Twisty Puzzles à la Vi

[@brcktn]

Came across this video looking for stuff about puzzle design while looking for ways to practice CAD a little bit. Honestly one of my favorite videos I've seen on KZbin. Very true to the style of Vi Hart, and does a fantastic job of teaching the principles of design just well enough that someone with some knowledge of CAD could follow with minimal help while still letting us learn a lot on our own if we follow it. Very cool!

[@redkb]

Yay for Vi Hart! She inspired my Rubik's Cube Doodling video "Why is the Cube so Hard.". You kept closer to her style. I very much enjoyed it.

[@androidlogin3065]

You make it look so easy, but experience is a master.

[@Charfield]

As soon as I saw this video I thought of ViHart. But you sir have made it even more interesting! PLEASE do another one! I loved it!

[@dannylawson2668]

Hi thanks for posting the video. Your puzzles look fantastic. I see other people have already request a more detailed tutorial. I'm sure an idiots guide on how to design a simple 3x3x3 would be very much appreciated. Seeing a step by step tutorial for a simple cube would be great for all us SolidWorks virgins, giving us a great starting point for basic skills that we could then develop. I really hope you post such a video. Best wished Danny

[@bec23847]

All I have to say is YES. This helps so much, I kinda understood it but now I understand even more. Thank you.

[@DeclanMBrennan]

I'm in awe of the virtuosity and generosity of this real tour de force. Thanks.

[@ryuuzaki15]

Insane! I know how to use basic solidworks, and made a 3x3x3 once, but you use so much more features! It's crazy how you can just cut a dodecahedron up into a megaminx, with 'just a few' steps! Didn't actually get HOW you did them, but it's most definately awesome. Sjoerd

[@eitanspuzzles]

No problem. I like helping people out with SolidWorks.

[@DuctTapePants]

Loving the background.

[@epimenide9i]

There are no words to thank you enough!

[@16darkclone]

Totally awesome. That software looks very very VERY complicated, but seems like you can do crazy stuff in that. The puzzles you designed are great, very cool-looking and probably quite hard as well ;) And the idea that you can just design your own puzzle is truly amazing. I admire your work, man. Keep it up.

[@GregMakesThings]

Just asmall piece of advice: You don't need to put superglue to make the stickers stick, you can just melt the remaining powder by ironing each face to make it flat and smooth :)

[@eitanspuzzles]

Thank you! I had a blast making the video, and it's gotten me some nice attention from other product designers and potential employers.

[@eitanspuzzles]

Ahhhh, shell errors. They are certainly tricky. If I'm having trouble shelling a piece, I usually end up splitting the piece along a new surface, shelling the body I want to shell, and then recombining the parts. It's extra work, but it's a good workaround. Also, make sure you're doing the shells after all the fillets! Good luck!

[@coaster1235]

Would be fun to see the engineering part in greater detail, especially what happens after you've defined the cut planes. You make it seem so easy :D

[@morganhowe3519]

Thanks for this video! I had a 3D printing project in my CAD class, and I really wanted to make a cube.

[@mitchblahman13]

this makes it seem so simple!

[@veggiet2009]

AWESOME! I was looking for someone to do a quick overview of a simple 3-by-3 (so I could learn and then expand to different ones later) I had no idea I'd find an overview of the whole process to more interesting designs. One or two questions, first I'm with ShinySalamenceTCG on the Blender question. I know how to use blender, but I've never used it to design something solid; except for a concept for a custom die that I made a paper cut prototype. Second question is I don't have a lot of income, none for what would be needed to 3D print or order from shapeways, do you know of any way to translate these techniques to any other form of construction? Any inner mechanisms besides locking together parts that would be hard to construct precisely by hand??

[@EPICGUYDUDE]

You can actually use the dodecahedrons from 3dcontentcentral. Just use move/copy and scale features to your liking :)

[@nephildevil]

awesome was looking for a quick introduction how it's done

[@kinexkid]

@pirsquared99 I find this to be extremely fascinating! Would it be too much to ask to record the steps you go through to make your next puzzle? If it is, no worries, I just think it would be something people might find interesting to watch

[@GregMakesThings]

What you need to do is add either a kitchen towel in between, or some adapted paper (don't know the name in enligh) inbetween. And stay from 10-30 seconds per face, 30 for best results

[@eitanspuzzles]

Sorry I missed your comments. Kepler's transformation is simply a way of orienting a dodecahedron within a cube. It relates the two shapes to each other geometrically, which allows me to make a nicely symmetric cubic puzzle with dodecahedral cut geometry. All I did was roll back the feature bar to right after the dodecahedron, Add the cube, and delete the dodecahedron. Then I rolled it forward again, and fixed any errors that happened. Give it a shot!

[@screemingbaby9997]

Can you show us an in depth tutorial on the core itself and putting the pieces together?

[@klm411klm]

Hi, really nice video Just a small question : at 3:25 you edit your sketch and you can see the rebuilt parts at the same time Did you do that when editing you video or is it a function in SolidWorks If it's a SW function could you tell me how it's called please Thanks klm

[@eitanspuzzles]

klm411klm I'm sorry to say that this was done by good old movie magic. Solidworks doesn't have that kind of functionality.

[@klm411klm]

Eitan Cher That's what I was thinkink :) anyway, thanks for the answer, and again nice vid

[@cubedude76]

awesome!!! i wanted this video so bad!

[@xMALOxDesigns]

@pirsquared99 I figured it out...I guess the problem was that I had to delete a line on the axis(the one that was like 4.5 mm) to make it work.

[@spinafire]

Awesome work. This video would look great on a resume too haha. Now, how to make gear versions...?

[@EPICGUYDUDE]

just a question, why would one delete the pyraminx crystal edges? Im pretty sure the master pentultimate has those edges, or am I missing something?

[@cheatmasterbw]

can you use this method to make a cubic 7x7x7 where each square is the same size

[@someengineer5146]

What would be the minimum thickness for a part so it doesn't break easily inside the puzzle?

[@TheCubesAlive]

I gotta say I love the video and it's inspired me. although in this video you're going a bit fast to get your entire story across which makes it hard to understand entirely what you're saying. could you make a video tutorial step-by-step on how you made the 3x3x3 mechanism? I would greatly appreciate it :)

[@computercat8694]

What are engineer, fit, fillets, and shells?

[@EPICGUYDUDE]

How do you do the 'Keplers Transformation'?

[@PUMBAZZ]

Do you share some of your 3d designs??

[@xMALOxDesigns]

I am having trouble when I try to make the surface revolve it only allows me to select the parallel axis or the vertical axis to the front plane which ends up just making a cylinder on top of the cube. Also I am using Solidworks 10' and I don't know if that could be why it does not work. Please try and respond. Thanks, xMALOx

[@mysillyusername]

Great video! Could you recommend open source and/or free cad software with the ability to replicate what you do with SolidWorks? Thanks!

[@eitanspuzzles]

Check out Autodesk Fusion 360. I haven't used it for puzzles yet, but it's pretty good, and it's free!

[@mysillyusername]

Thanks Eitan! I hadn't heard of that one. I see from the website that "A free 3-year license is available for students, teachers, and academic institutions", so that's great because I qualify. I am getting ready to go on a testing rampage of CAD and related software. I have installed these: FreeCAD, openSCAD, Autodesk 123d Design, Rhinoceros, and downloaded a bunch of files people have shared. I'll add Autodesk Fusion 360 to my tests. I haven't used CAD for years, so I'm basically a noob. The unfortunate thing is that the best video tutorials I have seen tend to be on commercial and/or windows-only software. Do you know of a Rubik/Twisty puzzle project and/or video tutorial on Autodesk Fusion 360? I also found some online stuff that looks promising. I registered for oneshape.com, which is an online version of SolidWorsk, but then discovered that the free registration only allows you to save your projects publicly, for everyone to see, so I did not pursue it further.

[@juanigula123]

HI, I REALLY LOVE YOUR WORK, i design some puzzles ,some 7x7x1 ,and 11x11x1 , now i trying to make some 7x7x5, but i have a big trouble with the corners, i cant do it rigth, and now im in a mind block.............did you have a video teaching how deep the cut has to be?......thanks for your work, its really educational.best regards!

[@eitanspuzzles]

Sorry, I don't have a specific video for that. Keep experimenting! You'll get it!

[@Adriancheng1000]

I want to make this in autodesk inventor, any tips?

[@michael1234252]

what about using desktop inverter a cad program

[@PotatoSpades22095]

thats awesome!

[@talginlvl90]

i lack the knowledge and the skill to make cubes like these. would it be possible for me to order one from you?

[@Naturua]

@pirsquared99 What course are you currently in?

[@shinysalamencetcg1445]

do you think you could do this and blender 3d and how much is solidworks?

[@tianyulu]

Where can I download Solidworks? How much will it cost?

[@Manologft]

What do you use to dye the pieces???

[@BeltedYapper]

Could I apply this in sketch up?

[@cheatmasterbw]

@pirsquared99 I was wondering this because there is a video of the 'x-cube 7' (link below), which is like a cubic 7x7x7 with proportional edges. i am still wondering how this is possible, or if it is not real at all. v=rqbMF-AKmDI

[@alexbishop4240]

what version of solid works do you have?

[@pitcuber]

I have a question regarding this: If I have a lot of pieces, do I upload them separately and pretty much order each piece, or is there a way to get all of them into one uploaded file?

[@TheGoldcandyfish]

What type of screw do you use?

[@genesis209_gd]

where can i buy that cube

[@Austinkeith2010]

What do you call this puzzly?

[@eitanspuzzles]

The pyraminx crystal edges are not the ones I deleted. They're just hidden within the puzzle. The floating pieces I delete are only one layer thick, and can be left out of the mechanism because they don't add any significant support. It's tough to explain how I know this, other than experience. Good luck!

[@youryeekbubby]

What software of solidworks do you use? (Premium advanced student)

[@echoplayz-minecraft876]

How do i get solidworks on mac?

[@TheGoldcandyfish]

This there a way to do this in autocad inventor. i really want to make something like this for one of my projects

[@kimmywortziger8917]

If i like the white Color of the cube should i still Boil it

[@micah_lee]

Just dye it white.

[@kimmywortziger8917]

But it is already white

[@micah_lee]

It would be a cleaner white.

[@BeatlesCuber]

kimmy wortziger there has been testing with sealing the pieces with super glue and that might work for you. Brave Cuber I'm pretty sure that there isn't any white dyes on the market and I'm not sure if bleach will eat away at the printed pieces.

[@micah_lee]

Im not sure you understood what I meant, but okay.

[@eitanspuzzles]

I highly doubt it, (but don't take my word for it, as I haven't actually used Sketchup since trying it several years ago).

[@300SpartanX]

@pirsquared99 blender 3d works for shapeways and is free

[@eitanspuzzles]

If you are willing to assemble the puzzle yourself (not a very big challenge) then go check out my shapeways shop. (Google: Shapeways puzzles by Eitan) Otherwise, please send me a PM on Shapeways, and we'll discuss further.

[@jopefe5364]

Who else was like... "Im gonna designe a cube!!! Its gonna be AWESOME!" and then you see this video and your dream is ruined :(

[@GregMakesThings]

I posted a new ironing method on the forum. Check it out ;)

[@ProxysCubess]

I keep getting "The line defining the axis is not valid"

[@eitanspuzzles]

Proxy's Cubes What step of the process gives you this error? Is it when you create the revolved surface? Or is it when you do the circular patterns?

[@ProxysCubess]

Nevermind, I figured it out, I was drawing on the front plane. Thanks anyways :D

[@rubiksSF]

...

[@akssumusic]

300th like

[@evergo]

First

[@jak343434]

Mind=Blown.