How do I make a dodechahdron??

[Randall J Cox]

I have the bottom 6 glued up and they turned and fit out much, much better than I thought they would. We're gluing up the top 5 tomorrow, leaving one off as this is going to be a cat box. I'll post some pics in a day or two, when done. Each time I cut a side to a pentagon, I put my protractor on it to see how accurate I was cutting. 95% were dead on. A couple I shaved off another hair to bring each angle to 108. I did it each cut as I didn't want to get cumulative errors as I cut. I am super pleased at how it all fits - so far. This whole exercise has ended up as a favor to the father of the girl. The only thing she has done so far is draw and cut out a couple of pentagons on heavy paper. I hear all of you that say "make her do it". She is not my daughter, so I defer to her father. Randy

PS the father just gave me a couple of 4x8 sheets of 3/4" oak plywood that he had cut at Lowes. The cuts are absolutely terrible, like its the same sawblade on their panel cutter that they started with over 25 years ago without replacing or sharpening. Almost criminal from a woodworking point of view. These $90 sheets are splintered back a full inch from the cuts!

[Randall J Cox]

OK it's finished, almost. Still needs some wood filler and sanding as the plywood is not great. This was just supposed to be the prototype but its now going to be the final product. The original plan was a prototype and two (!) finals. No way I'm building two more of these!! The young lady now realizes she did not know what she was really asking for - work wise. Even with three people installing the top 5 pentagons, I still needed to use my pin nailer to keep panels aligned as we added panels. Actually put them on and tweaked their fit all at once, then used pin nailer to keep them in place as glue dried as there was no practical way to clamp this. I plan to sand the knife edges just a tad so you can't get cut on them. Then give it to her and let her take it home and do the wood filler, sanding, sealer and painting. I will recommend grits, sanding sealer, etc. I did sand all the inside panels before we glued it up. She can now seal the inside as it will be a cat box. Again, thank you all for you recommendations and comments. Great forum and super help!! Randy

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[Tom M King]

Looks good, and good lessons all around, including for us. I'd frame that last picture and hang it in the shop. I expect it helped a lot not having to fit in that last piece.

[Steve Demuth]

I'd say it looks very good, notwithstanding the rough material you used. Great work.

[Randall J Cox]

I will say that I put all the crappy sides in and the best sides out, just in case. Glad I did that. Randy

[Christopher Charles]

Thanks for sharing the journey, very clear everyone learned from the journey and I too learned much. Hope the cat uses it-the cat box I built has been straight out ignored. Which is the way of cats I suppose.