The Dod Box

Hi all,

You know that I like when a box can be closed by a lid that is identical to the box itself (see this topic).
So for the Maryland Plastics injection molding contest, I propose a container that follows this rule, the Dod Box
The basic shape is half a dodecahedron: take a dodecahedron standing on a flat surface and keep only the 6 lowest faces.
All the difficulty has been first to allow this container to be closed with exactly the same shape (with a tab system), and second to make these boxes stackable.
This the result:

The diameter of the dodecahedron is 25 cm, the thickness of the walls is 3 mm, the clearances are 0.5 mm (+/- 0.25 mm to be exact).
When it is closed, you get back the regular dodecahedron shape.
You can maintained the box closed thanks to a large rubber band (to carry food for a picnic, for instance).
In this last rendering you can see how you can stack them, in closed or opened position.
Sorry for the poor rendering, it is not easy to render transparent plastic. I used colors so that you can distinguish the different parts.

As usual, your feedback is welcomed!

I'm sorry, the only (constructive) criticism I can think of is :

Just brilliant ! Good job !

Oh wait got one more;
how about egg-shaped versions or other variations ?

You could try to make a version based on a rhombic dodecahedron rather than a normal one. The cool thing about this is you could then stack the boxes with no gaps in between!!

To Virtox: Thank you very much for your critics .
I wanted to do a kind of lid (same basic shape but not as high), but unfortunately I will not have the time to do so.
Perhaps later. I think also that a smaller version - 1:2 for instance - to be printed in White Strong and Flexible could be interesting.

To Gibell: That's funny, because as I said to Bhearn I was working on a wireframed rhombic dodecahedron (but I temporarly give up because I had other projects).
The issue I can see is that the best symmetry (and probably the best orientation to stack them) is achieved when a vertex is at the bottom (which is not the best choice for stability ). Perhaps it would be easier with its dual, the cuboctahedron, since vertices are transformed into faces...

You know, in this day and age there aren't a lot of "new" things. I think many of us strive to create new things, because the reaction we get to our designs is more exciting!

Well, I have never seen anything like this. I think you really did something unique here Magic, and I like it very much! Any chance we'll be able to purchase this in Shapeways materials in your shop?

-Whystler

I really appreciate your kind words Whystler.
This being said, I confess I would have much happier if I had discovered the Dodechedron itself, but I guess I was born too late for that!

To answer your question, I planned in effect to upload a scaled down version that could be ordered in Strong and Flexible. Unfortunately, the scale 1:2 lead to a price still too expensive, so I uploaded a 1:3 version.
It is only 1 mm thick, but it should be OK for Strong and Flexible.

That's a pity it is so expensive, it could have been very cool to have it in metal with some pentacles engraved on each face. Perhaps, I could do a version of this size (1:3) but with a larger thickness (3 or perhaps 2 mm) to print it in Full Color Sandstone, so that the pentacles could be in the texture...

Perhaps you could saving material/cost by going for a wireframe solution?
Or thicker support sections with minimal wall thickness inbetween?

Yes you are right, one of the solution could be to make something more wireframed, or at least with some holes: for instance star-shaped holes on each face...
I am also wondering if using non-flat surfaces for each face (as it is already the case for the bottom face) could make the whole structure sturdier, and allow me to use a smaller thickness...

For now, I ordered the model without modification in White Strong and Flexible material and in Transparent Detail material (1:3 scale). I will let you know the result.

It arrived!