Heres a good story. This puzzle has been in the works for over 2 years !

Anyways, I came up with this mechanism idea over 2 years ago at a summer competition. I was having trouble solving my much larger 2x3x4, and so were several other people, until someone suggested that the puzzle was basically an extended 2x2x3. Soon afterwards, I commissioned Scott Bedard to help out with the CAD work for such a design (FF extended 2x2x3) but, with the molding and casting techniques of the time, it was decided that it would be difficult to make a stable version. Thus, the project was dropped.

Fast forward 2 years and a few months. Steryne posts a topic about the $50 competition, and I think, well, this would be an excellent time to try out this design using modern 3d printing. As simple as this mechanism is, it is still pushing the limits of what is possible with the WSF material from Shapeways due to the price restrictions of the contest. It ended up working well, and I am very happy with the results.

Video Here

Competition Demo

The turning took quite a while to dial in. Right off the bat, I realized I had purchased 1/2" screws instead of 3/8" screws so I figured I would clip them down by a few threads. Bad idea; the sharp point made by the clippers stripped out the core. I at least got the puzzle together long enough to figure that it would function well. Day 2 I had to drill out the core and centers to fit bigger screws, and got the right length, so the core wouldn't strip. I also cut some parts down so that a few of the screws are easier to access (future design revision). Once all that was done, assembly was fairly straightforward.

I will post pictures soon.


My puzzle entry was going to be a MUCH nastier version of this puzzle...unfortunately i couldn't figure out the mechanism at this scale. Maybe another time...

Looks great

Very nice!

Thanks guys!

Also, the Shapeways file is being updated to it's final version with the screw access holes added for easier assembly. I also slightly reduced the tolerances on the outer extensions, the one in this test print are slightly looser than I would like.

Hurray for Garrett!! I love this puzzle, and finally its available. And in this size. and so cheap! Hurray!

This is a good puzzle, but unfortunately it is not eligible for the contest if (as you said in your first post) it is printed in WSF.


Alex

There's this tax called VAT... I think the price limit for the reduction is $50 ex VAT, because otherwise just about everybody would be disqualified.

Alex

Whoops, sorry for giving you my default answer. However, Garret's puzzle pricing is still within the limits of the competition:



I've reverse engineered Garret's pricing and his model does stay within the $50+$10 limit.

Correct, the price was just a few cents under the $50 maximum. Since I made those modifications, some material was removed an now its a tad cheaper.

Thanks for all the positive feedback!

Hey... I just watched the video. It turns nicely, well done!
You have surely gone a long way and are now making some lovely masterpieces!




Pantazis

this looks like a wonderful puzzle! I can't wait to own one.

me neither, I couldnt resist and went ahead and ordered a completed one directly from Garrett!

Oh, wow. I really want one of these. I believe I'll start doing a little saving...

Sorry about the bump...

Garrett - are you still selling these? I've attempted to PM and email with no response.

(I'd simply order from Shapeways but I need details about the screws, and would love to interact with the designer directly!)

Hey Joshua, I'm no longer selling assembled 2x3x4s but you can still buy them from my shop.

For screws you will need #4-40 3/8" Flat Undercut machine screws. (Part number 91099A165 at McMaster

Thanks for the update, Garrett - off to Shapeways I go!

Hey Garrett:

I received an anticipated package from Shapeways - the 2x3x4 parts. Very elegant design. However, unless I'm completely misunderstanding the puzzle and/or have slipped into an alternate dimension, something is awry with the corner pieces:



Note that all 8 of the corners have the same foot orientation. So far as I can tell, there should be 4 of each orientation ("left" and "right")

Is this a problem with the STL files on Shapeways? Did you update them recently? Did Shapeways somehow manage to mix up parts from two orders? Did a visitor from a higher dimension flip them over?

Or am I hallucinating? (If so, please slap some sense into me.)

But assuming I'm not going crazy...

Could you possibly upload a "replacement set" to Shapeways with just the 4 "other" oriented corners so that I can order the parts I need?

Something is definitely awry there. There should be 2 sets of 4 corners which are mirrors of each other. The STL has not been updated since the original file was uploaded, so this is a problem on the Shapeways side. I would send them an email, their customer service is very helpful.

Thanks for confirming that I'm not crazy. I've sent mail off to Shapeways, let's see what happens.

Still waiting for Shapeways to get back to me with a solution (they acknowledged the email, and have sent the issue to their suppliers...)

Garrett, one more question: what approach do you use to keep the central mechanism aligned with the "2x2x3" core? Do I need to glue 4 pieces together as in http://twistypuzzles.com/articles/building-tonyfisher/ or is there something more subtle that I'm missing?

Sorry to be a pest!

hey Joshua,

Send me an email at garrettspuzzles(at)gmail(dot)com and I will send you a render of the parts that need to be glued.

I'm working on a second version now that will be ready-to-assemble out of the box and won't require any gluing.