Dodecahedral shade

thingiverse

This is the first iteration of a dodecahedral lampshade. It's intended to cast interesting star and wedge-shaped shadows. Assembly is quick and easy, as no fasteners or other materials (e.g. tape, glue, rubber bands, staples, screws, etc.) are required. All pieces slide together, and are held with friction and tension. Prototype is laser-cut from sheets of mid-to-heavy card stock. Each sheet (8.5x11 letter; or A4 with no scaling) contains four pentagonal faces. Print three sheets to get twelve faces. Assembled dodecahedron is ~7.5" (~19 cm) in diameter. Ensure that the slots (ten per face) are cut all the way through by the laser; if not, use a knife to clean up the cuts. To assemble, start with two faces. Line up the slots on both edges, then gently slide together. Take a third face. Slide two of its edges onto the first two faces. If the edges are not properly aligned, gently wiggle/pull/push the material until the slots line up. It may be necessary to carefully bend the outer tabs a little in order to get the slots to line up: just do it slowly and carefully to avoid tearing or permanently bending the material. Repeat assembly by adding one face at a time. If the slots won't line up at all, flip the piece over: all slots on the faces will either face clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on how you oriented the first two pieces. Add the faces as if building up a bowl, as opposed to stringing out the faces. The last two faces can be a little tricky to slide into place. Just work slowly to position the face roughly in place, with the tabs appropriately over/under, and gently line up all the slots. A base to permanently hold a lighting fixture is not included with this prototype. It's made of card stock, so only use low-wattage LED lighting. As-is, the design is too small for a regular E26 lamp, but an E12 candelabra lamp or small flashlight should fit.