Seven-way radial symmetry technique

I just stumbled across a way to build a 7-way radial symmetry in LEGO.

A technique for building 7-way radial symmetry in LEGO. The blue 2×2 plates are connected to each other using plate hinges in a ring, and when I built that I noticed the ring looked like the right diameter to go around a 4×4 round piece. The hinges actually protrude a little into the center, but by sandwiching the two 4×4 rounds together and filling the space inside with a round 2×2 plate and seven (leaving one stud open) 1×1 round plates, you can make it all fit nicely. And since the 4×4 rounds and 2×2 round plate have axle holes, it can easily be connected to any Technic mechanism.

If you stick an axle in the middle it twirls like a top – it’s very well balanced.

LDraw code after the break:

Click photo to view on Flickr ↗

A technique for building 7-way radial symmetry in LEGO. The blue 2x2 plates are connected to each other using plate hinges in a ring, and when I built that I noticed the ring looked like the right diameter to go around a 4x4 round piece. The hinges actually protrude a little into the center, but by sandwiching the two 4x4 rounds together and filling the space inside with a round 2x2 plate and seven (leaving one stud open) 1x1 round plates, you can make it all fit nicely. And since the 4x4 rounds and 2x2 round plate have axle holes, it can easily be connected to any Technic mechanism.

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0 Seven Symmetry
0 Name: seven-symmetery.ldr
0 Author: William R. Ward
0 License: public domain
0 ROTATION CENTER 0 0 0 1 "Custom"
0 ROTATION CONFIG 0 0
1 0 0 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6222.DAT
0 STEP
1 25 -30 0 10 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 25 -30 0 -10 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 25 -10 0 30 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 25 10 0 30 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 25 30 0 10 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 25 30 0 -10 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 25 -10 0 -30 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4073.DAT
1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 4032.DAT
0 STEP
1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 ring.ldr
0 STEP
1 0 0 -24 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6222.DAT
0
0 FILE seventh.ldr
0 Seventh
0 Name: seventh.ldr
0 Author: William R. Ward
0 License: public domain
0 ROTATION CENTER 0 0 0 1 "Custom"
0 ROTATION CONFIG 0 0
1 1 62 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3022.DAT
1 1 42 8 -20 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2430.DAT
1 1 42 8 -20 -0.62349 0 -0.781831 0 1 0 0.781831 0 -0.62349 2429.DAT
0
0 FILE ring.ldr
0 Ring
0 Name: ring.ldr
0 Author: William R. Ward
0 License: public domain
0 ROTATION CENTER 0 0 0 1 "Custom"
0 ROTATION CONFIG 0 0
1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 seventh.ldr
1 0 0 0 0 0.62349 0 0.781831 0 1 0 -0.781831 0 0.62349 seventh.ldr
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1 0 0 0 0 -0.222519 0 -0.974928 0 1 0 0.974928 0 -0.222519 seventh.ldr
1 0 0 0 0 -0.900971 0 -0.433879 0 1 0 0.433879 0 -0.900971 seventh.ldr
0
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