An interesting possibility just occurred to me, namely: combining pieces from Rubik's UFO and the Square-1 to create a Star Prism.

Possibility 1: Take the corner pieces from the Square-1 and graft them onto the pieces of the UFO to produce a puzzle that looks like this one: http://www.twistypuzzles.com/large/00775-01.jpg

There would be no restriction on how this puzzle could move.

Possibility 2: Do similar to before, but fuse the two layers of the UFO together to produce something like a star-shaped Rubik's cheese. Then take the rails from the Square-1 and affix them to the pieces similar to how Ton is constructing the 3x3x5.

http://www.speedcubing.com/ton/3x3x5.htm

Then add Square-1 corners to the upper and lower layers to produce a 3-layer Star Prism that can turn along all three cuts through the center layer. It would look like this one but wouldn't have the restrictions on movement. Also, the center layer could be the same thickness as the top and bottom.

http://www.twistypuzzles.com/large/00625-01.jpg

Possibility 3: Take the puzzle created in Possibility 1 and add the Square-1 rails to it like in Possibility 2 to create a 4-layer Star Prism.

I don't have the means to construct any of these, but if someone else wants to use the idea, go right ahead.

A four layer star prism using the UFO mechanism was on my "things to do" list. Now that it's been put out there in a more public manner I guess it's become a race to see who will make it.

I don't understand your first point about making a two layer square-1 with a ufo mechanism where you said "There would be no restriction on how this puzzle could move."

Are you referring to some two levels are not totally functional?

Admittedly, I'm guessing a bit. There was another 2-layer Square-1 based puzzle where the movement was restricted.

http://twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/fs.cgi ... gi?pid=915

A two-layer Square-1 where half of one side is permanently stuck together to prevent the unseen middle from getting misaligned. At first glance, I figured the existing 2-layer Star Prism used a similar design. It might be based on a UFO; I'm not sure.

Due to the irregular shape of the pieces involved in a Square-1 puzzle the restriction of movement is about the only reasonable way to make such a 2 layer puzzle. To me it seems somewhat of a waste of a perfectly good puzzle to make such a crippled item but I guess that works for some people.

Of course as you point out using just the corner pieces would result in a six pointed star prism that would be a perfect geometrical match to a UFO mechanism and allow complete movement.

Actually you could go one step further with the 4 layer idea. Since the inner two layers are the only layers restricted by the UFO mechanism, the outer 2 layers could utilize the smaller edge pieces of the Square-1. This would certainly help to increase solving difficulty and would look right aesthetically with a bit of work.

Did I say a bit of work? I meant a metric ton of work.

I can tell you on the two layer Square-1 puzzles that I have there are no pieces glued to the mechanism and I have not had any problems with the mechanism binding. Granted I have not give the puzzles a lot of play time and the movement I would categoize as fair at best.

Erick

The photos of the 2 layer Star Prism and the 2 layer Square 1 are of my transformations of the Square 1.
Yes it’s true that one half of one layer is fixed to the inner mechanism to prevent the mechanism rotating slightly in use and therefore jamming the puzzle. As you will be aware it is the middle layer of the original Square 1 that is fixed to the mechanism to prevent it rotating while turning and aligning the top and bottom layers. Removing this layer then creates the problem.
When I was transforming these puzzles I tried various methods to prevent this happening, to enable a fully rotating puzzle. I employed springs and ball bearings installed within the inner mechanism, to try and hold the mechanism to one layer while turning the other, but none of my methods worked 100%, some were better than others. So the result ended up being what it is – ‘a bandaged puzzle’, not a lot of harm in that, still leads to interesting solutions, as with bandaged cubes etc..
Along came the UFO which would have solved the problem of the 2 layer Star Prism as discussed. As you will probably have noticed from another posting I went for the Cheese idea rather than the 2 layer Star Prism. I find this a lot more pleasing. The puzzle rotates on all axis and equator, refer to posting. I already had ideas for this after examining the mechanism of an original (single layer) Rubiks Cheese. Ideas are in the head for a 4 layer Cheese.
I have also considered a fully functioning 2 layer Square 1 based on the UFO but at the moment cannot see how this could work. The UFO as you know works on 3 equal pieces per side not 4, also not 2 different size pieces. Of course that’s not to say it can’t be done. Some greater thought required I think.
I think that’s it for now, more may come later.

Anthony