Did you know that if you connect the vertices of three orthogonal, golden-ratio rectangles, you make an icosahedron!? Well, I didn't, until recently. The idea delighted me so much, I turned it into a lightshade...
Assets
- IcosaLight.svg ('Right-click + Save Link As...'). I used Inkscape to convert the SVG into DXF for laser-cutting.
- OnShape.
Notes
- The lightshade should be cut from 3mm-thick acrylic plastic (I used frosted-white). Tweak the OnShape design if you need to use a different thickness.
- Assembly: slot the horizontal rectangle (circular hole) into the rectangle with the opening on the 'long' side. Then slot the rectangle with the opening on the 'short' side up from the bottom. The ring clips onto the top. Once this 'chassis' is assembled, connect all the vertices with nylon string (each vertex receives the string twice). Tighten everything up whilst checking that the rectangles remain aligned.
- The lightshade is designed to fit a standard B22 CF lightbulb. The top ring has a Ø28mm hole to match that fitting - you may need to replace that circle in the SVG if your local standard is different.
- The lightshade is designed to work with 'low-heat' lightbulbs (CF or LED) - use your own judgement as to whether your material choices (e.g. acrylic plastic + nylon string) are fire-safe, given their proximity to your bulb choice.
All Icosahedron Lightshade assets by Chris Molloy are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
¤ Copyright 1999-2024 Chris Molloy ¤ All rights reserved ¤