ball triangles, 6 rings of 8 balls, and 6 squares of 4 balls, total 8 × 18 + 16 × 12 + 6 × 8 + 6 × 24 = 408 balls per sphere. For the 6 outer spheres I left out 1 square of 4 balls for the ring of 8 balls that connects by a tube to the central sphere, giving a slightly revised total of 404 balls per sphere. 1 sphere subunit is built with reverse polarity for the core from 408 balls and is decorated with yellow gold, the other 6 outer spheres are decorated with rose gold. To build with reverse polarity, build the same way from the opposite end of the same line of magnets, or wind each piece from the same end of the line of magnets but in the opposite direction, or build from the same end of the same line of magnets but simply turn each piece over as you make it so the opposite sides are facing up before assembling.
6 octagon tubes of length 15 rings of 8 balls each connect between rings of 8 on the surface of the outer spheres and the core sphere.
12 octagon tubes of length gth 26 rings of 8 balls attach between 12 ball triangles on the surface of each outer sphere creating right angle joints for the whole octahedron. The tubes interact differently with the spheres at each end of each connection, but both ends bond pinched 2 different ways between the edges of 12 ball triangles: 2 rows of 4 at one end, and 2 rows of 3 with 1 extra ball at either end of the other end. This end bonds less strongly but the overall strength of the connections is sufficient for the whole shape.
6 × 404 + 408 = 2832 balls for the 7 spheres.
6 × 15 × 8 + 12 × 26 × 8 = 3216 balls for the connecting tubes.
4 support pillars of 25 × 8 = 200 × 4 = 800 extra balls for supporting the octahedron on one sphere (vertical orientation).
I used a grand total of 2832 + 3216 = 6048 balls for the large octahedron alone, + 800 balls ( 4 support pillars) for the octahedron in vertical orientation = a greater total of 6848 neodymium magnetic balls (5mm diameter).
#ledwatchman #Neocube #Neoballs #Nanodots #ZenMagnets #Speks #Buckyballs #NingoBalls #CyberCube #KlikyBalls #NeoQube
Music track is High Wire by The 126ers, from the YouTube free music library.
