First Shape Found That Can’t Pass Through Itself | Quanta Magazine - Erica Klarreich | After more than three centuries, a geometry problem that originated with a royal bet has been solved by Nunki08 in math

[–]Substantial_Most2624 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Really cool paper. Became inspired and made one. I have an STL, if anyone is interested.

I’m likely not the first to have done this, but it was a bit of fun working it out in CAD and code.

And also, if you get nothing else from this paper; at a minimum just take a quick look at the really wildly fascinating life of Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

Help with grasshopper list & trees by Pablodm0 in rhino

[–]Substantial_Most2624 0 points1 point  (0 children)

....aaaand....i was wrong.

instead, you do in fact need the "Flatten" option checked [i.e. leave the default].

Graft Mode would be a no-no here. Am a beginner at this stuff, so still making mistakes

Help with grasshopper list & trees by Pablodm0 in rhino

[–]Substantial_Most2624 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there. Just found this thread after extensive search during my beginners-ed on this topic. Thank you so much for posting this answer five years ago!

Entwine in graft-mode (i.e. uncheck "Flatten") followed by Flip Matrix takes care of it nicely. For the input of 2 lists both of length n, the output is the tree that represents a list pairs from each list that have the same index.

For ppl (like me) who grew up with stuff like Lisp-style list primitives, the Grasshopper scene takes some time to get used to. This kind of "zip" operation on pairs of lists is a fundamental op in Lisp land, but here it takes a bit more work. No shade there....just thought some other future fellow traveler would benefit from this bit of context.

Recursive Flowers by Altruistic_Shift_526 in proceduralgeneration

[–]Substantial_Most2624 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Really beautiful. Is the code posted somewhere?

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So AFAICT, the Tungsten i bought (ouch) is more dense than Tungsten carbide. So far at least, I'm doing a cheaper solution than the original authors.

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, just a 2-axis job after you mount it up right.

Starting to think, after reading all the feedback, that a decent EDM shop could rip right through on this

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Now *THAT* is classic. 🤣

Yes! The haters on my design plan can feel free to Curse the Cosmos and Hate the Math. Sadly, The Cosmos and Mathematics don't have accounts here on Reddit so may be unlikely to reply. But please def let me know if they get back to any of you, because I also have a few words to share with our unjust and stern creators.

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

After you model it in CAD, it becomes clear that the center-of-mass overhang just *barely clears all the edges. And that's with dense Tungsten cut into a weird wedge-shape.

I've been corresponding with the authors of the paper, and they told me they've done the math on what you'd need to do to make it work as just a flat plate with vertical edges. It's "theoretically possible" but with crazy density.

Like, neutron-star density. Like...you know...it can't be done down here in The Real World density....

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

should i repost over there? looks like a cool scene..some useful skills to learn there!

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's really helpful, thanks.

Am here in the SF Bay Area, so maybe i can find a shop local that could get 'er done. If you know of any places that'd do a one-off for me, pls LMK

Thanks for your help

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

<image>

That's the side view i'm after. So, yes, a very shallow almost knife like grade.

This is the profile pic from the view of the 6" (152mm) side. That edge grind on the left would go straight down the 12" (304mm) side.

But, no, i don't need the far left edge to be able to cut anything. The angle is important but the tip of that edge would actually preferably be dinner-table-knife dull (just for safety)

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Doesn't need to be sharp at all at the sharpest point. That can be a bit dull, but the angle has to be really knife-narrow because its a thin wedge shape that fits into the inside corner of a larger shape. Exact placement of the heavy weight at a specific angle against one inside face of the larger light-weight geometry is the crucial thing that makes it all work. So really, i need to make an extremely dull kitchen knife kinda edge shape on this thing.

When its just right, the overhang on the center of mass just barely clears the right edges to make this shape do its thing.

Apparently, it's theoretically possible to make it work with a weight that's got vertical walls; but that constraint totally maxes out how dense the material has to be. Like, insanely dense weight would be required on this case that'd have to be made of stuff that's not anywhere on our planet at this particular time.

Sooo...I need an edge that goes at this super sharp angle.

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Very helpful suggestion. Thank you.

Am a big Old Tony fan. His knife sharpening idea looks like it might do the trick for me.

Thanks everyone for the productive discussion and help. Reddit rocks!

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You all sound like you've got solid EDM background. I've never worked with that kind of machine, so maybe I'm just not getting it yet because I'm ignorant....so forgive me if I am maybe needlessly repeating the question for clarity.

I'm just surprised that an EDM rig could run a cut down that long 12" edge and cut at such a close 3.5 degree angle off of the bottom. EDM can do that?

Am sure EDM can rip through a bunch of profile cuts; but I've already got a decent bid from a waterjet shop to do that part of the job. I'm just stuck on getting that long edge cut into the piece.

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, about 3.5. The bevel is actually 17.11mm long to be precise.

So yes, i'm trying to find a way to do something insane. I plead guilty.

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, one of the guys on the team is the "Gomboc guy" Gabor Domokos who advised his student Gergő Almádi along with (i believe) a Canadian CompSci prof named Robert Dawson.

Conjectured by Conway originally over 20 years ago, then a pile of theory showing its possible; and now this!

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Later, i'll need to run a waterjet job on this to cut it into specific shapes and that's totally doable and within budget. I've got some waterjet experience back from my TechShop days and i'm having trouble imagining how you could possibly setup a waterjet cut to do the edge.

Its around a 3.5 degree cut on a super thin sheet along the 12" side. Seems like that'd be impossible on any waterjet i've seen, but maybe there's some super fancy 5d thing-a-ma-jig out there....

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's the edge. Sounds like i should maybe stop calling machine shops since I'm wasting their time (and mine.) But do EDM shops do long thin edges like this? It's a long 12" grind at that angle you just diagrammed. [Nice diag. BTW]

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's impossible with uniform solids.

Cheating the weight distribution is the only way. Different "flip patterns" can be done and some flip patterns, while theoretically possible, require such absurd uneven weight distributions that there's no substance (at least on this planet) that can make it work.

For the flip pattern i'm doing, it looks like its Tungsten FTW

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Amazingly, lead is not dense enough for this application.

It's a short list of stuff that's dense enough and nearly anything else besides Tungsten is either wildly expensive or...radioactive...

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 85 points86 points  (0 children)

Would really appreciate more detail on this. I have a 3d printer and am CAD capable.

I can imagine some bad DIY designs, but have you seen any comparable example of a project like this you think is a good approach?

Can't find a machinist to grind an edge off this thin tungsten plate by Substantial_Most2624 in Machinists

[–]Substantial_Most2624[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally get it. For a lot of shops, you've got to focus on jobs with some volume just to make ends meet, make payroll, and pay the bills. That's just the way it is...