Three of the thirteen Archimedean solids have three types of faces and thus look best when printed in three colors. The method adopted here prints one or two sets of faces separately as "chips" which are attached to a central form. The image at the left shows a truncated cuboctahedron with the chips necesary to make a three colored solid.

If two sets of faces are printed and attached the method works with all printers. If a "dualstrusion" printer is available the form can have two colors and only a single set of chips needs to be attached.

The Archimedean solids with three types of faces are: 1) truncated cuboctahedron, 2) rhombicosidodecahedron, and 3) truncated icosidodecahedron. The image at the lower left shows the three forms; the rhombicosidodecahedron appears twice with different colorings.

Four stl files are included for printing the truncated cuboctahedron. They are:

t_cuboctahedron_less_faces4_and6.stl
trunc_cuboctahedron_faces4.stl
t_cuboctahedron_chips_square.stl
t_cuboctahedron_chips_hexangonal.stl

The four stl files for the rhombicosidodecahedron are:

rhombicosidodeca_less_faces3_and4.stl
rhombicosidodecahedron_faces4.stl
rhombicosidodeca_chips_triangular.stl
rhombicosidodeca_chips_square.stl

The four stl files for the truncated icosidodecahedron are included in 3color_archi3_stl.zip. The openSCAD files that produced the stl are in 3color_archi3_scad.zip.

Monochrome printer

To construct the truncated cuboctahedron print the three stl files, t_cuboctahedron_less_faces4_and6.stl, t_cuboctahedron_chips_square.stl, and t_cuboctahedron_chips_hexagonal.stl. Use three different colors and attach the chips to the central form. I use a Q-tip to put a drop of acetone on the back of each chip and hold it in place for a few seconds till it attaches. The chips look best if they are printed directly on the build surface and the shiny side points out.

To construct the rhombicosidodecahedron print the 3 files, rhombicosidodeca_less_faces3_and4.stl, rhombicosidodeca_chips_triangular.stl,
and rhombicosidodeca_chips_square, in three colora and procede
as described above.

Dualstrusion printer

To construct the trucated cuboctahedron merge t_cuboctahedron_less_faces4_and6.stl
with trunc_cuboctahedron_faces4.stl and print to obtain a two color form. Print t_cuboctahedron_chips_hexagonal.stl in another color and attach to the form as described for the monochrome printer.

To construct the rhombicosidodecahedron merge rhombicosidodeca_less_faces3_and4.stl with rhombicosidodecahedron_faces4.stl and print in two colors. Then printrhombicosidodeca_chips_triangular.stl and attach as described above.
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