Looney Labs Icehouse Mailing list Archive

Re: [Icehouse] The original pyramid size formula revealed!

  • From"Elliott C. Evans" <eeyore@xxxxxxxx>
  • DateWed, 07 Mar 2007 17:27:07 +0000
I'm sure some people have been wondering when I would enter this
discussion in earnest.

David A. wrote:
> So... even though the formulas get you glassy-eyed, which ones
> would "reign supreme," if you were to use them to develop
> 0-, 4-, 5-, etc-pointers?

For my personal amusement, I made some solid wood 5-pointers
about 9 years ago.

http://www.ee0r.com/proj/icefive.html

As I mention in that file, it's my personal belief that the 
base and height measurements of the pieces increase linearly 
with point value, and that the pieces get squatter as size 
increases. 

This belief is based on the observation that the base and height 
measurements of the existing pieces increase linearly with point 
value, and that the pieces get squatter as size increases. 

This change in aspect ratio may not be visibly apparent, but it
is in the specification and it is measurable. 7/32's of an inch
(0.21875") may seem like an odd measurement, but 32's of an inch
(0.03125") are a reasonable level of precision for engineering.

That said, very, *very* few of the pieces I've made are that
precise. 1/32" is about the thickness of a band saw blade. I do 
my best and don't worry too much about it.

> it would be cool to get some "official" zero-pointers,

How cool would it be? Would it be $5 cool per color? $4? These 
aren't worth manufacturing, but someone with a band saw could 
quickly turn a bulk order of Treehouse sets into a pile of 
0-pointers. They'd probably wind up at ~$1 *per piece* retail, 
though. That's a lot of money for such a small pyramid.

> Anyhow... thanks a million,

If you have the million, I have a band saw. =^>

--
Elliott C. "Eeyore" Evans
eeyore@xxxxxxxx