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Möbius Rollers, Blender 3D and Fusion 360

A bunch of Möbius Rollers

I think I was first introduced to the concept of a Möbius strip in high school. This simple yet weird thing that can be made from a single strip of paper, one end given a 180º twist, and then the ends taped together. If you trace the surface of the resulting object, it has only one continuous face, and there’s only one edge. There are also weird results when you cut it different ways.

A Möbius strip is actually an ideal mathematical construct, like a point, plane, or cube. One you make out of paper is a physical representation of that ideal construct, but paper actually has thickness. But, that’s interesting, because what you’ve actually done is made a long, thin rectangular solid into a Möbius cube, which has one surface, and one edge. I made the Möbius Roller to answer a question in my head: What would it look like to inflate the side (edge) of a Möbius strip? (Then I had to add the channel that follows the side with balls that roll in the channel – because it was cool 😀.)

What has that to do with Blender and Fusion? Well, I originally learned Blender in order to make this object. I don’t know if you can make it in Fusion. (I genuinely don’t know, I’d like to see how, if it’s possible.) Anyhow, it wasn’t too hard to find a tutorial for Blender that showed how to make something like this shape, and I adapted it.

Does that make Blender better than Fusion? No. There are advantages to each. For example, making an object from a dimensioned drawing (like an engineering or architectural drawing) is much easier in Fusion than in Blender.

If you’re interested buying one, contact me.

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The Dilettante on Living in a Möbius World

Currently reading One Two Three… Infinity by George Gamow.

Here is a little science demonstration inspired by a section on the topology of the cosmos.

Some things I discovered while working on this video:

You can’t make the kind of Möbius strip that I did by nesting two Möbius strips together: you can’t nest two Möbius strips and have one follow the contours of the other all the way around.

If you construct this, and pull it apart so that it hangs loosely as a single loop of paper, it’s very difficult to put it back the way it was. It’s kind of a puzzle.

Here are some other cool Möbius strip related videos I like:

A superconducting vehicle that runs on a magnet covered Möbius strip.

One of my favorites, Vi Hart, showing off a Möbius music box.

This awesome 3D printed round Möbius strip.