I took a bunch of pictures before and while assembling. I'll get those posted sometime soon. I want to work on a video first...

so is it officially scrambled?
definitely not taking it apart and then putting it back together solved?

how similar is it to a skewb in trying to solve it?

Not at all.

Skewb is vertex turning while this is face turning.

No doubt QUINBLZ was referring to the Skewb Diamond, not the Skewb Cube, because io put a Skewb Diamond in several of the pictures.

I think it's a meaningful comparison, in fact, as the Pentultimate and Skewb Diamond behave similarly: 1) each turn divides the puzzle in half, 2) each non-axial face is divided with one facet turning one way and all the other facets going the other way.

Otherwise, the principal difference between the puzzles is numeric:


Like the Skewb Diamond, many of the algorithms for the Pentultimate probably involve multiples of these numbers. (That's just a cold speculation, not based on analysis.)

I was thinking Skewb, mostly because it has centers, surrounded by corners of 3 orientations.

Just noticed the updated pics, simply amazing. I think I now get how it turns.

Touche! I am taking it apart again to do a few more things... At some point, I need to stop and work on the V2.



I had originally planned to take some photos of the Pentultimate and Skewb together. But I realized that the Skewb Diamond probably has much more in common with the Pentultimate, especially the fact that it is face turning.

V2 :O

Good to see some scramble pics. I'd love to see a stickered version. Is that a possibility for V2?

v2!?

Io, I love you! But, not in a creepy way.

As soon as I can afford a Stika, I'd like to try. I think it could look nice stickered, too. Although I am partial to tiles for some reason.

I think after a couple a year or 2 the stickers would begin to peel if it was stickered, even with high-quality stickers.
I believe the tile puzzle would last longer than the stickered version.

p.s. I always spell something wrong and have to edit my posts.

somehow I don't think you'd have any problem at all convincing someone who has a sticka to cut you some stickers.

i think the tiles look better because of the size of the puzzle's centers

At long last, here's a one minute video. You can see why I haven't been raving about the movement quality.

You'll see me turning it over and over in my hands. I'm doing so to confirm that the pieces are lined up ok for the turn.

But in spite of its drawbacks, it does work, so I'm happy. And it looks great on my shelf, too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md9QPwMuHDM

I'll post some mechanism pictures next.

(The V2 has a totally different mechanism )

Ahhh awesome.

Sure it might not turn great yet but it is a very cool puzzle indeed. I think we would all be very impressed if you could make a perfect one first time although considering it's a prototype it is almost perfect actually.

Huh? I am all ears!

WOAH!!! thats awesome man. cant wait to see v2!!

Its so amazing! Awsome job!

Awesome, thanks for the vid.

So.. sexy..

I'm still really anxious to see the mechanism, I can't even begin to fathom what it might look like.. over 400 pieces

Why do you people always relate twisty puzzles to sex, I mean really, sexy? cube-asm?

Lol!

And here I was, thinking this puzzle would never come to be...
Do you think that the v2 will solve most of the smoothness problems?

Think about it for a minute, lube, sliding, slotting, pops, twisting...that could describe many things, a teenage mind just prefers one of those ;D

The idea that the puzzle has so many axes of rotation that bisect the puzzle is what astounds me the most. The interior has to be one complex beast.

The puzzle's true brilliance will shine through once the invisible parts count starts dropping. In a sense, it's the new "God's Algorithm." Just imagine...

"I can make that puzzle in 120 pieces!"

"I can make it in 105!"

"I can do it in 95!"

"... name that tune!"

The funny part is that the 820 component parts assemble to make only 32 rigid parts that snap together to make the final puzzle.

So the final puzzle has 32 parts, of which all 32 are visible. The core is hollow.

I had to machine and cast the parts in component sub-sections, since their shapes were too complex to machine and cast in a single piece.

I have a photo with the 32 final parts on my kitchen table. I'll post it hopefully this weekend when I explain the mechanism.

But this may be a big enough hint for people to figure it out in the meantime!

Gnarly. I'm still blown away by it.

Suddenly the puzzle makes a ton of sense. I think the mention of parts counts threw me off, but put in that way, the idea seems a lot simple. Admittedly I'm still having some difficulty mentally visualizing what the mechanism looks like, but at least now I have a strong idea.

pretty cool looking.. but how does it turn!? it looks like the tiny little 3 color "pyramids" that are the corners turn 360degrees but thats all.. i hope its not..?

NNNNEVER MIND i see.