24 Piece Origami Cube - twice the fun!

Like a Shashibo cube, but twice the fun!

NOTE: There is now a smaller version of this model here, which includes some tools to make it easier to assemble.

There are a few models for these Shashibo Origami cubes out there, made up of 12 pyramid shaped pieces, but this one has 24 pyramids, making it twice as much fun!

The model prints in multiple pieces and requires some assembly.  This means you don't have to worry about hinges breaking as you take it off the build place, or hinges being fused solid or too lose due to printer variations.  It also means that in the unlikely event the model breaks, you can just replace the relevant part.

There are two profiles, one of which has coloured stripes on all faces of each pyramid, and one in which the face on the build plate is single coloured.  The first of those has colour changes within a layer, so requires an AMS.  The second only has colour changes at layer interfaces, so could be printed without an AMS, if you add the appropriate pauses to change filament.

In addition there are equivalent profiles for the A1 Mini.

In each profile there are two plates; the first has 24 pyramids (12 for the A1 Mini, so print this twice), and the second has 28 hinges (includes 4 spares).

If you open the model in Bambu Studio you'll see each pyramid is an assembly of parts.  It is coloured by choosing the colour of each part in the object list on the left, rather than adding colour changes at certain levels.

Assembly

Take a hinge, and bend it in the middle:

Take two pyramids and position them like so:

Now insert the bent hinge, if you give it a bit of a push to straighten it slightly once inserted it should stay in place:

Now position the pyramids such that the hinge is on a hard smooth surface (do not use your best dining table, as it may end up with dents; maybe a kitchen work surface or similar):

Now Holding the pyramids perfectly aligned with each other, push down firmly, and the hinge should click in to place.  It's very important to keep the pyramids perfectly aligned, so that hinge sits equally in each one.  You can tilt the pyramids so the bottom faces are parallel with the table, which might help.  It does require quite a bit of force.  It should look like this:

Repeat that exercise 12 times so you end up with 12 pairs of pyramids:

Next we're going to join those in pairs like so:

Getting the hinge in is a bit trickier here because it's harder to hold the two relevant pyramids together when joined to others, but the principle is the same:

Repeat 5 times so you end up with six blocks of four:

Then join these in pairs to give three strings of eight each, and then join those so you end up with one string of 24 pyramids like so:

Nearly done!  Fold this string in to a rectangle as shown below; you'll note there is one hinge missing in the lower left corner:

Finally insert that last hinge the same way as you did the others, completing the assembly.

It is now possible to fold the model in to a cube, or any of the other interesting shapes in the photos.  I'm sure you'll come up with your own new ones too!

If you need a hint to help get it in to a cube shape, take note that each side is comprised of four right angled triangles that meet in the middle.

If you assemble it wrongly or need to replace a piece, the hinges can be removed with something like a small flat blade screwdriver, by pushing on the middle of them from the behind, as it were.

I hope you enjoy your new double-the-fun cube!