Patterson's 12 Piece Cube

prusaprinters

<p>Twelve identical pieces can be assembled into a 6 cm cube. &nbsp;This puzzle appears (virtually) on the cover of Cubism For Fun, Issue #117, March 2022. &nbsp;Thanks to Bruce Patterson who designed this puzzle for giving me permission to post it here.</p><p>Print 3 pieces in 4 colors. &nbsp;Printing each piece is tricky, in the given orientation one face plus an edge lie against the bed. &nbsp;The problem is that the edge is so thin that no material is extruded in it until the 5th layer. &nbsp;Even adding supports, no supports appear under this edge. &nbsp;I added a support enforcer and brim to force supports under the edge. &nbsp;This works, although sometimes the edge will separate and curl upward because it has such small contact with the plate.</p><p>Assembly may appear to require 12 hands and coordinate motion! &nbsp;But play with the pieces, assembly is not that difficult. &nbsp;There are several additional challenges around the colors on each face. &nbsp;Try to assemble each face so that it contains all 4 colors. &nbsp;This can be done so that colors match across an edge, or not (see photos). &nbsp;When assembled, you will notice that there is a hollow rhombic dodecahedron inside, a clue to how this puzzle was designed.</p>