Icosaix by OSKAR

Oskar · **Joined:** Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:03 pm

Hi Twisty Puzzles fans,

Icosaix is a face-turning icosahedron twisty puzzle. Some faces go over other faces while turning. The puzzle jumbles, resulting in some unexpected shape-shifting.

Many people have contributed to this puzzle, intellectually or otherwise.

Bob Hearn stimulated me to keep pursuing this design.

Jason Smith introduced the mushroomed core for stability.

Pentagram

get the clearances right

Sky Zangas

Shapeways

Dr. Sticker

My main contribution to this design are the "steps" in the defining curve of the puzzle, which result in consistent hidden "filler" pieces that keep the corner pieces stably in place. The close-up photo below shows a filler piece, which becomes visible only midway turns. Of course, I did also all 3D designing and prototyping. Another innovation is the split core. One of the 20 screws is very long and holds the two hemispherical core pieces together. For the final assembly, I just have to release that screw a bit to have the final pieces fit and, and then tighten it again. . Finally, after two failed prototypes, I managed to build an Icosaix prototype that works.

Watch the YouTube video.
Buy the puzzle at my Shapeways Shop.
Read more at the Shapeways Forum.
Check out the photos below.

Enjoy!

Oskar

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Luke · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:01 am

Great puzzle Oskar! Hopefully this will be the next mass produced puzzle from Meffert's (along with the Gear Shift). I've been wanting to see a version like this ever since the first Face Turning Icosahedron. Absolutely beautiful.

Drake · **Joined:** Sun Jan 02, 2011 6:48 pm **Location:** Canada

Wow, that look's cool :shock:

.

grigr · **Joined:** Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:38 pm **Location:** Russia

SUPER!

Superbud9123 · **Joined:** Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:32 am

Wow! I didn't even expect the shape-shifting part. How many degrees do you turn the face to shape-shift?

Volitar Prime · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:56 am

Wow, this looks great!

The world really does need a mass-produced face-turning icosahedron. I really hope that this is progress in that direction!

Ender Delphiki · **Joined:** Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:55 pm **Location:** Montana

Nice! But don't you dare make me solve that... monster

Zeotor · **Joined:** Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:37 pm

This is a fantastic puzzle! I also think that it would be great if this were mass produced.

mizzle576 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:33 am

This is one absolutely amazing puzzle! I hope I have a chance to own it one day!

Chris

Oskar · **Joined:** Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:03 pm

Superbud9123 wrote:

How many degrees do you turn the face to shape-shift?

Answer from Matt Galla: "... about 44.5 degrees". Read Matt's full analysis here.

Oskar

Monopoly · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:16 pm

Beautiful puzzle! I'd been wondering where this went, as it disappeared from your Shapeways shop a while ago. I absolutely love it's geometry. Too bad it has so many tiny pieces, otherwise it would be a good candidate for Mass-production.

schuma · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:41 pm

It's superb. This puzzle should be THE face-turning icosahedron, because of its neat appearance and the similarity to the face-turning octahedron. If it's mass-produced, I would like to buy one.

MonkeyZ · **Joined:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:59 pm **Location:** NJ

Yes finally! An face turning icosahedron that does not have those annoyingly small "corners"! Too bad the turning is not great.

Oskar · **Joined:** Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:03 pm

MonkeyZ wrote:

Too bad the turning is not great.

You think this is bad turning? You should have seen the first two prototypes ... :-)

c1829 · **Joined:** Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:20 pm

Nice! It sounds like A LOT of work went into getting this one perfect.

Shenron · **Joined:** Wed Apr 21, 2010 3:45 pm

This is one of my favorites from you Oskar, keep it up.

RubixFreakGreg · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:51 pm

I'm sorry, but to be honest, overlapping + hidden pieces showing during turns + jumbling just doesn't appeal me like all your other puzzles, this is definitely not one of my favorites although I like how you made faces like an FTO

I hope you can make one without overlapping, I prefer those 8-)

- Greg

pirsquared · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:10 am

Cool, but it looks like the turning is pretty bad. I HIGHLY recommend that you try some CRC Heavy Duty Silicone lube. I was skeptical at first, but it works so well!

-Eitan

Oskar · **Joined:** Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:03 pm

pirsquared wrote:

I HIGHLY recommend that you try some CRC Heavy Duty Silicone lube.

The puzzle was soaked in silicone-based lube. What more can I do? Oskar

Oskar · **Joined:** Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:03 pm

RubixFreakGreg wrote:

honest, overlapping + hidden pieces showing during turns + jumbling just doesn't appeal ... although I like how you made faces like an FTO

Greg,

Overlapping: This feature is fundamental to make "faces like an FTO".
Hidden pieces: These pieces are fundamental to the stability of the design.
Jumbling: Jumbling is fundamental to the icosahedral geometry.

So essentially you are saying that you fundamentally don't like the fifth twisty platonic solid.

Oskar

RubixFreakGreg · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:02 am

Oskar wrote:

RubixFreakGreg wrote:

honest, overlapping + hidden pieces showing during turns + jumbling just doesn't appeal ... although I like how you made faces like an FTO

Greg,

Overlapping: This feature is fundamental to make "faces like an FTO". I know, but I'd prefer abandonigng the FTO looks for this. It's just a matter of taste.
Hidden pieces: These pieces are fundamental to the stability of the design. I know, but I'd rather see them on the outside

Jumbling: Jumbling is fundamental to the icosahedral geometry. I like jumbling, but not when it's combined with pieces showing or overleapping. Hense why I prefered the other FTI's

Oskar

Once again, it's just a matter of taste, but this is the only puzzle in your shop I don't like particularly more than a regular twisty puzzle.

- Greg

Volitar Prime · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:35 am

pirsquared wrote:

I HIGHLY recommend that you try some CRC Heavy Duty Silicone lube. -Eitan

I know this is getting a bit off topic but I tried this stuff on some pieces from a colored plastic C4U DIY 3x3x3 and it discolored the pieces! It was eating at the surface where it was sprayed. I recommend using Cyclo Heavy Duty Silicon instead as I've never had any problems with it, even with colored plastic pieces.

pirsquared · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:07 pm

Remember that this material is nylon, which is different from ABS plastic. CRC Silicone works wonders on nylon.

-Eitan

Allagem · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:19 pm

Oskar wrote:

Matt Galla discovered that the face-turning icosahedron geometry jumbles

While I appreciate everyone praising me for this, I can't accept this statement with a clear conscious. I'd like to direct everyone who is interested to this thread: http://twistypuzzles.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13071. As is clear from there, Tyler Foxx (username TBTTyler) actually told ME face-turning icosahedra jumble and at the time I didn't believe him (though I did specify I wasn't sure when I said I don't think they jumble :wink:

). Perhaps I gave/discovered the best explanation of why this happens, but I certainly didn't discover it

Oskar wrote:

Superbud9123 wrote:

How many degrees do you turn the face to shape-shift?

Answer from Matt Galla: "... about 44.5 degrees". Read Matt's full analysis here.

It is possible to give an exact answer here but it does take some time with pencil and paper and a fairly good understanding of 3D geometry (and a large amount of work with the golden ratio) Or maybe a computer algebra system
The exact angle is arccos((-1+3*sqrt(5))/8)
(This applies either clockwise or counterclockwise from any of the 3 non-jumbling positions, giving each face a total of 9 positions from which an additional interactive move can be made)
Sorry I gave an approximate answer before, but at the time I didn't feel like working it all out. Does this make up for it?

Great puzzle Oskar! :mrgreen:

Peace,
Matt Galla

PS Tyler, if you happen to read this, sorry if I spelled your last name wrong (I think I remember hearing it's Foxx somewhere, but I couldn't actually find it again)

bmenrigh · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:15 pm

The face-turning-icosahedron is one of my favorite puzzles on Gelatinbrain's site (2.1.1). Great job Oskar!

Allagem wrote:

The exact angle is arccos((-1+3*sqrt(5))/8)

Thanks for the exact solution. I popped this into GP/PARI and computed the first million decimal digits of the angle (in degrees). You can get them here.

Icosaix by OSKAR

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