My SuperX Prototype

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:08 pm

I have completed my first twisty puzzle, the SuperX! Yippee!

This puzzle turns like both a 2x2x2 and a Dino cube, giving it 24 moving pieces, 2 along each edge. For further reference do a search on the forum.

Some useful and interesting facts about this puzzle:
Size: 57mm, the same size as a 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube
Weight: 197g, the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube weighs 103g
Number of parts: 53 including a spider from a Rubik's Cube (the only production part I used.) The hardware is not included in the 53 parts.

I designed it in a 3D solid modeling program and had the parts printed by http://www.FDMOnly.com This company has a bare bones setup to get the prices on the parts as low as possible. My order was for 10 master parts (for 2 different puzzles) and came to $163 including shipping. After a little surface treatment, sanding etc., molds were made and the parts cast in Alumilite Resin. I used the regular (tan color) because it was what came in the starter kit, but I will be using black for future puzzles (wait and see). I will post one for sale this week if I can. PM me with an offer.

The movement is very good, but the puzzle tends to be a bit "squishy" with the 11 axes of rotation, so keeping everything lined up can take a bit of getting used to. Overall I am very pleased with how this puzzle turned out. Thanks to the members of this forum who have shared puzzle making tips, they really helped me.

And now for the pictures!

Ryan Thompson · **Posted:** Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:16 pm

wow. I am simply speechless. That is quite a work of art, even if it si an off white tannish color. :wink:

I had an idea for this puzzle a while back, i thought about putting a mini eastsheen 2x2x2 inside a rainbow cube, connecting the eight corners to each 2x2 corner. You would also have to cut the edges in half, but as you can probably tell, that idea never left the ground. But still fantastic work, especially for a first build.

Darren Grewe · **Posted:** Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:22 pm

Man I love it!!!!!!!!!!!

(Man I want one!!! Sorry!!! :cry:

) It doesn't look like its made with black or white plastic at all? Did you get some help from sausage on his website? I know the website made the pieces but did you have to make them first? I mean design them.

Scott Bedard · **Posted:** Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:25 pm

Simply amazing. Do you plan on making more? if so just name your price.

TBTTyler · **Posted:** Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:11 pm

I must say, very well done.
A super X ...

Adam Zamora · **Posted:** Sun Dec 17, 2006 11:47 pm

AMAZING! UNBELIEVEABLE! OUSTANDING!

Caleb · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:51 am

Adam Zamora wrote:

AMAZING! UNBELIEVEABLE! OUSTANDING!

ditto that.

bedheadben · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:56 am

Crazy! I want one!

pHeTe · **Joined:** Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:42 am **Location:** Sweden

+++++
Sorry for using a word that have allready been said but... amazing!

Aleksey · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:25 am

Cool! It's been made!

Would you be willing to show the mechanism?

pHeTe · **Joined:** Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:42 am **Location:** Sweden

Puzzlemaster42 wrote:

I will post one for sale this week if I can. PM me with an offer.

Now would be a good time to have some extra christmas-money for yourself :S
I bet quite a few people would want this puzzle for christmas

Kenneth Gustavsson · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 6:47 am

It's a wery nice peice, I would really like to try it and I would also by one if they where cheap

It's easy to solve using only corner twists* and the same algs as for the Pyraminx and if it twists easy too then it is a wery nice speed puzzle.

* If there is no parity problems with that?, I don't know. If so, then it is probably easy to fix by doing a single U turn (face twist) and then the rest becomes solveable using only corner twist.

Johannes Laire · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:14 am

That's a very nice puzzle! Combines 2x2x2 and Dino.

Kenneth Gustavsson wrote:

It's easy to solve using only corner twists* and the same algs as for the Pyraminx and if it twists easy too then it is a wery nice speed puzzle.

* If there is no parity problems with that?, I don't know. If so, then it is probably easy to fix by doing a single U turn (face twist) and then the rest becomes solveable using only corner twist.

You have to first pair up the pieces before you can solve it using only corner twists. Like, you can't solve a 4x4x4 using just UDFBRL unless centers are solved and edges are paired up. Using only corner twists it's like a Dino Cube, so both pieces that have the same color (for example, blue and yellow in the first picture) have to be adjacent for it to be solvable without using face turns.

Yes, there is a parity problem (50% probability).

Edit: I forgot, even if all pieces are paired up, it's not necessarily solvable using only corner twists. If there is parity problem (looks similar to OLL-parity on 4x4), you have to use face turns to fix that. I'm not sure if that would be easy at all...

Edit2: Ok, it's easy to fix the parity. This puzzle is ingenious, if it turns well then I'm sure speedsolving it would be awesome!

Edit3: Ok, this is going to be the last time I edit this post... But it seems to me that it's not possible to swap two Dino-pieces using just corner twists, so that's a parity, too. Like PLL-parity on 4x4. But that's really easy to fix, just like the other one, if you know how to use commutators.

jaap · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:39 am

Johannes Laire wrote:

You have to first pair up the pieces before you can solve it using only corner twists.

Edit: I forgot, even if all pieces are paired up, it's not necessarily solvable using only corner twists. If there is parity problem (looks similar to OLL-parity in 4x4), you have to use face turns to fix that. I'm not sure if that would be easy at all...

It is highly unlikely to be solvable by corner twists after pairing the pieces up. The Dino has no orientations - the edges cannot be flipped.

On this super-X puzzle this means that if you mix it like a dino, the pieces (i.e. half-edges) come in two sets that don't intermingle. Every 2x2x2 cube move however does intermingle those two sets. It is therefore possible to have some edge pairs flipped. I think there is a parity, so you can only have an even number of pairs flipped, but it is unlikely that they all happen to have the correct orientation.

It is fairly easy to find 3-cycles of pieces on this puzzle, and solve it that way. I would probably make cubies (i.e. make triplets), and then solve as 2x2x2. You can get the position where only one cubie is twisted though - a new kind of parity problem.

Johannes Laire · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:03 am

jaap wrote:

It is highly unlikely to be solvable by corner twists after pairing the pieces up. The Dino has no orientations - the edges cannot be flipped.

On this super-X puzzle this means that if you mix it like a dino, the pieces (i.e. half-edges) come in two sets that don't intermingle. Every 2x2x2 cube move however does intermingle those two sets. It is therefore possible to have some edge pairs flipped.

Interesting, I didn't realize that.

jaap wrote:

I think there is a parity, so you can only have an even number of pairs flipped, but it is unlikely that they all happen to have the correct orientation.

I think it should be possible to flip just one pair. From a solved state, one 2x2x2 cube move creates three 4-cycles, correct? And all we need is an odd number of even cycles, so using commutators we could then get to a position where everything is solved but one edge pair is flipped (2-cycle).

jaap wrote:

It is fairly easy to find 3-cycles of pieces on this puzzle, and solve it that way. I would probably make cubies (i.e. make triplets), and then solve as 2x2x2. You can get the position where only one cubie is twisted though - a new kind of parity problem.

Now that I understand the restrictions of Dino, I think I'd make cubies/triplets, too, or just solve the pieces directly.

pHeTe · **Joined:** Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:42 am **Location:** Sweden

hmm notation for this puzzle is?

jaap · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:28 am

Johannes Laire wrote:

jaap wrote:

I think there is a parity, so you can only have an even number of pairs flipped, but it is unlikely that they all happen to have the correct orientation.

I think it should be possible to flip just one pair. From a solved state, one 2x2x2 cube move creates three 4-cycles, correct? And all we need is an odd number of even cycles, so using commutators we could then get to a position where everything is solved but one edge pair is flipped (2-cycle).

Yes, I think you're right. So there are 24! /24 = 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000 positions.

Noah · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:37 am

Nice build. Something else worthy of mass production.

David Calvo · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:00 am

Holy cow!!!!!!!! That's a real MASTERPIECE!

I have fallen in love again....... One more time.........

Simply outstanding build! I have no words to describe the huge wishes I have to own that AWESOME puzzle!

Brilliant! Well done Master!!!!!

Adam Zamora · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:55 am

it would be neat to see if someone like mefferts or rubiks would pick this up as a mass production puzzle

David Calvo · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:35 am

Adam Zamora wrote:

it would be neat to see if someone like mefferts or rubiks would pick this up as a mass production puzzle

Even more now that master pieces are done

:):):)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Please Puzzlemaster, sell it to either rubik or meffert!!!!!!

lol

:):)

reeeech · **Joined:** Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:19 pm

Nice!! Looks fantastic!

skeneegee · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:51 pm

Wonderful!

It looks great!

Isn't this an Ashley cube or something like that?

Tom · **Joined:** Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:47 pm

Great work. Reminds me to the patent US4474377.
http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPOD ... 474377&F=0

Bram · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 2:39 pm

Did you use the patent for a mechanism, or come up with one of your own? (I suspect you'll have the same mechanism either way.)

A simpler mechanism and more interesting puzzle is to only allow one of the three 2x2x2 slices. I don't think that one has ever been prototyped.

The patent on the mechanism has expired, by the way.

Vadim · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 3:20 pm

This is awesome! :shock:

This one will definitely go down in history of twisty puzzles!
I can see all the possibilities opening up... including a master version one day!

Fantasic job! Well done!
Vadim

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:41 pm

The puzzle mechanism is similar to the one in the patent and uses almost the same internal 2x2x2 mechanism (a bandaged 3x3x3 mechanism). The outside is simplified in my puzzle and reduces the number of pieces needed. I will post some pics of the mechanism in the near future.

The puzzle does have a tendency to misalign itself while holding it and there are some places where it tends to catch due to the sharp angles of the pieces. All puzzles have a tendency to do this, but with the 11 axes of rotation it can be unusually severe with this puzzle. Even with this misalignment issue, the puzzle holds together quite well and I have had no problems with it.

The good news is that I will have one completed and for sale by tomorrow. My asking price is 400USD. Send me your offers (higher or lower) and I will make sure that the puzzle gets to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for all the praise! Now all I need to do is solve it...

Bram · **Posted:** Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:05 pm

You really ought to put it up on ebay rather than asking for people to send you bids. You'll make a lot more money that way.

darryl · **Posted:** Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:25 pm

Not to rain on anyone's parade who thinks they will get it for $400, but I have a feeling this will go for much higher than that. I would also suggest ebay so you get the amount the puzzle is truly worth. Incredible job on this!

-d

Lee T. · **Posted:** Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:38 pm

Great Job!! It came out beautifully!

It is something to be proud of!! I hope to see many more of your wonderful creations! 8-)

Another rapid prototyper! Great find on the service, I will have to try them.
What do you use for your solid modelling?

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 22, 2006 10:33 pm

I have had some problems with a parts supplier, and the puzzle will not be for sale until January. I should have some more details on the puzzle design and how well it is working by then.

By the way it is possible to end up with one pair of pieces swapped. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to develop an algorythm to solve this parity problem?

And, the puzzle has 2 mirror solutions due to its dino cube nature. It is a very interesting puzzle to solve. I am using the pair up edges method and can solve it except for the one pair swapped parity error.

Oscar · **Posted:** Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:22 pm

Here is a picture of Adam with his SuperX next to some of the puzzles from my collection. Indee a nice puzzle.

Scott Bedard · **Posted:** Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:39 pm

I for one would love to see a video.

Adam Zamora · **Posted:** Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:51 pm

hehehe Oscar I see at least 5 of my puzzles in there!

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:13 pm

Sorry no video yet. I may post a video in the future. but I don't know for sure.

I have been able to solve the SuperX, and the parity fix that I came up with is quite interesting and most likely very inefficient as well. No "record breaking" times yet, although I suppose I hold the record on this one! :wink:

kastellorizo · **Posted:** Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:37 am

Wow... this post came up while I was overseas and I missed all the fun!
Anyway, some comments from me:

It is obvious that the Super X is a brilliant design, and its concept a very interesting combination of different puzzles!
Adam, good luck with making deals, I hope it can be available in mass production, it is very attractive.

Pantazis

PS Also... in the photo... is that a Secret of Atlantis on the left? LOL

Georges · **Posted:** Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:12 pm

Yes, I have one 8-)

# 2 prototype to be precise.
It is amazing! It has a white opposite to blue color arrangement.
This is what Adam says about the prototype:
The First Generation SuperX is still very unstable and ends up with
severe misalignments that hinder the movement. The puzzle turns very
well when it is aligned, and I have not had any problems with the puzzle
falling apart, but the alignment is a serious problem
I confirm the above.
But I have a wonderful puzzle that combines rotations of a 2x2x2 and the dino cube that came in a beautiful custom made box and is signed by its creator.
Everyone to whom I showed it so far was baffled when they saw me turn it on the different axes.
Great work, Adam!

Speedy McFastfast · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:14 am

wow, that puzzle is freaking insane. any word on the price to buy one of those?

Myke · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:17 am

Are you going to sell the molds or do you want to sell the puzzle?

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:25 am

I am working on completing the second generation design, and then I will post some for sale. The price has not been set, but I have a desired target price for the "limited production" puzzle.

I will be selling the whole puzzle, not molds or unique parts. I will however post an "open source" puzzle design for anyone to use or modify. More details to follow...

skeneegee · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:35 pm

Great box!

Did you use my box making site?

Speedy McFastfast · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:30 pm

puzzlemaster, could you please email me/pm me when you decide on a price? that puzzle looks like a bundle of fun, and i need different kinds of puzzles for my collection, lol.

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:09 pm

I used the puzzle box tutorial to make a more exact outline. I then added the logo and puzzle description to the box.

Here is the template that I made. It fits a standard 57mm cube.

nytelyte · **Posted:** Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:47 am

puzzlemaster, I have yet to start work on creating my own puzzle, but I am most definitely interested. I really like your SuperX design and am considering buying one.

I do, however, have a question. The site that you linked to at the top, that "printed" your pieces... You send them money, and the file, and they create the plastic pieces for you? From those pieces, you created a mold so you could make as many as you like. Do I understand that properly?

Scott Bedard · **Posted:** Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:11 am

Yep, thats about how it works. It's called Rapid Prototyping.

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 04, 2007 3:22 pm

Here is another Picture of the SuperX showing the first prototype in "Jedi Tan", and the latest one in "Darth Vader Black". These are both first generation SuperX puzzles. The Second Generation SuperX is still in the re-design phase, and I hope to have it on sale by the end of February.

In addition, I will be releasing another puzzle this week...

joey · **Joined:** Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:02 pm

Puzzlemaster42 wrote:

Here is another Picture of the SuperX showing the first prototype in "Jedi Tan", and the latest one in "Darth Vader Black". These are both first generation SuperX puzzles. The Second Generation SuperX is still in the re-design phase, and I hope to have it on sale by the end of February.

In addition, I will be releasing another puzzle this week...

I like the "Darth Vader Black" alot! And more puzzles announcements, I can't wait!

Myke · **Posted:** Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:52 pm

I like the star wars naming. Woot 4x4 my 250th poast!

Puzzlemaster42 · **Posted:** Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:54 pm

I may make a special edition "Storm Trooper White" in the future...

joey · **Joined:** Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:02 pm

Puzzlemaster42 wrote:

I may make a special edition "Storm Trooper White" in the future...

*starting to count my pennies*

My SuperX Prototype

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