Hey Twisty Puzzlers!

I’m pleased to present my newest puzzle:

Radio Cube 3
Video
Buy on Shapeways for $150!

The Radio Cube 3 is a cubic transformation of a face-turning icosahedron. It was going to be a cubic DeFTI, but I made it slightly shallower than the DeFTI to make it look better. It has the same pieces as Jason’s Radiolarian 3, hence the name. The cuts are curvy, and many friends have said it is reminiscent of my Celtic Cube.

As with all deep-cut icosahedrons, this puzzle jumbles. What's interesting about this puzzle is that due to the massive amounts of shape-shifting, it is very difficult to distinguish when you are doing a jumbling move from when you are just moving that same group in the right orientation. I'll explain this better in the video.


The puzzle is available on Shapeways for $150. http://shpws.me/m1Gd

Here are more pictures:


-Eitan

Wow. This is incredibly cool. Normally, shape mods of Icosahedrons are just dodecahedrons, icosadodecahedrons, and rhombic triactahedrons. This is very cool, and yes, reminds me a lot of the Celtic Cube. It looks a deeper cut than the celtic cube, however.

-Doug

Great design.

Nice looking pattern.

I will definitely buy it as DIY for 150 USD.

Well, I knew you would, Claus! I was more curious if other less insane collectors would buy one!

Thanks everyone!

Eitan

Wow, Eitan! That is fantastic, and I love the name!

Very cool. I'll buy a diy for sure. Or bid...

I will buy it as well!

WOW!!! Great looking puzzle.I'm generally not as interested in shape changing puzzles that can be made in a different shape that doesn't require the shape to change. However in this case the use of shape changing to hind/camouflage the jumbling moves in with the others does sound very interesting and I would suspect make this a very difficult puzzle. Being honest I'd probably not spend $150 on it right now as I'm in the middle of a move but $150 seems very reasonable and I'd love the option of being able to get this down the road if it were put up on Shapeways.

And a question: Considering the extent to which this changes shape do you know if there is any over-hang bandaging?

Carl

P.S. I bet even unstickered (or stickered in just one color) that could make for one very hard puzzle. I would think once scrambled and jumbled just getting it cubic again would take a fair deal of effort.

P.S.S. And this gives me an idea. Think of all the puzzles which are made by making shape modes of other puzzles when they are mid-turn, i.e. not in their doctrinaire state. Has anyone yet done that to a puzzle that jumbles? For example, let's look at this puzzle. Imagine if you still started with Jason’s Radiolarian 3 but lets say you jumbled the puzzle as much as you could BEFORE you made the transformation to a cube. I would imagine each of the 6 faces would look different. It may even be possible to get a puzzle where each piece has a unique position and orientation even without stickers. Imagine super solving Jason’s Radiolarian 3 to a particular jumbled state on shape alone.

I have decided I will definitely put this puzzle on Shapeways for the price of $150. That should happen within the next 2 weeks. (I have 3 projects due, an intensive weekend start-up workshop, and a final interview at P&G, all in the next week, so it's unlikely I'll get to it before this time next week.)

Now, to answer Carl's questions:
I am pretty sure there is none. But tonight, I'm going to scramble it, so I'll let you know if I run into anything.
I agree. This would be a beast of a puzzle even without the stickers.
Holy crud, Carl! That sounds terrifying. I'm totally going to try that when I get a chance. Perhaps I'll try it first on a helicopter cube or, even better, on an unbandaged helicopter cube.

Ooh, the brain is teeming with cool puzzle ideas right now. Mmmmm.... Puzzzzzles....

-Eitan

Shapeways is excellent news! Would it be possible to source your stickers so we can order right away?

How would the Radio Cube 3 compare to the Hexaminx?

I can ask Oliver to make the stickers available in my section of his shop. I'll post here when those are ready.

It's interesting you ask about the Hexaminx. It sure looks like a curvy Hexaminx combined with a curvy Compy Cube. But in fact, it is not. The Hexaminx has 5 places you could stop to make turns, since it is made from a Megaminx; the Radio Cube 3 has 3 places you can make turns, and 3 more places you can make jumbling turns.

Thanks for all the support and offers to buy the puzzle. I'll let you all know when it's available.

-Eitan

If you do it on a helicopter cube, I would recommend putting it in the helicopter mezon shown in this post. There's a few posts later on in the thread that show how to get to it.


Oh, and almost forgot to say that this puzzle is awesome.

I just added more pictures to the first post.

Certainly a possibility.

-Eitan

This puzzle is just plain sexy ! 150 is definitely reasonable however, I don't think my solving abilities are on par for what this masterpiece requires. Also fantastic idea about the jumbled solved state, that will definitely give some interesting new solve strategies. Please keep up the great work!

Beautiful. And terrifying. Kind of like a King Cobra.

So you've made it clear it jumbles, removing the standard: "Does it Jumble?".

This leaves me only to ask: "Will it tumble?". Brandon?

Dave

This is amazing because it is another slot filling puzzle.
What is its weight?
What is its edge length?

Andreas

Haha my first thought when I saw the shapes of the pieces was "ooh that should tumble nicely!"

But it won't be happening soon. I'm so far behind tumbling / assembling / dyeing / stickering...

I bought a new giant tumbler which in the long run should dramatically reduce the amount of work that goes into tumbling puzzles. I need to build a box for it though. I've tried several different containers / bin / trash cans, etc. to dampen the pressure waves that come off of it. Nothing has worked. It turns my apartment into a subwoofer. I'm going to build a box but I haven't done so yet. In the mean time I have almost 40 puzzles in line for tumbling.

Carl asked in a PM if the Radio Cube 3 has any overhang bandaging. I was pretty sure it wouldn't, but I didn't want to say until I actually knew, meaning once I had scrambled it. I have now scrambled the puzzle, and I am even more certain that there is no overhang bandaging.

What I can say for certain is that this puzzle is fiendishly challenging to scramble, especially if you are trying to avoid jumbling it, which I was for this scramble.

I will be making an informational video for this puzzle next weekend, but here is a video of me scrambling it: http://youtu.be/nyDr6PlxLEc

Here are a few pictures of the scrambled puzzle. It's hard to believe, but all 20 of the axes are still free to turn.


-Eitan

Amazing puzzle!
It's difficult to solve (and to scramble). I like it.

Wonderful scrambled pictures. Just beautiful. (and great pre-processing for Andreas!).

Dave

Looks just like a pile of colorful bricks that you sticked together with some kind of glue like the mind of a baby that has a creative moment would.
Crazy puzzle.
How are you going to sort all that back into place?
I certainly can't imagine.

Indeed.
I forgot to thank you for the editing.

Maybe you can help me in another way:
What is its weight?
What is its edge length?

Andreas

I'm taking an Adobe CS 6 class, and I have a 30 day trial of Photoshop and Illustrator. So I thought I might as well take advantage of it!
I know, I'm sorry... I'll get that to you soon.
Already solved it. (with a screwdriver )

Thanks everyone.

-Eitan

The puzzle is now available for $150 on Shapeways. You will need 20 M3 screws at least 12mm long. I have just updated the first post with the video link and the shapeways link! You will soon be able to order stickers from Oliver's sticker shop.

-Eitan

Thanks for getting this posted on Shapeways so soon, I was happy to place my order. Are springs an option for the Radio Cube 3 or just the screws?

Just screws. I've never really been a fan of springs in my puzzles. Thank you for the order!

-Eitan

Eitan- I have to say congrats on the price you were able to reach.
Is the black version you have available for sale polished? I know there was some talk about shapeways polishing all colored puzzles but I'm not sure how it works.

I'm pretty sure the black one that's available is not polished. I haven't seen any sign of Polished Black Strong and Flexible since that first time they mentioned it a few weeks ago.

Andreas:
Edge length = 65mm
Weight = ~102g

-Eitan

There you go:
http://twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/puzzle.cgi?pkey=3624

Radio Cube 3 turns incredibly well even with no lubrication. I've never had so much fun with an unstickered puzzle! This jumbling is just my style; line up the curves and see what turns. This is an awesome puzzle, Eitan!



A note on screws: the M3 puzzle screws that have a built-in washer won't work (e.g. the ones sold on C4U or HKNowStore) because they stick out above the centre. The screw head must fit entirely within the centre. I found some pan-head M3-12mm screws that worked fine, though I think flat-head would be a better match for the centre profile.

And one curious thing... there are 8 corners that were left over after the assembly. Hopefully I didn't miss something...

Thanks Pete!

You're right that it works best with flat-head M3 screws. I will add that to my Shapeways descriptions sometime in the coming week.

Yeah, those are extras. I caught that mistake and fixed it about a week after you ordered it. I don't think you were charged any extra for them. (I hope...)

Glad you like it!

-Eitan

Anyone looking for M3 screws by mail order - a challenge unless you want 3000 of them - can check hobby shops as they are used in radio controlled cars and such.

There was no extra charge for the corners and... I have eight extra Radio Cube 3 corners - dyed black - if anyone needs some in the future.

-Pete

Finally stickered. Top middle - vertex turns. Top right - edge and vertex non-jumbling turn (*). Bottom right - freestyle (and yes I got it back). Bottom middle - an edge 3-cycle... it works!
(*) Correction, thanks to Eitan.

Looks great Pete! You might be shocked to learn that there is no jumbling in that photo on the top right. It's a completely unblocked move!

-Eitan