I figured I would post about the creation of the Duominx (see here for the New Puzzles thread).

Oskar's original design was conceptually great, but I bumped into a major problem when building it: I couldn't put it together!

If it were all assembled the edges hold in the corners and the corners hold up the edges. But putting in the last corner (not to mention the first few...) there was nothing to hold up the edge pieces.

He has since redesigned a more standard style of mechanism, but this design was interesting and with some minor modifications to hold up the edges between the center posts I was able to build it. I also built up the corners for easier insertion. Later I found I could have changed the angles of thsi build up to fit tighter but haven't yet remade my molds.

Original masters with milliput before sanding

Masters in progress: bare corner, puttied corner, sanded corner. Core and centers are bare (top one prepared), edges are puttied and sanded.

Fully polished corner, bare corner. #2-56 screw and DIY A spring cut in half for size

Edges built up. Note the plastic edges on the one on the right where I over sanded and had to build up my build up I mixed bare, prepared and cast pieces while I was still casting to build further.

Two faces built up. Note the hybrid pieces where half of the resin didn't cure properly. It is now solid, but never became opaque.

First face turning. The white pieces were from an old batch of resin so they didn't come out great, but good enough to prototype to check movement.

As is my habit (see the last few picture here, I ran out of white half way through the prototype so wound up with a two tone again




Here it is with its cousins for size comparison:

The last is next to the 3x3x4 to show the 57mm height.

The completed all black version (sorry for the grainy cell phone photos).


Next to the Pro-Minx for comparison



Enjoy,

Dave

So, is this really any different from the Kilominx, with the exception of the centres?

In either case it's a great build

Looks nice

In concept it is identical to the Impossiball, Thomas' Impossible Megaminx, my Kilominx, Meffert's Flowerminx, Oskar's Kilominx (same corners as the Duominx but different internals and his is larger) and the recent Globall Sphere ball or Flower: All are corners only face turning dodecahedron puzzles.
What makes this one special is that it is completely hand cast (well, the core is printed), it is smaller and has no gaps (Oskar's design).

Dave

nice build

A long overdue update: I have finally cast a v2 Duominx. Oskar redesigned the centers and edges to be more like a Megaminx which makes assembling the puzzle much simpler and in general a bit more robust. Movement is the same or better.

New pieces of the v2

I used #4 1/2" screws and DIY-A springs cut in half

Duominx v2 core, Flowerminx, Duominx

Duominx v2 core (with edges), Flowerminx, Duominx

The core with edges looks so nice, I had to take a picture on its own

Mostly assembled

Enjoy,

Dave

The picture with just the core and the edges looks like Oliver's Spherical megaminx. Very nice. I hope in a few years I will be able to own one of these.

Is that variant "without corners" working as expected?
In other words:
Have you made a cornerless Megaminx just to transform it into a CornersOnly Megaminx?

that's how the mass produced flowerminx and pyraminx crystal work.

I was just showing that because I like how it looks. It really doesn't function well without the corners.

Dave