Forum Thread: Spiked Pentakis

Wow, I wonder if you'll ever read this considering it's been 8 months. Or if you even need to know it anymore...

But I'm gonna do it anyway.

I had the same issue, deciphering the instructions for assembly.
Basically here is what you have to do -- I'm assuming you made the compound units already. If you don't, go here: https://mathcraft.wonderhowto.com/how-to/fold-pentakis-dodecahedron-0132015/ and scroll down to folding the compound unit. (The rest of the instructions are...REALLY confusing)

Once you have all of your compound units (you should have 30), make a ring of 5 as indicated in the above link.

OK, here's the confusing part. I had a hell of a time with this -- most instructions say things like "keep making rings of 5" and "it'll be obvious when you're assembling what to do." Not exactly helpful...

Let me try to explain this as simply as possible. Each unit in the ring will have a triangular flap coming from it. You will be using these flaps to be constructing rings of 5 units.

1) Attach a new unit to one of the flaps in the original ring
2) Secure the flap of your NEW unit into the nearest pocket on the existing ring.
3) Attach a second unit to the pocket in the unit you just placed (you are making a new ring)
4) Attach a third unit into the pocket of the second unit
5) Attach a fourth unit into the pocket of the third unit
6) Secure the last flap into the nearest pocket to finish the ring

Now, move to the next free flap from the original ring and do the whole thing over again.
Eventually the pattern WILL become obvious. It does get a little tricky figuring out where flaps go, etc -- BUT keep this in mind:
Every way you turn the figure, you should see a pentagonal face -- if you have any faces with more or less than 5 pyramids, there's a mistake, and it will mess up everything else.
Once you have all of your faces complete, by constantly making these 5-unit rings, the figure will become very sturdy and will stop popping apart.

Hope this is helpful! Oth