Double Helix: A LEGO® creation by Dirk VH : MOCpages.com

Double Helix

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This asymmetrical sculpture comes full circle over 36 brick layers. First devised the instructions for a quarter circle, these can be found at the bottom of this page (LDRAW-instructions).

About this creation

1. THREE FULL ROTATIONS ( 108 layers )

( this is the final sculpture standing 103cm / 3ft5 and uses just over 4000 bricks
I repeated the LDR-instructions a dozen times. )

2. LDRAW INSTRUCTIONS

(downloadable at bottom of this page)

Parts list for this L-DRAW 9 layers ( 90° ):

Green 1 x 1 : 9
Green 1 x 2 : 15
Green 1 x 3 : 13
Green 1 x 4 : 32
Green 1 x 6 : 2
Green 2 x 4 : 54
Green 2 x 3 : 17
Green 2 x 2 : 13
Red 1 x 4 : 41
Red 1 x 1 : 11
Red 1 x 2 : 20
Red 1 x 6 : 2
Red 2 x 6 : 2
Red 1 x 3 : 22
Red 1 x 8 : 2
Red 2 x 2 : 14
Red 2 x 3 : 19
Red 2 x 4 : 49

TOTAL : 337 bricks
25-30 minutes to build

3. METHOD TO THE MADNESS
Basically I took this monochrome picture of a bone ( I encourage you to try with other shapes such as Bat logo, an hour glass, ... ) :

did 9 rotations of ten degrees each ( the last layer being identical to the first, rotated 90° ).
Made the images really tiny, so every pixel would represent exactly 1 stud.
Color transition was estimated on sight ( what line would cut each layer in half ).
Finally this resulted in ...

4. MY HANDCRAFTED INSTRUCTIONS
I find it hard in LDRAW to read building instructions so you can download these 10 .jpg images if you want a clear view

5. ONE FULL ROTATION ( 36 layers )

5. FINAL REMARKS
Building a sculpture according to these plans of a partially hollow double helix has it buts especially when it comes to moving the sculpture once it has been built.
I found out that moving this sculpture around was feasible when it stood two rotations high; three however is too much ! When i lifted it the first time to make some pictures it broke in three. The main problem is the combined weight on the lower layers ( some cavities there due to hollow layers ) together with a flexible 16x32 base plate.
So if you are aiming for the skies I recommend to build in full layers, certainly for the first half of your moc.

Building instructions

Download building instructions (LDRAW format)

Comments

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I made it

Dirk VH

December 26, 2009

Quoting Lego Ranker It seems and looks nice. I wonder if it be strong enough to support a small house. It be like the staircase to the house, above the world.

I'm positive it is strong enough to support a small house, provided there are no internal cavities. Also would be a great idea to recreate this spiral with the Ldraw instructions, but use all plates instead. I'd really love to see someone give this a shot, with a house or even better, a small castle tower or gates of heaven at the end of the stairs.

Lego Ranker

December 26, 2009

It seems and looks nice. I wonder if it be strong enough to support a small house. It be like the staircase to the house, above the world.

I like it

Farhan Salman

November 6, 2009

SWEET!

I made it

Dirk VH

June 28, 2009

Quoting Missy Joy Hmm... Interesting.. How Long did it take to build?

25-30 mins per quarter. So 1h45-2h00 to go full circle once.

I like it

Missy Joy

June 28, 2009

Hmm... Interesting.. How Long did it take to build?

I like it

Mood Swim

May 15, 2009

Absolutely beautiful! Hats off to you!

I like it

Dylan B

May 14, 2009

I have to say, it looks awesome. Great job capturing that shape in lego, it's not the easiest build out there. -Dylan

I like it

Sebeus I

April 1, 2009

Mooi gedaan, ik zag het net op beLUG

I like it

Crimso Giger

March 25, 2009

Very interesting and beautiful. The next step would be to make it studless and more smooth, maybe by using some slopes. But it's already totaly amazing !!!

I like it

Eric Sophie

March 25, 2009

Hey I really liked seeing this, very nice. I am going to show this to my students.

By Dirk VH

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