Rhombic fun ball puzzle

Or "Truncated cuboctahedron composition of interlocking composite rhombic dodecahedron parts"

This original puzzle has 10 pieces that interlock into a roughly spherical shape with rhombic facets. Each piece is the union of a small set of rhombic dodecahedrons.

It is a difficult puzzle, made somewhat easier if the pieces are printed in several colors.

There are many ways any two pieces can interlock. A vast number of shapes can be constructed with random arrangements of several pieces. But I believe there is only one way that this set can fill a truncated cuboctahedron defined by the centers of the rhombic dodecahedrons -- roughly a ball.

Printing instructions:

Print the following pieces:

8 x 4-dodecahedron.stl
1 x 5-dodecahedron.stl
1 x 1-dodecahedron.stl

Technical details and recommended print settings:

The STL files are compatible with all 3D printers.

I printed the pieces with PLA filament, using a Prusa Mini+. The print time on a Prusa Mini+ is about 240 min. (4 hours) per full Rhombic fun ball, or about 25 min. per 4-dodecahedron piece.

PrusaSlicer non-default values:

0.2 mm (Quality) layer height for clean and precise results.
Layers and perimeters:
- Solid layers: Top: 0 Bottom: 0
Support materials:
- Raft layers: 4
- Style: snug
- XY separation between an object and its support : 30%

Puzzle hints:

There are many unique ways that two 4-dodecahedron parts can interlock without gaps. They can also interlock with gaps that can't be filled by neighbors. The solution does not include any gaps so these arrangements can be avoided and ignored. Rhombic dodecahedrons in this regular, periodic arrangement fill space without gaps.

If printed with several colors of the 4-dodecahedron parts, it is much less difficult to assemble by comparing with the final photo of each side at roughly quarter-turn orientations. Part of all eight 4-dodecahedron pieces are visible and their neighborhood relationships are shown. I used four colors for four pairs of of the 4-dodecahedron part, and two other colors for the other two parts.

The final photo has enough information to solve the puzzle, but it is still challenging. In the near future I'll post more complete piece-by-piece assembly diagrams.

I would appreciate any comments about issues with printing, and how hard it is to assemble.

Warnings:

Small parts are a choking hazard, do not make these available to young children.

Do not taunt Rhombic fun ball.

Acknowledgements:

I developed this using Tinkercad and Prusa Mini+ printers at the free maker space, JDLC, at the Southeast Campus of Portland Community College.

Thanks goes to the helpful staff, Hacienda CDC and all supporters of JDLC.

I used Gigus's Rhombic Dodecahedron as a modelling starting point.