Snowflake Pendant Tensegrity

Made in collaboration with: Jenny .

Lesson Plan and Activity:

With a partner, you will design and create a single custom Tensegrity Structure of equal complexity or greater as the tables depicted above (as determined and approved by the instructor).

Parts List:

File Name: Quantity:

Joe_BaseBottomFinal.3mf 1

Joe_BaseTopReal.3mf 1

Joe_BaseChain.3mf 2

Joe_Pegs.3mf 2

Joe_MiddleChain.3mf 2

Tools Required/Advised for Construction:

- 2, 1 cm long small metal rods (required)

- Fishing wire (required)

- 6 hooks for screwing (required)

- Small screwdriver with a head slightly smaller than hooks

- Hammer

- Clamps

- Scissors

- Bottlenose pliers

- Cutters

Assembly Instructions :

Step 1

- Take your printed bottom base, with the snowflake facing up , and one of the base pegs - Insert the larger part of the peg into the middle hole of the base and make sure that the smaller part of the peg is facing up as well. - The bottom of the peg and base should be parallel to one another Bottom Base and Peg

- If peg does not fit in the hole: - Use a broken pair of cutters to shave down the inside of the hole Shaving.gif

Step 2

- Take one of your printed bases, with the snowflake facing down , and one of the base pegs - Repeat step 1.2 Step 3

- Place both of the bases next to each other, with the flat side on the table, then grab your hammer and screwdriver. - Grab the bottom base - Using the screwdriver, place it in the center of one of the outer ovals of the snowflake - Gently hit the screwdriver with the hammer so that a little indentation is formed - Repeat steps 3.2.2 - 3.2.3, this time skipping over the adjacent oval and placing it on the next one - Repeat step 3.4 Base holes.mov

- Grab the top base - Identify the three small indents on the snowflake-less side of the top base - Place the screwdriver in the center of one of the indents - Gently hit the screwdriver with the hammer 1-2 times to form a slightly larger indent - Repeat steps 3.3.2 - 3.3.3 with the two other indents you identified in step 3.3.1

- Step 4 - Grab your 6 hooks, Using the holes made in step 3, screw the hooks into individual holes, and tighten them until they are fixed in place. Make sure that the hooks are perpendicular to the base Adding Screws to Base.gif - Turn the hooks so that the side of them face the center of the base. Do this for the hooks on both the bottom and top bases. Step 5

- Grab your fishing line and scissors - To connect the bases together: - Cut 3, 12 inch strings of fishing line - To connect the middle chains together: - Tie a figure eight knot on fishing line and cut it 6 inches up from the knot - Make sure to pull your knot tight! PullingKnotTight.gif

Step 6

- Grab your middle chain pieces and 2, 1 cm long, pieces of metal rod - Insert the wires into the holes in the middle chain halves - Position your middle chain with pegs in it so that it is looped through both base chains - Put a metal rod in each of the small holes on the bottom of the middle chain - There should be 2 holes Hammering in the metal rods

- Take the other half of the middle chain and connect it to make a full middle chain Connecting the Middle Chain.gif

ClosingMiddleChain.gif

Step 7

- Grab the 6 inch fishing line and the chains - Loop the line through the middle chain so that the knot is on the outside - Then, pull the line through the hole on the base chain and tie a loose knot that rests right on top of the chain - To tighten the knot, push the middle chain and base together, the distance between the inside of both chains should be about 1 cm. - Tie another knot above the knot from the last step, when fully tightened they should be about 0.5 cm apart - Next, pull the line through the hole on the other base chain and up through the middle chain - Tie a knot that rests right on top of the chain - Follow step 7.3.1 to tighten the knot

Step 8

- Get your bases and chains - Line up the chain with the red line shown below, parallel to the blue line that connects two of the hooks - Insert the smaller end of the base peg into the larger hole of the base chain - Press it down hard enough so that it is fully inserted while being careful not to crack the chain or peg - If the hole is too small, carefully enlarge it with a small drill - Repeat for both chain + base combos Step 9

- Grab the 12 inch strings of fishing line and your top base - Loop the end of one of the strings through one of the hooks on the top base - Tie a figure eight knot around the hook you looped the string through in step 9.2 - Follow the gif below to tie a figure eight knot How to Tie a Figure Eight Knot.gif

- Repeat steps 9.1-9.3 2 more times with the remainder of the strings Step 10