This is an hexagonally-tessellating lizard tile closely based on M.C. Escher's famous design. This vector art has lived on my old personal homepage, since 2008, at

seanmichaelragan.com/html/%5B2008-04-18%5D_MC_Escher_lizard_vector_art.shtml

Recently, Angus Hines (http://angushines.com) downloaded it and used it to lasercut a bunch of ~3" tiles in fluorescent acrylic (which are shown in the attached images), and it occurred to me it was probably time to share these files on Thingiverse.

Update 2011-12-15: Angus just sent me these photos of some lizards printed on FDM/FFF equipment, and I've uploaded them, as well as the .STL and .CDR files he sent along with. Thanks, Angus!

My best attempt at reverse-engineering the Gömböc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6mb%C3%B6c

The process began by using AutoDesk Photo Scene Editor on a series of 360-degree images of the original Gömböc published on the Gömböc website. This software lets you define common reference points on an object between images taken from different angles, and extrapolates the shape of the object using the resulting vector field. It yielded a crude Gömböc model which I then used as the basis for an eyeballed CSG model.

It isn’t perfect, and it probably won't actually work as a Gömböc either, because the shape is reported to be very sensitive to dimensional tolerances. But I spent quite a bit of time and energy on this and thought somebody might use it as a starting point for improvements. Or better yet, that it would persuade the Gömböc discoverers that it is time to finally publish the details of the commercial Gömböc's shape in the open literature.

Update

On 2011-07-22, I received an e-mail from Prof. Gábor Domokos, one of the Gömböc's co-creators. Prof. Domokos politely took issue with some of the statements I originally made in this space. My original statement has been modified in response to his comments. It may change again as our discussion continues.

To the best of my ability to research the question and understand what I've read, the Gömböc discoverers, though advancing the claim that the shape popularized and commercialized as the Gömböc is a meaningful scientific discovery, have not actually published that shape for purposes of peer review. Two years ago when I undertook this project, I exhausted the available published resources on the subject, including all the authors' papers on the Gömböc and related topics and the Hungarian IP filings that protect the Gömböc shape for commercial purposes in Hungary.

Since that time the Gömböc shape has received a U.S. design patent (#D614077):

google.com/patents?id=dITOAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=D614%2C077&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=D614,077&f=false

This document includes line art that constitutes the best and most specific public description of the commercial Gömböc shape that I have seen. It still does not satisfy the standards of scientific peer review as I understand them.

Domokos and Péter Várkonyi claim to have produced a shape that has unique mathematical properties, but they have not told the world exactly what that shape is, so their claim for this particular shape cannot be verified. They will, however, sell you an expensive CNC-machined copy of that shape.

I am no mathematician, and though I believe their published works establish to the standards of that community that mono-monostatic bodies exist, I am not satisfied that their claim of that property in the shape publicized and commercialized as the Gömböc is supported by sufficient evidence. Unless they publish exact parameters of the commercialized Gömböc shape in the open literature, their claim that it is really mono-monostatic cannot be verified by other researchers, and hence must remain open to doubt.

Prof. Domokos has politely requested that I remove this file. I have respectfully declined to do so, as I do not believe it violates any of their established legal rights, and I believe it may have actual value for researchers interested in the Gömböc and mono-monostatic bodies in general.

Fans of Patrick McGoohan’s classic BBC spy series The Prisoner will recognize this gimmick from Episode 15, “The Girl Who Was Death.” As the beer or other libation is drained, the lines of text becomes visible at the bottom of the glass. Personally, I think I would probably stop drinking after "have," but hey...

This is a stencil, in an authentic "Village" font, for applying etching cream to the bottom of a pint glass. It is intended to be laser cut from adhesive vinyl with a removable carrier sheet. I don't have a laser cutter, so I contracted to have mine laser cut by the folks at Etchworld:

etchworld.com/cms-display/custom_stencil_support.html

They charged me $1.76. The stencil material is not expensive and this design is not especially complicated. I note that the material is described as "vinyl," which, if correct, probably means they have to take special precautions when cutting it against chlorine gas evolution. Something to consider if you want to try cutting your own.

Like a spice rack, really, but in the shape of the periodic table so you can use it to store and display your chemical elements collection.

This is a set of solid pentominoes, each of which is based on one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. They are based on originals by Japanese schoolteacher Sabu Oguro as published on p. 40 of Jerry Slocum and Jack Botermans' 1986 book Puzzles Old & New: How to Make and Solve Them. All parts printed via MakerBot, and photographs, by Becky Stern. Becky will be streaming live video of her MakerBot printing some of these pieces at 10 AM PST on Friday, December 18, on her Ustream channel at:

ustream.tv/channel/sternlab

This is a half-height bookshelf made from 5 pieces of 3/4" plywood cut from a 4x4' blank according to the plan below. This prototype was made from Finnish plywood, stained with Minwax "Island Water," and treated with boiled linseed oil.

he parts have been designed to minimize wastage in the parts blank while maximizing available shelf space. The puzzle shelves unit can stand up against a wall to provide a "fourth shelf" below the other three, or it can be turned over and stand on its own.

Additionally, the prototype includes a new experimental locking halved joint which uses a foam rubber ball to keep the joined members together. The plan could easily be modified to use conventional halved joints.

Instead of flat slot-ends, the slots in the puzzle shelves unit are terminated with hole-saw cuts, giving the finished slot a kind of "keyhole" shape. When two slotted members are halved together, a spherical void is formed by the perpendicular overlap of the round cuts. A foam rubber ball, in this case a practice golf ball from the sporting goods store, is popped into this spherical recess from an oblique angle, locking the two members together and cushioning their motion against one another.

This is a multi-wrench that looks like a fish skeleton. It incorporates 21 distinct wrenches for metric and SAE nuts, 3 flat screwdrivers, a serrated cutting edge, a can opener, a wire breaker, a centerfinding tool, and a lanyard loop hole.

This 24" high game table is intended to be cut from a 2x4' panel of 3/4" stock material such as plywood or MDF. The legs slot together and the top is secured between tabs at their upper corners. The reversible top might be painted with, say a chessboard on one side and a backgammon board on the other.