Back story. A friend of mine who knew I did woodworking asked me if I could make a dodechahedron for his "senior-in-HS" daughter who is applying to lots of colleges and wants to be an architect. She wants to help in whatever way she can in making it. Then she sends pics of us making it (I guess) to show she is interested in being an architect. Or something to that effect.
Anyway, I have watched every utube out there and done other internet searches trying to figure out the jig measurements. I did find out I have to set my table saw at 31.7 degrees for the mating angles and the outside angles on each pentagon are 108 (setting the fence to 18 degrees) on the 12 pentagon facets. She would like to have each pentagon at about 9", so this is obviously not a solid object. I played around on my table saw yesterday thinking I can figure this out with my very old geometry class knowledge (I'm 76) but so far just made more kindling for my cabin stove.
Has anybody out there ever made one? We plan to use either 5/8" or 3/4" oak or maple plywood plywood and I was going to use my biscuit joiner with the smallest biscuits, 0 I think. There's a couple of utube tutorials (that I watched over and over and over) that just don't give enough info for me to figure it out. If I can make just one pentagon with the right angles, then I just make 11 more and put it together. Will certainly make a prototype first out of lesser plywood given oak or maple plywood is $90 a sheet at Lowes. Know there are a lot of smart people out there.... Any help with any info on how to do this appreciated. Randy
dodechahedron.jpg
While typing this it just hit me that I should have her very carefully draw and cut out the size pentagon that she wants, then I will cut it out of plywood as I do know the correct angles. Then I can reverse engineer the jig to fit the pentagon to make the remaining pieces.... I find this challenging and still would like to know if someone has done these before and the jigs they used (in detail) or if there is any easier way to make these..