All,

I'd like to introduce the Mercury Uniaxial 3x3x3. After I introduced the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 puzzle I was asked about a Mercury version. So I took Tom van der Zanden's (aka TomZ) design for the Deep Uniaxial and made a very minor design change to two pieces to turn it into this puzzle. This should still be considered a Tom van der Zanden design.

Just as the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 is a super set of the Venus-variant of the Crazy 3x3 Plus Cube this Mercury Uniaxial 3x3x3 is a super set of the Mercury-variant of the Crazy 3x3 Plus Cube.



For more on the history of the Uniaxial concept and how these map to the Crazy 3x3 Plus Cubes, please see the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 thread.

So now on with the pics...

Solved

Deep Face and Shallow Face Turns

Shallow Face Turns

Checkerboard Pattern


Video

The puzzle is now available in my Shapeways shop:
http://www.shapeways.com/model/532894/m ... 3x3x3.html

To finish this puzzle you will need five 16mm 3M Slotted Cheese Head screws. I got mine here on amazon.com. I mention the head type as there is very little free space in this puzzle under the cap and I know this screw fits. I know the Hex Socket Drive Heads are too tall to fit under the cap.

Olivér has the sticker template and you can purchase stickers here. Note this is the same template as used on the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3.

A few other comments. I'm still interested in getting some details on the cage method Per mentioned here with regards to the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3.

perfredlund wrote:Not hard to solve at all. Just plain slow. Cage method works nicely on this bandaged puzzle.

Tom had asked me to not put the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 on eBay so that is why this has gone strait to Shapeways as well. If you want a finished puzzle please contact me. I am willing to part with the very puzzle in the pictures and video so if you are interested please PM me.

And for Andreas the puzzle's edge length is 60mm and it weighs 68.84gm. Actually I haven't brought this into work yet to weigh it but the Shapeways volume is exactly the same as the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 and it uses the same hardware and stickers so there is no reason for its weight to be any different.

Also here are a few mechanism pictures to show how these two Uniaxial puzzles are different on the inside.

Mercury Uniaxial 3x3x3


Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 (could also be called the Venus Uniaxial 3x3x3)


Thanks,
Carl

Awesome work Carl! I absolutely love the mechanism to the puzzle. I now clearly understand the mechanism behind it, and I love how there can be such a simplistic change made to the design to result in a completely new puzzle. Congratulations for the awesome puzzle. Now it's time to think about the solving process...

wwwmwww wrote:And for Andreas the puzzle's edge length is 60mm and it weighs 68.84gm. Actually I haven't brought this into work yet to weigh it but the Shapeways volume is exactly the same as the Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 and it uses the same hardware and stickers so there is no reason for its weight to be any different.

Yesterday I brought the Mercury Uniaxial 3x3x3 and my second (now finished and stickered) Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3 into work to weigh them on the same scale I used to weigh the first Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3. Here is what I got:

Mercury Uniaxial 3x3x3: 74.12gm
Deep Uniaxial 3x3x3: 72.90gm

So it looks like there is a fair bit of variability in the printing process. Maybe the weight for these should be listed as 68gm to 75gm.

Carl