Building a tensegrity structure
My latest project This turned out to be a bit more fiddly than I expected. This is partly because I set myself the goal of building it using a single piece of string and it wasn't entirely obvious how to do that without missing or repeating some edges. Here are my tips: 1. Cut 6 pieces of bamboo Obviously these should all be the same length. Hollow them out before going any further. 2. Measure out the thread The thread will pass through each bamboo 4 times, plus there are 24 edges between bamboo ends. The bamboo sticks are (1+\sqrt 5)/2 times the length of the edges (i.e. the golden ratio!) You will need a bit more than this to make it easier to tie the ends. Place two marks on the thread with a pen to identify where the knot should fall. 3. Blue tack the bamboo pieces in place This means creating a ball of blue tack and attaching 3 parallel pairs of bamboo to it in such a way that each pair is at right angles to each othe...