I rushed this a bit to get it finished before I go on holiday for a few days:







I think its operation is fairly obvious from the pictures. I am sure most of you will guess where the inspiration came from! However, the "half" buttons add a new and interesting dimension which, again, I am sure you can work out. I admit, I have not got the first idea how this would be solved when really muddled.

Turning is a little clunky and the buttons are a bit stiff to turn and have a disturbing tendency to pop out. A little tightening and sanding will help, but I think I may have to remake the puzzle with slightly larger buttons and more accurately cut grooves.

I will do a video, but not before I get back from holiday!

Cheers,

Tim

very cool

very confusing. cant understand anything about it. congrats! you made a very new puzzle. instead of new, like a type of bandaging or transformation or even making extra layers, you made a completely new type of 3x3 mod that i've never seen anything like it. 7 stars out of 5

When I saw the pictures at first I thought those buttons couldn't be trurned, but I was amazed to read they could! Nicely done!

Wow thats pretty cool. I imagine solving it could get really difficult.

This is brilliant. I totally want one.

Innovative.

How did you decided where each button would be placed for each face?

Interesting question. There are six buttons (I have an idea for one with 12!), each of which touch one corner. To get a kind of symmetry, the two remaining "unbuttoned" corners are on opposite corners of the cube. Notice the BWR and GOY corners do not have a groove. All the others do. The buttons are arranged in rotational symmetry around the "blank" corners such that all rotation planes of the cube contain two buttons. Does that make sense? It took me several days from the original conception before I decided on (what I thought was) the best arrangement. The 6-button and 12-button were close, but the 6-button was easier to make!

Crazy Cool. Brilliant!

I'm in awe.

So clever, so new, so inventive.

Thomas

You are an artist, a new look to an old idea. Very Clever

Very clever idea indeed. There's always someone thinking totally outside the box.

could you include some pictures with twisted buttons?
they do twist right, its not just an interesting bandage?


if i had to guess at how you did it, id say 4x4 centers in a 2x2x4 style mod

Yes, they turn.

very nice, i like it!
the idea itself was cool

ohhhhhhh, the buttons turn. I was wondering why everyone was making such a big deal about this. Nice build!

Brilliant idea! I wonder of other solutions where the cyclinders are complete
but with different colors.




Pantazis

I love this mod, it's almost like a bunch of tiny Square 1s grafted onto a Rubik's cube! (well, I think so at least)

Brilliant! I think, once refined, this idea could produce quite a few more "button mods" too. Awesome mod

What a cool idea!
As others mentioned already: it is interesting to see new ideas developing completely
aside the main stream.

Congratulations!

- Frank -

Really clever. And so clean! Nice job.

Clever idea and well built.

The 6 button version looks quite formidable when scrambled - good luck with solving it!

It would be great to see the 12 button version built at some point.

Give me hundred years of puzzle building, I doubt I would ever come up with this! Awesome design, awesome job!

Wow! Floating Bandage! a really New idea. and again a beautiful build.
I'm curious about the solving algorism.
Great Idea!!

-John Lin from Kaohsiung Taiwan
The real models are always the best approach to Shapes, Space, and Symmetry.

awesome

This is an awesome new idea!

However, solving-wise, this seems like it wouldn't provide any new challenge. It seems that you would always be able to twist the buttons to make any turn possible. Once you solved the 3x3 aspect, you could solve the buttons using simple 4-move commutators. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think you've overlooked something about the buttons themselves: they only turn when the adjacent button pieces form a full circle. It's easier to explain using the picture...

Examine this slightly-scrambled picture and imagine what you'd do if you wanted to execute any simple sequence of moves.

R (white center) is blocked by the Red bandage on top. The Red button can't be turned because there aren't enough buttons adjacent.

L is blocked by the Yellow bandage on top. The yellow button can't be turned because there aren't enough buttons adjacent.

F is blocked by the White bandage at right. The white button can't be turned because there aren't enough buttons adjacent.

B is blocked by the green bandage at lower right. The green button can't be turned because there aren't enough buttons adjacent.

U is blocked by the Blue and Orange bandages. The Blue / Orange button can be turned, but that will block L even more than it is already.

D can turn freely.

Ah, it seems I have overlooked that. For some reason I was thinking that any move still kept the buttons full circles. As this is obviously not the case, it is much harder to solve. This puzzle is now far more interesting to me

...Back from holiday. Many thanks for all the kind comments, it makes the work seem worthwhile!



Exactly! Hence the name "Floating bandage cube". Depending on the way it has been muddled, the "bandages" i.e. incomplete "buttons" with half-circle pieces will bandage the cube in different ways. I am not sure if a systematic solution will even be possible.

Playing with the pictured original makes me realise that I have to rebuild to make the operation much smootther. I have some good ideas for this and so will post again in a couple of weeks with an updated version and a video.

Oh, and by the way, the inspiration for this came from the.drizzle's cheese block (What a great puzzle!). I would not have come up with this without that puzzle... Thanks Matt!

Cheers,

Tim

Now you need to make a floating wall cube

May I humbly suggest calling them Rotary Bandages? I think the name should succinctly emphasize the most novel aspect of the puzzle...and I doubt you'd accept the suggestion of Dial-a-Bandage Cube.

any news on this? this cube puzzles me like no other

Sorry for the extreme length of time taken to update this puzzle. I had serious trouble making molds for the new parts. For some parts it took 3 attempts due to the diffiulties of awkward overhangs in the pieces.

The buttons are now bigger and fit much better. It is pretty stable, only the occasional button pop if care isn't taken to line things up, but on the whole it is quite forgiving and moves quite well. The buttons (rotary bandages!) work well, but do stick a little. However, it is getting smoother with play!

I still can't figure out how to solve it! I have to take it apart and rebuild it, which is quite tricky.

I have almost cast enough parts for a second one, but I am not sure yet whether to sell one or two of these or do a mark III using 3D printing, as I have just about got my CAD skills up to it now.

It is still some way off perfect, as there is some uneveness under the stickers as you can see, but at least it works ok now!

Pictures:






Video:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot9JYmSzKT4

Cheers.

Hi Tim,

it would be nice to have your working puzzle at the DCD.
Maybe this could help to get more feedback and some ideas
about how to proceed.

Frank

Great video. It's going to require patience to solve it I think.

Great job!

I don't think there is necessarily a good method that will always work. As said before, patience will generally be the best method.

A similar mod can be done to a dino/rainbow cube as well.

Thanks for posting the video. Man, that's gonna be a tough puzzle to solve!
Great job. I'd love to see the internals of that thing.

thanks for the update! I love to see it in action
and with new buttons and stuff I would love to own one of these as well. please offer them as a deal and not ebay

this idea could also be applied to a 2x2x2! I can think of at least a few nice versions..

I could see a very easy modification of a Rubik's 4x4 by bandaging certain pieces and rounding, building up and bandaging the centers to mimic that idea.

I think we just have a new definition for "jumbable" puzzles!
There is a great potential for many more mods based on this idea.




Pantazis

Ahhhh scrummy. So cool and so original! I can't get over it!
I'd love to own one.