A few days ago this post asked for more comments about Shapeways puzzles.
I discussed it with the other moderators and the result is that we start this generic topic.

Everybody, who has real experiences with a Shapeways puzzle, is invited to contribute.
Please, do not post here, if you know a puzzle from pictures only, even if it is your favourite.
We want to share experiences about the real puzzles.

As the time gap between posts may vary a lot, replies are not considered to be bumps, as long as they have to say something new.
Please, bear in mind what Brandon had posted in the other threadI'll start with a review of "Luke's Curvy Copter Skewb" and have a look on my older review posts and quote them, if I feel that they still reflect my current view.

Please, have in mind that I'm a fan myself and that I'm not over critical when it comes to judging the turning quality of a puzzle. Whenever I state that the turning quality is "outstanding" it is meant in comparison to other Shapeways puzzles of similar complexity.
Still it is my honest opinion that e.g. my TomZ Multidodecahedron turns outstanding, even compared with many mass-produced puzzles.
On the other hand, Shapeways allows certain tolerances and other prints may turn out differently.

So take everything here with a grain of salt!

Reviews of non-twisty puzzles (like mazes) are welcome here as well

Luke's Curvy Copter Skewb

Some time ago I posted here about a little project involving three puzzles and I wrote this about Luke's Curvy Copter Skewb.
Here I want to add some kind of a review.

My overall verdict for the fast reader: It is one of my best Shapeways puzzles. The fun per dollar ratio is very good!

1. Assembly
I bought it as a DIY at Shapeways (current price €119.13 for EU citizens). I got it in a WSF version (White Strong Flexible is the name of the material used for 3-D printing at Shapeways) and cleaned, dyed und assembled it myself. The assembly is straight forward and you need four M3 screws about 12 mm in length. That's all - and stickers of course. It is important that you plug in the edges as you are completing the core mechanism. Plugging them in after tightening the screws is possible only using some force and you could damage edge parts.

I used little springs and washers in addition, but they are probably of not much influence.
The screws should be tightened pretty much. My first assembly looked like this

After tightening the screws it looked much better:


I broke it in doing a few thousand turns and disassembled and cleansed it again.
I made a few mistakes while dyeing that led to some mess in the kitchen and an agreement with my wife that I will buy BSF puzzles only, in the future.
2. Stickering and Lubrication
I had got the stickers from William Kretschmer and they have a good quality. (I think that Olivér Nagy offers stickers for it as well). After the assembly I used an iron to heat the surface of the nylon for 30 seconds. I put the stickers on and heated them again with an infrared lamp. Even the small triangles on the little edges hold on very well. (They have roughly the same size as the triangles on the Mf8 Bauhinia Dodecahedron.) I hadn't to use any super glue!
I lubricated it afterwards with Teflanol silicone spray. I buy the stuff at http://www.ebay.de. The puzzle is very smooth now. In my opinion, many Shapeways puzzles are close to unplayable without lubrication. So, if you happen to be a lube hater, better forget about buying Shapeways puzzles. On the other hand, the porous structure of WSF nylon sucks the stuff in completely and after a while and a lot of turning no liquid can be spotted, the puzzle becomes just smooth. At least this is my experience with the Teflanol and many others have written similar things about other silicone sprays or oil.
3. Look
I liked Tom's Curvy Copter from the first day I saw it. Kelvin compared it with a Tiffany lamp. I find Luke's variant similarly marvelous.
4. Turning
The CCS (Curvy Copter Skewb) is completely stable. It turns very well. It allows even for some corner cutting. I would say that for a puzzle of this complexity, with so many pieces per turn (Skewb turn), the turning is outstanding.
5. Jumbling
I have not jumbled and unjumbled the CCS myself, but Brandon has explained that unjumbling is pretty straight forward. I have never jumbled my Helicopter Skewb (Tom's version), because I was too much frightened by a post of Bob (aka bhearn). He has never managed to unjumble it.
The CCS is certainly easier to unjumble because the edge pieces, invisible on a Helicopter Skewb, are plainly visible on the CCS.
6. Solving it
I'll talk about doing doctrinaire turns only and I shall not go not into details (this is not the Solving Forum).
When I started looking at "How to solve a CCS", I was a bit frightened about the new piece types not existent - or unvisible - on a Helicopter Skewb. The Helicopter Skewb is pretty easy unless you want to jumble it.
I looked for a fitting Gelatinbrain puzzle. I could not spot one, so I went ahead looking for move sequences carefully trying to avoid to scramble it thoroughly.
Unfortunatly I got lost very soon and had to solve it from a completely scrambled state.
When it was scrambled a bit, I did my best to scramble it thoroughly. Scrambling the CCS is easy
Forunately, it turned out that a solution was quite accessible for me. It was not easy, but it wasn't hard either. Just right! The difficulty level, I really like.
I had written to Gelatinbrain a PM and asked if he could be so nice to add the puzzle to his program.
Today, I got the news from him, that he has added it as 3.6.9.
He said that we can start now a thread "How to solve the Curvy Copter Skewb".
Actually, we could, if we have a few members in the CCS fan club.
I wonder, if Luke could tell us how many CCS have been sold?
Currently, I'm running a few puzzle projects in parallel, while my family demands a lot of my time. So, if there is interest, we can start this thread in January (I'll be travelling soon and will have limited access to computer and Internet for quite some time.)
Thank you Gelatinbrain for your 3.6.9!
If I ever need to write some kind of a tutorial, it will come in handy.
I'm sure that others will appreciate it as well.
[/quote]

TomZ's Multidodecahedron

I wrote in December 2011 in this thread

TomZ's Master FTO

I wrote in August 2011 in this thread

OK, I'll stop for now digging out old reviews of myself, I hope that others will contribute as well!

Hi Konrad,

Thanks for the fantastic reviews!! More puzzles to drool over!
I am very interested in the Curvy Copter Skewb and have tried to find it in the Gelatinbrain simulator (3.6.9)

On the Mac, I have got the latest version downloaded and running as an app! I have never managed to get it to work in a browser. My standalone version of GelatinBrain seeks to skip 3.6.9! It goes straight from 3.6.8 to 3.7.1

Can you tell me where to find it?

All the best,

Kevin

Kevin, I have just downloaded the latest Executable Jar installer from here. I run the jar installer and there it is.

Konrad! I love reading these! Please do not feel the need to stop posting them

Thank you!
I got mine from the link in gelatinbrain's signature! I'll bookmark your link.
I wonder whether the curvy copter skewb might be my first non-pre assembled Shapeways puzzle (I'm hoping to get a 3x5x7 cuboid next year fully assembled)

I won't copy and paste it all over here, but a while back I did write a bit about David Pitcher's Pentacle Puzzle as my first buy from Shapeways here:

Pentacle Puzzle (David Pitcher) - Oli's Mechanical Puzzle Blog


Pentacle Puzzle (David Pitcher) by Puzzleparadox, on Flickr

Eitan's Edge Turning Octahedron

1. Assembly
I got this puzzle directly from Eric Vergo, and it arrived scrambled! I felt annoyed (not at Eric!) because I knew I couldn't solve it, so I knew disassembly would be necessary. This scared me as I've never assembled anything other than a 3x3x3, 4x4x4 & megaminx! I proceeded regardless and then found the assembly to be quite easy, apart from pieces falling out due to the instability of an incomplete puzzle!



This is my first shapeways puzzle, and it has left a VERY good impression. More shapeways puzzles in the future me thinks.

2. Stickering and Lubrication
I got this already assembled so stickers were already applied. I'm unaware of where he got the stickers from, but they are of brilliant quality, no chips or anything.

3. Look
I liked the fact this puzzle has the exact same face pattern as Eitan's Star, but that wasn't why I bought it.


4. Turning
The turning quality of the ETO is fantastic, it is nearly as smooth as a speed cube once it starts turning; what I mean by that is it doesn't cut corners almost at all, which can be rather annoying when trying to solve though as long as your turning is accurate you shouldn't have too many problems. One problem I found is that if the tensions aren't tight enough, corners can forcibly rotate in place; though this hasn't ever happened to me while solving.

5. Jumbling
I have tried out the jumbling on the fully solved puzzle, just to see what it looks like etc. But haven't scrambled the puzzle with doctriaire turns and jumbling moves; I'm too afraid Though the shape shifting could be solved (I believe) identically to a helicopter cube, the orbits on this puzzle were already pretty confusing for me.


I have now jumbled it as you can see, and it is very easy to return to the octahedron shape.

6. Solving it
Solving this puzzle was a nightmare for me, not so much for Brandon (bmenrigh) apparently, as without his knowledge I wouldn't have solved it! I haven't memorised any algorithms but I do hope to soon in the future. The solve was very exciting for me, but set up moves are necessary so it can be a bit dangerous if you forget how to undo them! This happened to me on the last step and I had to restart! it was just about as satisfying for me as solving the pyraminx crystal; possibly more! Don't let that sound like this puzzle was easy, it wasn't. But I found out my own method for the pyraminx crystal, and got stuck on edge flips. After ages I figured out an algorithm and the solve was extremely satisfying! This solve was satisfying due to the complexity of the puzzle, and if you haven't already I highly suggest playing with this puzzle on Gelatinbrain 4.3.1!

This sounds great. Maybe you could edit the post and add a picture.

As you said, you are ahead of me , but you we will find soon here a :

A Double Review by Burgo and Konrad

A Double Review by Burgo and Konrad

Some time ago we, Burgo and Konrad, spoke about a project where each of us would buy, assemble and sticker a Shapeways puzzle and we would exchange it afterwards.

Burgo wanted an "Unbandaged Helicopter Skewb" by Tom van der Zanden (TomZ) and I wanted a "Face Turning Rhombic Dodecahedron" by David Pitcher. So, Burgo built the FTRD for me and I built the Helicopter Skewb for Burgo.

In the following we will make a review for both puzzles.

Let's start with the Face Turning Rhombic Dodecahedron

It was introduced first as "Rua" by Matt Shepit in 2008.
You can find it in the TP Museum here.
David Pitcher wrote about his FTRD here.You can buy the puzzle in David's Shapeways shop, following the link.

1. Assembly

Burgo: What struck me first was the really interesting core in the Rhombic Dodecahedron shape, I guess I’m just used to seeing either spider or ball cores. There are also a couple of non-visible parts on Dave’s FTRD that become visible on the Toru and Eitan’s FTRD.

2. Stickering and Lubrication

Burgo: Because I was building about 8 other puzzles at the time I opted to buy the stickers.
For Lubrication on SW puzzles I’ve been using the quite thick `30,000cst silicone RC diff fluid` IMO it works really well (I think it was about $5-10 for 60ml). I spray first until everything is thoroughly soaked with Food Grade silicone lube (that cost about $15), and after that’s all thoroughly absorbed I assemble with the diff fluid.

3. Look



Konrad: The Rhombic Dodecahedron is an interesting shape and besides a 3x3x3 shape modification this is my second puzzle in this shape. I really like the puzzle and how it is cut.
The colours of the stickers are nice, too, but...
Olivér tried to stay as close as possible to the original stickers made by David.
The puzzle looks really nice, but the two dark blues and dark greens are very close to each other.
While the stickers look very nice, you need good lighting to distinguish these colours.
I habe bought another set from Olivér with his standard octahedron colours.
I'm hesitating, though, to use the other colours, because the current look is nice.

Burgo: With the stickers that Oliver Supplied the 2 dark greens were fairly close, the dark blues were OK for me because one was warm and one was cool, but unfortunately Konrad struggled with them. Konrad’s pictures make them appear more distinct than they are.

I wish Dave would sell sticker sets for his puzzles, his colour choices are always exceptional and his puzzles are always presented so beautifully.

4. Turning

Konrad: Burgo told me that he used a dremel to sand it a bit and afterwards his special silicone.
The result is great!!

Burgo: I dye first then sand, it gives me a good gauge for if I’m sanding too much off in any places, it also helps me see when it’s smooth. I use 511E Coarse (180) sometimes, and mostly medium (280). I dye for a second time. And then 423E cloth polishing wheel- without polish, just on the external surfaces after the puzzle is assembled, and prior to stickering.

5. Jumbling

Burgo: Jumbling is, as usual, visually impressive (to me anyway), but Dave’s FTRD is not one of the more difficult to unjumble and jumbling presents no further effects on the solve.

6. Solving it

Konrad: Burgo had solved it and recommended that I should scramble it, before I looked for any move sequences.
I followed his advice and this made the solution not trivial for me.
There is no computer simulation (at least none known to me). The puzzle allows 180° turns only and we have to solve 3 piece types only. Still, it requires some work to find the strategy and the necessary sequences. For somebody with an outstanding visual memory like Burgo solving the FTRD is certainly easy enough, but for me it was a challenge, starting with a completely scrambled puzzle.
I shall give the same advice as Burgo: Scramble it first and solve it from there. That is quite a good challenge.
When we exchanged our methods, we found that we had both used the same notation:

We found partially the same sequences, in some cases Burgo had non commutators shorter than my commutators.

Burgo: A nice fun solve with an interesting `type of parity` situation. The first time I solved it I used a single sequence for the final pieces, but after solving it I developed a few more sequences on the solved puzzle and this made setups easier on subsequent solves. I found solving with a few end-game sequences quite a bit easier.

Unbandaged Helicopter Skewb by Tom van der Zanden

Konrad: I had got a Helicopter Skewb assembled and stickered by TomZ back in October 2010.
Tom posted about it here in August 2010.
Tom made an Unbandaged version for Katja last summer and posted about it here.
Burgo: I’ve wanted Tom’s Unbandaged Helicopter Skewb for a long time now, initially I think Brandon recommended it to me for it’s jumbling. And it was at the top of my SW list at the time, and Konrad quickly snapped it up as his puzzle of choice in our exchange. I am really glad to own it and it is a great puzzle and a monster.

1. Assembly

Konrad: Shapeways had lost two pieces before shipping. I checked it at arrival and they produced the missing pieces with Tom's help. (Funny thing: I one email they wrote they would do search my two pieces in the factory. I imagined a team strolling through the premises and looking hard for those tiny beasts. ).
I had ordered it in WSF and when I dyed the pieces, I over-cooked the kettle and created a bit of a mess in the kitchen. I have now an agreement with my wife, that I'll never buy WSF again .
My black was very deep and nice, though .
Here it is assembled in white:


Assembly of the core and the internal edges is straight forward. The outer pieces plug in without a problem, and disassembly is easy. I lubricated just the internal parts, assembled the puzzle and broke it in. I turned it a lot, disassembled, dyed and cleansed the pieces again.
If you ever get lost in a normal solve (i.e. without jumbling) you can easily re-assemble the puzzle. Solving it with doctrinaire turns is not really hard, though.

I used M3 screws (actually I learned that I should say bolts ) plus springs and washers.
The difference between the Unbandaged and the former normal Helicopter Skewb is marginal.
Just one piece type is split into two halves.
So, all in all assembly can be called easy.

2. Stickering and Lubrication

Konrad: I used Cubesmith tiles for the normal Helicopter Cube and I liked the result.
I think that tiles are very nice on Shapeways puzzles, because they hide the grainy structure of the surface completely.
OK, if you can tumble a puzzle you will have a smooth surface and stickers look nice, too. My tumbling was done by hand: turning, disassembly, lubricating and repeating this procedure. I guess I did this six times and turned it at least 10,000 times, watching three movies.

Burgo: I was very impressed with the Cubesmith tiles on the SW product and Konrad’s breaking in was incredible, he must have done a mighty amount of twisting because the internals were as smooth as my sanding usually is!

3. Look

Here are all six faces of the Unbandaged HS:



Here you can see that the Unbandaged and the normal HS have identical size:





Both look nice, but I think the tiles (to your right) are better!



4. Turning

Konrad: The Unbandaged HS is a very complex puzzle and the alignment of the hidden internal edges is not easy.
I think that all the breaking in and plenty of lubrication made the turning quite acceptable.
In comparison, Luke's Curvy Copter Skewb is easier to handle. I guess this is due to the edges, which are external and easy to align on the CCS.

Burgo: Turning is difficult, as to be expected with such an amount of unbandaging. I’ve popped it as well.. a few pieces came out but when I reinserted them I didn’t notice some internal pieces were misaligned and then it became catastrophic pretty quickly. Because of the mixture of deep and shallow cuts, and slight catchiness, it’s pretty easy to lose your way while solving and really mess up.

5. Jumbling

Konrad: To unjumble the UHS is difficult, even more difficult than the earlier ordinary HS.

I tried it once and ended up with a complete mess:



I had to disassemble the messed up bulk of plastic, including the core.
I'm in the same boat as bhearn (Bob) who wrote here: I'm convinced, Luke's CCS is much easier to unjumble
Brandon (bmenrigh) wrote once that it is not so hard to unjumble, but he seems to be the jumbling guru.

Burgo: I will readily admit that I haven’t tried to unjumble it yet, I am a bit intimidated by it.. but more, I just haven’t got around to it yet, I suspect it will take a lot of dedication so I keep putting it off till I have a rainy day.

6. Solving it

Solving the puzzle after doctrinaire scrambling is not so hard, if you are familiar with the Helicopter and the Skewb.
In this thread you'll find the essential hints, if you need any.

Konrad: BTW, the mail services of Germany and Australia worked flawless and both puzzles arrived safely at their new home.

Burgo: I want to thank Konrad for the great pictures and his effort in putting this post together. I actually forgot to take photos of Dave’s FTRD before I sent it away, so I’m glad he was able to take all the photos. Also I had only scratched down some notes on my solving quite quickly and he was able to try my sequences for me and check them. The small project was a great success!

What Konrad has neglected to share is that I included a small surprise puzzle (that he called a `poisoned gift` because I cheekily sent it scrambled). He even suggested that he might like to disassemble it to put it back in it’s solved state, even though it has very few pieces and a solution is available! Can anyone guess what it is??


[Moderator: Please stay on topic; this is about Shapeways puzzles]
As you can guess, the above is a joke

Konrad: Burgo and I decided, that he would post this and I can edit it as well, because I have this benefit as a moderator.
Everything I'm writing here is from member Konrad.
Regarding the gift, this is what I wrote in a PM: Actually, I disassembled and reassembled the mentioned puzzle. It is a mod done by Burgo himself. So, I'll value it highly as a gift from my Australian puzzle friend.
I think, even for Burgo this thing was hard to solve. You see, why I said "vergifted"?

I propose the title of honour for Burgo "Master Tamer of the Bandaged Lions"

I wanted to have a look first, how he has made this. Externally just one piece type, internally a few more.
I'll not say more, if people want to guess.