All,

I'd like to introduce my newest puzzle. This is the Bubbloid122. Back on March 10, 2011, Anthony Villaveiran (aka boublez) started this thread on what he called the Compy/Dino Cuboid. He didn't have a mechansim in mind and wasn't sure one was possible. On March 20, 2011, I presented a possible mechanism and proved that the puzzle didn't need to be fudged.



However that model was made using POV-Ray and I didn't have a way to 3D print the model until after I had taught myself SolidWorks. I've now transferred that model into SolidWorks adding fillets and the proper tolerances and this is that model once printed by Shapeways.

VIDEO

Solved



Midturn


Partially Scrambled


I will be offering this for sale in my Shapeways shop but I may offer one up on eBay first.

Enjoy,
Carl

P.S. The edge lengths are 60mm and 72.42640687mm. I'll try to get the puzzles weight tomorrow.

Wow, very nice. I really like the look its curved cuts give it, and it seems to turn very well too. Probably fun and intuitive to solve too.

Will we be seeing the Bubbloid112 soon as well?

Fantastic puzzle Carl! I for one plan to buy this puzzle when it's available. It such a simple concept but with a brilliant execution. Well done.

Very nice! At first I thought the small corners can turn, that's a pity they can't!
Is that possible to make them turnable?

Timur wrote:Very nice! At first I thought the small corners can turn, that's a pity they can't!
Is that possible to make them turnable?

That would require some fudging and also make the puzzle much easier. To be honest, I prefer it the way that it is.

Carl

Coaster1235 wrote:Will we be seeing the Bubbloid112 soon as well?

Yes, I wanted to test this one first as its a bit smaller. But now that I'm happy with it I'll design the core for the Bubbloid112. All of its other parts have already been designed.

Carl

That's a beautiful puzzle.
It turns excellent.

Great job! The stored cuts should make this an interesting solving experience.

Wow, it really looks lovely!

Beautifully made. It looks every bit as good as the original rendering!

wow, that looks awesome and really fun to solve!

Thank you Carl for creating this!

The turning on this looks way better then I imagined it was going to be, considering all the stored cuts. I can't wait to get my hands on this when do you think it will go up for sale?

What an amazing puzzle! It looks very interesting to solve. I just might have to fork over some dollars when it appears on Shapeways.

Chandler

This is crazy, shocking

Very pretty design, the curved pieces are very aesthetically pleasing.

Robert

boublez wrote:I can't wait to get my hands on this when do you think it will go up for sale?

Well I had been offering the first of each of my designs on eBay and then based on feedback from the winner either offering it on Shapeways right away or delaying its Shapeways release by a month or two. However in this case the plans I have for this puzzle keep me from doing that. I am wanting to enter this puzzle in the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition and I'm not sure if I'm actually supposed to be saying that publically. I've read the rules and already released puzzles can be entered but I also get the impression they don't want the judges to know who the designers are. If I need to take this statement down someone in the know PLEASE let me know. Anyways to do that I need 2 finished puzzles and I've now ordered the second one the day the parts for this one arrived. Those two will be tied up until after the IPP and I really don't want to wait that long to offer this one for sale. So I plan to have this listed in my Shapeways shop by the end of the week, provided work doesn't get in the way... which it may.

Be aware that I'll have to list this as 2 models on my Shapeways shop as I can't fit everything into one STL file which Shapeways will let me upload. This I think raises the cost by about $15 and I'm paying that too as I want to test the very STL files future customers will be using. I really wish Shapeways would get off their butt and offer the Composite Model support they have long promised. It would save you and myself money not to mention it would save Shapeways a great deal on needed server space as I could then just upload 1 edge piece for this model instead of the 28 I currently have to upload. If you haven't already I encourage you to go and vote here:

http://feedback.shapeways.com/forums/11 ... el-support

Carl

If you want to save some money you could use the dummy cube technique. If you upload a cube with the same volume as the model you want to print, and name it POLYGONENFILE.stl, then you can order it and swap the high polygon model with the cube. Not only does this save the effort of having to purchase multiple models, but you're also guaranteed to get the density discount, as the cube takes up 100% of the bounding box.

Very good images.
Looks and turns excellent.

wwwmwww wrote: The edge lengths are 60mm and 72.42640687mm.

You do not have to make it that exact!

Luke wrote:If you want to save some money you could use the dummy cube technique. If you upload a cube with the same volume as the model you want to print, and name it POLYGONENFILE.stl, then you can order it and swap the high polygon model with the cube. Not only does this save the effort of having to purchase multiple models, but you're also guaranteed to get the density discount, as the cube takes up 100% of the bounding box.

Yes, I'm aware of this backdoor approach. I guess I should have done that with the second model I ordered as the STL files had already been tested. However I don't consider that a suitable method for offering the puzzle for sale. Say someone orders the model and I get hit by a bus before I can send the proper STL file to Shapeways, what happens? Do they just get a solid cube of the same volume as the puzzle? And as for the first prototypes, I always want to test the very same STL file (or files) I'll be offering for sale incase I made some stupid error I want to be the one that finds it and not the customer.

Carl

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone...

Andreas Nortmann wrote:You do not have to make it that exact!

I know. Just copied and pasted from the SolidWorks file. And I've weighed the puzzle today too. It weighs in at 87.9 grams.

Carl

Beautiful puzzle!

wwwmwww wrote:I am wanting to enter this puzzle in the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition and I'm not sure if I'm actually supposed to be saying that publically.

Please submit and do not worry. Everybody knew who built the Void Cube. That knowledge did not refrain the jury, nor the community to vote for that puzzle to be "Puzzle of the year". There have even been award-winning puzzles for sale during the competition. The one thing that you cannot do, is to actively promote your puzzle AS DESIGN COMPETITION PUZZLE.

Oskar

Wow! What an awesomely great looking puzzle!

Thomas

Oskar wrote:

wwwmwww wrote:I am wanting to enter this puzzle in the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition

Please submit and do not worry.

Thanks!!! Now a quick update and some questions.

I've now got the parts for the second Bubbloid122 puzzle and I'm cleaning and dying them today. Considering that I ordered the parts late last week I think this is the fastest somethings gotten to me from Shapeways yet. I'll try to get a picture of the two of them together once I have it stickered which will likely be tomorrow. I also plan on open this puzzle up for sale on Shapeways this weekend so stay tuned and I'll post again to let everyone know when I have that ready.

Now a question about the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition... to enter I'm to supply several things and here are the two I have questions about.

Solution (maximum one page; include images or drawings if needed)
Puzzle classification

I'm a better designer then I am a solver and I have yet to do a full scramble and a solve on this puzzle. This I believe to be one of my easier puzzles so I think I might be able to solve it but even if I could it would be a rather intuitive solution and not something that would lend itself well to a formal written solution. If that is actually what I need are there any solvers that want to help me come up with a one page solution guide to Bubbloid122?

Also it asks me to provide the Puzzle's classification? Is there an official classification structure used for this competition? If so I guess this might be it?

http://www.cleverwood.com/mechanical_pu ... cation.htm

Or should I just say Twisty Puzzle?

Thanks,
Carl

For the solution I'd imagine outlining the solution progress, as in explaining the order to solve the pieces and necessary algorithms would suffice. I'd go with orient corners -> solve face diamonds -> solve edges. Though someone who has submitted a twisty puzzle before can give more advice.

Orienting the corners shouldn't need too much explanation. The face diamond pieces are like dino edges, but they can't leave the half they belong to. A simple [1,1] commutator is good for solving them (twist a corner, twist a corner that neighbors the first corner along a short edge, twist the first corner back, twist the second corner back). Then for solving the edges the same algorithm is good, except the edges have to be neighboring along a long edge and a lot of setup moves may be required. Trying to make some pictures at the moment.
EDIT: Brandon put it much clearer, though my order was the same

Carl your renderings are absolutely perfect as a basis for explaining a solve. I highly recommend you include them in your page.


Here is my stab at "How to solve the the Bubbloid122":

First piece identification. The 8 corners are anchored to the core can can only twist in place. They can not move. You can see the hole for shaft that keeps them in place here:
+=

Then adding in the middle edge pieces (dino-like edges):


And finally adding in the edge wings:


Now for some basic notation:



Step 1: Twist the top 4 corners into the right orientation.
Step 2: Using [A B A' B'] you can 3-cycle the blue middle-edges. In this way you can solve the top half of the blue edges.
Step 3: Turn the puzzle upside down and repeat steps 1 and 2 now that bottom pieces are on top.
Step 4: If for some reason you accidentally let a corner get twisted in place and all of the blue edges are solved, re-orient the puzzle so that the twisted corner is in the spot of piece B and then do [A B A' B]x2 and this will twist B clockwise without affecting any other piece on the puzzle. Do this as many times as you need to.
Step 5: Using [C B' C' B] you can 3-cycle yellow edge-wings without affecting any other piece. By mirroring the routine (A and B corners swap positions, C corner moves from right side to left) you can 3-cycle the mirror of those pieces. In this way you can solve all yellow edge-wings on the puzzle. Setup moves will get increasingly complicated but this phase shouldn't be hard.
Step 6: If for some reason there are still twisted corner(s) go ahead and repeat step 4 as many times as needed.

In general the Bubbloid122 is extremely easy to solve. I'd suggest making a diagram of the blue middle-edge 3-cycle and the yellow edge-wing 3-cycles and then make a demonstration of using a setup move, 3-cycle, undo setup-move just so it's absolutely concrete how conjugate sequences work.

Also, you don't strictly have to mirror the yellow edge-wing 3-cyle. Rotating the whole cuboid by 90° about the U face causes the same cycle to operate on the second orbit. I'd avoid talking about orbits though.

EDIT: Guiltybystander has pointed out that due to duplicate yellow edge-wings in the same orbit, you can wind up with what look like a parity. To change the apparent parity of an orbit, first label the 4th corner on the F face, D. Then perform A' D C B' C' B D' A. Now the orbit will be solvable with 3-cyles.

wwwmwww wrote:Also it asks me to provide the Puzzle's classification? Is there an official classification structure used for this competition? If so I guess this might be it?

http://www.cleverwood.com/mechanical_pu ... cation.htm

There is an online form for entering entries to the competition and there it says that for classification slcoum's scheme can be used.
Therefore: Use the link you found by yourself.
5. Sequential movement puzzle
5.4 Rotating cube puzzles (3D-Rubik’s cube, etc.)

Ok... I've now finished the second Bubbloid122 puzzle.



I have now also opened up the puzzle for sale on Shapeways. You will need to buy BOTH of these models to be able to assemble the puzzle.

http://www.shapeways.com/model/574128/
http://www.shapeways.com/model/574124/

You can buy stickers here:
http://speedcubing.hu/webshop/index.php ... anguage=en

I've used eight M3-0.50 screws however it will actually hold itself together without them. I also found it helpful to ream out the small holes in the corners which the tabs of the corner caps fit into. I used a 1/16 drill bit and just poked it though each of the holes a few times by hand. The 3D printing process had partially filled in some of these holes and this was necessary to get the corner caps to sit flush.

Thanks for the help on the solving guide.

Carl

Fantastic puzzle Carl. My print just arrived and I couldn't stop myself from assembling it. It turns great. Your corner cap design is nice.

The curved cuts keep the pieces in the channel really nicely so there is absolutely no catching. It doesn't even need breaking in so I can't wait to see what the tumbler is going to do to it

The screws do seem pretty unnecessary but the "holds itself together" property also makes assembly require a lot of force.

bmenrigh wrote:Fantastic puzzle Carl. My print just arrived and I couldn't stop myself from assembling it. It turns great. Your corner cap design is nice.

Thanks for the kind words. I was wondering who had ordered the one off Shapeways.

bmenrigh wrote:The curved cuts keep the pieces in the channel really nicely so there is absolutely no catching. It doesn't even need breaking in so I can't wait to see what the tumbler is going to do to it

The screws do seem pretty unnecessary but the "holds itself together" property also makes assembly require a lot of force.

Yes, however I found it not that hard to put together. Here is my advice:

(1) Put 3 corners in place on each end of the puzzle. Push down slightly and their feet lock into the core.
(2) Now add the middle edge pieces (dino-like edges) using the space left by the still missing corner on each end. You can place them up against an existing corner and then rotate them into place between two corners without the need for any force. You can do with with all but the last 3 middle edge pieces on each end.
(3) Now place the last 2 corners but only push 2 of their 3 feet into the tracks. This leaves a bit of space which makes it easier to push the last 3 middle edge pieces into place.
(4) Now push down to get the corner seating properly. I found this easier then trying to force the middle edge pieces after the final corner was seated but that too is doable, it just requires more force.
(5) Finally push in the wing pieces. They pop into place with a very satisfying pop and require just the right amount of force.

Its really only the last 2 middle edge pieces which required me to push harder then I would have liked but I do think that is minimized by not fully seating the final corners until after they are in place.

As for taking it apart again, the easiest thing to do is to turn a corner halfway between positions and just pull out with your thumb on one of the exposed wing pieces. Don't pull on all 3 at the same time or you will have to pull much harder. And this of course assumes you haven't put screws in yet. Once you have screws in, I don't believe this puzzle will come apart again without first taking the screws out.

Carl

wwwmwww wrote:Yes, however I found it not that hard to put together. Here is my advice:[...]

I didn't find it hard to assemble either except for the middle edges as you've described. I got everything except the last two corners and surrounding pieces in place without any force at all. I didn't think of only putting in 2 of the feet on each corner so each of the middle edges around the last two corners had to be snapped in place.

I ended up using two thumbs to push on the two faces of a middle edge. This is a very natural feeling way to hold onto the puzzle and push the pieces in. The snap when they pop in place is very satisfying. I know how strong and flexible WSF is so I wasn't at all concerned about breaking the pieces. They are quite sturdy. The edge wings around the middle edges are quite easy to snap in so no concern there either.

All,

I now have the Bubbloid122 puzzle up on Shapeways as a single model. It is here:

http://www.shapeways.com/model/618116/

The combined cost of the first two model version was $179.96. This single model is $149.70 so that's over a $30 price reduction. I also still have two dyed, tumbled, and stickered puzzles left over from IPP that are available for $175 and I have the two un-tumbled puzzles which were entered in the design competition if anyone is interested just PM me.

I may be slow to reply. See this thread for details.

Carl