tiny sphere...

[paperPino]

Hi paper friends!
I have two questions:
1- which is the best paper sphere design for tiny spheres (3-4 cm diameter)?
2 - how small can be a paper sphere? Which is "your" minimum diameter?

Thanks a lot!
Ciao,
Pino

[rmks2000]

The smallest sphere I built was the gearshift knob for Zio Prudenzio's Kubelwagon. That may have less than 2mm but I have to see if I still have the model. I can't recall if it was two or four pieces.

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And hello paperPino. There is no reason that your tiny sphere needs to be a designed, drawn and carefully constructed model. As I remember from my childhood days, ripping off a corner of paper from my notebook, placing it in my mouth and chewing on it until it forms a tiny sphere was a quick and easy way to make just the item you are looking for. We called them spitballs, but for modeling purposes, let's think of them as Paper Mache. They're paper, tiny and easy to make.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[paperPino]

Originally Posted by Thumb Dog

Hi All,

And hello paperPino. There is no reason that your tiny sphere needs to be a designed, drawn and carefully constructed model. As I remember from my childhood days, ripping off a corner of paper from my notebook, placing it in my mouth and chewing on it until it forms a tiny sphere was a quick and easy way to make just the item you are looking for. We called them spitballs, but for modeling purposes, let's think of them as Paper Mache. They're paper, tiny and easy to make.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[paperPino]

Originally Posted by rmks2000

The smallest sphere I built was the gearshift knob for Zio Prudenzio's Kubelwagon. That may have less than 2mm but I have to see if I still have the model. I can't recall if it was two or four pieces.

2 mm???
Well, I meant... a best design for a sphere of 2 to 4 cm diameter.
How did you built a 2mm sphere? maybe with thumb Dog's method? (see his post).

[Diderick A. den Bakker]

Why not use glass or plastic beads?!

[paperPino]

Originally Posted by Diderick A. den Bakker

Why not use glass or plastic beads?!

Glass???
Plastic???

[paperPino]

Just to be more clear:
I was looking for the best design (polygons number and arrangement) for small sphere (2-3-4 cm diameter). Best means simple to build and effective (the sphere must roll...).

[db-sa]

For those who appear to be struggling to grasp the scale of things
2cm = 20 mm =0.787 inch
3cm = 30mm =1.181 inch
4cm = 40mm =1.575 inch

[SCEtoAUX]

When I made the spheres for the Unseen Unversity High Energy Magic Building I found some styrofoam spheres the correct size and skinned them using the gores provided with the model. The finished spheres were 2.7 cm in diameter +/- a few fractions of a mm.

Here is a thread that shows the final sphere.
Unseen Sphere Odyssey

Something you might try is a snub dodecahedron or some other appropriate Archimedean solid. Here is a site with a whole bunch of paper polydedra that might give you some ideas:
Paper Models of Polyhedra