Octahedral Dodecahedron Frame | Tutorial | 2880 Neodymium Magnetic Balls @ledwatchman

Uploaded December 2011 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago

My new favourite subunit is a small octahedron of 36 magnets. This frame is made entirely from this building block, 4 per vertex, 20 vertices for the complete frame, so requiring 20 x 4 x 36 = 2880 neodymium ball magnets in total. I used exactly half and half golden and silver (nickel) coloured magnets. Geometrically this dodecahedral form is not mathematically exact but only an approximation, as rings of 15 octahedrons actually leave a small gap, but magnetic force closes the gaps in each of the 12 interconnected rings of 15 octahedrons in the completed structure, producing a pleasing final shape.
Music track was Equinoxe Part 7 by Jean-Michel Jarre, now audioswapped for Readers! Do You Read by Chris Zabriskie, from the YouTube copyright free music library.

#ledwatchman #Neocube #Neoballs #Nanodots #ZenMagnets #Speks #Buckyballs #NingoBalls #CyberCube #KlikyBalls #howto

Readers! Do You Read by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: chriszabriskie.com/reappear
Artist: chriszabriskie.com

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$Cuboctahedron Fractal Sphere Of Spheres - 48 × 48 | Tutorial | 2304 Neodymium Magnetic Balls The small sphere used in this larger sphere of spheres is of 48 magnetic balls, and was designed by KENTAI000, who called it a Cuboctahedron or C48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4n72c-ndak The larger sphere of spheres is a fractal object with exact self-similarity, in that the structure of the small C48 spheres in the whole shape is exactly the same as the structure of the individual magnetic balls in each single C48 sphere. This gives a total magnet count of 48 × 48 = 2304. I built this fractal sphere as shown from 6 squares of 4 C48s, and 8 triangles of 3 C48s of opposite polarity to the squares of 4. This corresponds to the geometry of a cuboctahedron of 6 square and 8 triangular faces. To build the C48 spheres with opposite polarity, turn each of the 4 completed facets of 12 balls over before assembling the same way, or wind the rings of 9 and 3 in opposite directions from the same line of magnets, or build them the same way but from the opposite end of the same line of magnets. There are a total of fifty facets corresponding to each gap between the spheres, which include triangles of 3 spheres, and squares and rhombuses of 4. I found a GIF online of a polyhedron very close in form to this structure called an expanded cuboctahedron, which I show at the start and end of the video: https://robertlovespi.net/2014/11/12/a-cluster-of-thirteen-rhombic-dodecahedra-and-three-other-related-polyhedra/ In this computer graphic there are 6 blue square faces and 8 green triangular faces of a cuboctahedron, but also 12 red rhombus faces of a rhombic dodecahedron, and 24 extra yellow rectangular faces, which are exact squares in my magnet fractal shape. Each small C48 sphere is also a tiny version of the same unusual geometry. Music track is Candlepower by Chris Zabriskie, from the YouTube copyright free music library. #ledwatchman #Neocube #Neoballs #Nanodots #ZenMagnets #Speks #Buckyballs #NingoBalls #CyberCube #KlikyBalls #howto Candlepower by is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/divider/ Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/$

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