A few weeks ago, I said I would be making my version of the helicopter dodecahedron. I originally wanted my design to be unique, so I later decided to make a shape modification of the puzzle instead. The result is a 120-sided, nearly spherical, jumbling twisty puzzle. The shape is a disdyakis triacontahedron, the catalan solid with the most sides. To my knowledge, this puzzle is tied with Tony Fisher's Rhomball as the twisty puzzle with the most sides. It is about the size of a V-Cube 5, and it was fully printed in White Strong and Flexible at Shapeways. I plan to dye it sometime in the future in a similar way to Oskar's Big Boulder, but I have not yet found a place near my house where I can purchase Rit dye. The puzzle turns very smoothly (especially after breaking in), but turning can be a bit awkward due to the very shallow cuts. One thing that is strange about this puzzle is that it doesn't need screws, glue, or pins to hold together - the mechanism holds itself in place! I found this out by accident when I first put the puzzle together. It is slightly more stable with screws, so I chose to put screws in it anyways.

It can be bought from my Shapeways shop in three parts: Order one of these (the core), and two of these (half print of the rest of the pieces). The total cost is $139.97.

VIDEO


Turning

this would make a very interesting softball.......


It's an aesthetically pleasing puzzle.

holey smokes.... how are you going to sticker that thing?

What a great craftsmanship. That is one really amazing puzzle. It'll be even better with stickers.
Oh, and I think you should put it on Shapeways ...

It looks very cool when you can see the cuts as circles like that.
Very nice puzzle.
But sticker/dye it first!

I hope to dye it soon, but I'm not sure where to get dye. Does anyone know where I can get Rit dye (in Massachusetts)?

The puzzle will be on Shapeways in a few minutes.

You can probably find it in a supermarket, near any shoe cleaning supplies, or other cleaning supplies.

It's now for sale on Shapeways for $139.97 total. Order one of these (the core), and two of these (half print of the rest of the pieces) to get all of the plastic parts necessary to build the puzzle.

He said he was going to dye it, which makes sense because of the rough-ish nature of White Strong and Flexible material.


Very inpressive puzzle! I like how it's not one of those puzzles you marvel at but you know you would never scramble it for a long time, it's one you would marvel at and scramble immediately! (Sorry if nobody knows what I mean)

Wow, this is one puzzle that I would really love to get 3D printed!

Alex

Great work.

How do you design the puzzle so cheaply? All my shapeways designs end up being really expensive. For this cheap, I'm tempted to buy one.

Because this puzzle has a very big central sphere as a core, which can be hollow.
Because of the near spherical shape the pieces also don't extend much from the sphere, resulting in a shell like puzzle, which can be made very cheap
Nice one.

This puzzle is so cheap because it is mostly empty space. The core is basically a 1.5mm thick hollow ball. Also, the pieces aren't very big - they are at most about about 5-10mm from the core. (Basically what Namegoeswhere said) Lastly, the puzzle is cheaper thanks to Shapeways' new discount on all Strong and Flexible materials.

Very good work! It is interesting that you claim the puzzle holds itself together w/o screws. The Big Boulder locked up quite a bit until I took the play out of it (hint: tighten the screw until it is taunt, then 1/2 to 3/4 turn counterclockwise and the face will turn freely without any "wiggle" play). I noticed when I got to the last of 60 faces, I had to dramatically loosen two adjacent sides to get the last face in. Then when I retightened the adjacent faces, the face with the missing screw stayed put even when I rotated it. But with no screws at all, I can't see any puzzle staying together without some sort of "snapping" mechanic, say Eastsheen 2x2x2, or certain "junk" 3x3x3s, for instance. Otherwise, how do you assemble it?

I also thought that the Disdyakis Triacontahedron would make for a more "balanced" d100 die, albeit you'd have to "roll again" if you wend over 100, LOL!

Your puzzle looks great, however I rememver a previous posting concerning a "Starminx V2" aka edge-turning dodecahedron (I forget the link), that behaved in a similar fashion to the Helicopter Cube, yet it jumbled at two different angles. Maybe it was deeper cut as well. Also, the puzzle could perhaps be further unbandaged by splitting the long skinny part into an edge with additional corner piece aka "crazy comet" style. But most importantly, I commend you for skimming the price so low. I spent $400 on Oskar's Big Boulder (totally worth it though). Thanks for sharing this awesome creation...

I think the reason why the puzzle holds together without screws is because the center piece has two extensions that the big boulder doesn't have. The picture below shows the Helicopter DT center on the left, and a center piece of a puzzle that I plan to put on Shapeways later this week on the right. This puzzle has similar geometry to the Big Boulder, so the center pieces should look somewhat like each other. (can you guess what it is?)

Wow... just wow. I love this thing, and it also makes it a lot clearer about the jumbling turns.

Since not all the edges turn, I wouldn't call it helicopter whatever, but more face-turning rhombic triacontahedron

I simply love the look, and the totally new concepts/ shapes!!!

Greg

I thought he mentioned the shape was a Disdyakis Triacontahedron, not a rhombic triacontahedron, even if it is based on it.
We wouldn't call Rubik's cube a corner turning octahedron, would we?

This does turn at corners, though.

I have an idea:

Disdyakis'ed Helicopter Rhombic Triacontahedron, therefore being a name for its shape and function... But it's too complicated, and since the cutting planes are round i'd call it:

SALAMINX I like salami

Greg

Amazing puzzle, Will!

...but what is the goal to this puzzle? Is it supposed to have stickers and you just haven't done that yet?

Last time I checked Wallmart had it.

Just one word : Fantastico!!

I think that there will be many helicopter mod made after the helicopter cube mass produced, but this one looks great, and in my opinion this is the greatest helicopter mod have been made so far...

Nice work!!



I think maybe it is based on the Pentagonal Icositetrahedron.

-Mark-

Fantastic Puzzle. I can't wait to see it stickered.

I have finally finished this puzzle. I actually completed it about a week ago, but I couldn't find my tripod, so I couldn't record a video until I found it today. As I said before, the dyeing pattern is similar to Oskar's Big Boulder in that it reflects the geometry of a normal cube. Unfortunately, I did make a bit of a mistake with the dyeing; I assembled the puzzle when I first received it, then disassembled it when I went to dye it. As a result, there are some spots on the puzzle that did not absorb the dye due to being covered by super glue that was used to glue the caps in place the first time I assembled the puzzle. In some areas, I was able to repair the color using some Sharpies, but some white spots can still be seen if one looks closely at the puzzle. Obviously, I won't make this mistake in the future. Other than that, the puzzle looks great!

VIDEO

Nationals is going to be unbelievable.

this puzzle is SOOOOO unbelieveable! yet affordable!

added to wishlist for sure!

Imagine stickering every face with a unique color!! how many faces does it have again?

120

Might I also ask you how exactly you used the RIT Dye? When I tried it a while back, my parts didn't dye very well at all.

The way I did it is as follows: Boil enough water for the parts to move around freely. Pour the water into a container (usually I just used a glass jar), then add about 1/8 teaspoon of powder per 1 cup of water that you use. Stir the dye until it is dissolved, then add the parts. Stir the parts in the dye until they are the color you want. Note: often times the color will look very different in the dye bath than after rinsing and drying the parts. My green parts looked more like a grey in the dye bath, and my black parts looked dark purple, but in the end they were the correct color. Finally, rinse the parts using cold water in a sieve until the water runs clear. Let the parts dry and allow them to sit for at least a few hours before assembling the puzzle to prevent the dye from rubbing off onto other colors. (unless the puzzle only has one color)

Oh, you used powder. I used the dye that comes right out of a bottle. I'll try that next time.

I've got to tell you, that your puzzle is looking good


Oskar said he used distilled vinegar with the "acid" dyes instead of regular tap water. Does that make any difference?? Anyways great work

I don't know if it's due to the vinegar or not, but Oskar's puzzles make your hands dirty, a fair bit more than mine do!

This is a great looking puzzle I hope my dyed parts look this good

We see this one before the faceturning rhombic triacontahedron.
Ridiculous!
But cool!