Discover Top Posts Tagged with #hexastix

This sculpture is made from 72 pencils and 8 elastic bands. It is copied from an original model by George W Hart, who has made all kinds of geometric sculptures.

It is based on the mathematical idea of “hexastix”, an infinite arrangement of hexagonal prisms. Pencils are of course an excellent way to model hexastix.

The cavity inside the sculpture is a rhombic dodecahedron.

If you can find enough pencils then this is a straightforward model to make, and there are plenty of detailed instructions online. If the pencils have sharpened points then be careful not to accidentally jab yourself or scribble on furniture during assembly.

#hexastix #math #model #pencil #sculpture

I made a hexastix!

#hexastix #math #geometry #nerdlife

~$10 worth of pencils and rubber bands + half an hour = this, a hexastix! the pencils came pre-sharpened, so it's a lot,, stabbier,,, than i intended. I might try to blunt all the pencil edges if i want to do anything with it.

#hexastix #sculpture #(kind of i guess)#random junk seejay does

Level 3 fits entirely within one of the level 8's lobes. Very cool how big this thing is getting.

I think I can complete level 9, and there'll be enough room left to get up to level 11 or maybe 12, but I'm going to have to go buy another packet of bbq skewers because there definitely aren't enough skewers left to progress beyond level 9.

I've had to change up how the rubber bands are strung, too. They're not big enough to encircle the entire hexagon of each love, so I've switched to having one band per side.

So instead of one rubber band for each end of each prism, there's now one rubber band for each side of each end of each prism. (Each corner of the hexagon holds two overlapping bands)

I might have to double the bands again shortly, such that each band is only holding onto half the sticks of a side, but we'll see.

These little elastic hair-ties I'm using are very much not suitable for holding the structure together long-term, especially if they're at their maximum stretch, so I'm going to have to figure out some kind of gluing solution for the structure.

First thought is a droplet of superglue at each intersection of the outside of the structure:

I'll test that idea on one of my level 3 Toothpix Hexastix

#hexastix

Hexastix progress report: finished level 6

Here's a level 3 on top of it for scale:

#hexastix

I made a level 4 hexastix out of toothpicks. It juuuuuuuust fits together and is sketchy AF. Probably if the toothpicks weren't tapered at both ends it would be less wonky, but as it is, each of the four hexagonal prisms are tapering instead of having perfectly parallel sides.