Let's kick off the month with another new puzzle, the Mini Starminx:



I designed this puzzle after Andrew Cormier challenged me to make a design that absolutely pushed the limits. I did, designing a Starminx that has an edge size of only 25mm. To my surprise, it worked perfectly. Thanks to it's small size, I can now bring you this puzzle for only $119/€100!



The movement is quite good. The movement is smooth, the puzzle is extremely stable. However, the pieces do occasionally catch. Still, I'm very satisfied with the results.

Here it is along with my other mini dodecahedra:


Please PM me to order a DIY kit for $119/€100 (free S&H). You can also purchase an assembled puzzle for $225 (+S&H).
The DIY kit is shipped to you directly from Shapeways and does not include stickers or screws. Price is for white, black is slightly more expensive.

Great one Tom! I may have to scrape together the change to get this one!

Is there any reason why this costs more than the pentultimate? Is it bigger? I can't tell from the picture.

Same size, maybe just more dense/complicated? It's not too much more, so I'd imagine there's just more volume internally.

Awesome! I really wish I could afford to buy your mini puzzles.

Alex

Can you offer this puzzles in a normal size aswell? with a higher price of course..
Im not really into mini puzzles lol.

Looking great anyway =)

-Sharon-

The reason why it costs more is because there isn't any competition.

I wish that tp.com had a "vote up" button because I agree with this completely. If there was a vote up button on tp.com, (like youtube.com), I think there would be a lot less traffic. Back on topic. I love the starminx but wish it was the same size as a pyraminx crystal.

Good work Tom!

Oh my goodness, I'm just back from my vacation and see thissssssss!!!
Congratulation Tom

I see "not for sale" for the Pentultimate on TomZ's Shapeway's site

It's $99 USD. It's too complicated for shapeways to offer for sale, you have to contact TomZ for it.

Man you are now stacking up quite a pile of the more complicated puzzles as far as mech is concerned. All that in the small size and aparently with a good movement.
This is really good.

Thank you everybody for the kind comments.

It is slightly more expensive than the Pentultimate because:
- Indeed, because no competition. But my markup is still quite low
- It has more parts (197 vs 164) and thus a greater volume (since having more parts in the same space makes the model more dense)

You can now send me a PM to order the DIY kits (from Shapeways) or the assembled puzzles (from me). Please check the first post for pricing.

awesome! emediatly added to my TomZ's-puzzles wish list, right below the Master Pentultimate

edit; Did I really just write awesome? This is huge!! A dream coming true! I for one love mini puzzles! They are NOT too small to my tasting - they are perfect!

That doesn't even exist yet! But I've ordered it. To be continued...

But you told us earlier that you are working on one. And do I know one thing about you, then it must be that you wont give up until at puzzle is perfect!

Great puzzle! Tomz, does it shapeshift in any way? Because it appears to me like it might be able to shapeshift. But then again, it could just be me.

No, the Starminx I can't shapeshift, although the other two can.

I love it!!!!

Are you going to add a Megaminx with this set the same size as the others to complete the face-turn dodecahedra?



Carl

Like the others, great work. In addition to Carl's question, are you planning on making any of the hybrids?

Isn't the "Hybrid" a master penultimate?

I think Carl calls it that because the "Master Pentultimate" is not a true "master" puzzle. It includes all of the parts from both the Starminx and Pentultimate, hence the name.

There are three "hybrids", the master pentultimate, the cross between starminx and pyraminx crystal AKA gelatinbrain 1.1.4 (Grigr designed one but hasn't made it yet, he called it "stellarminx") and the cross between pyraminx crystal and megaminx AKA gelatinbrain 1.1.2

Actually grigr designed a curvy cut version of that as well and named it "crystalminx".

sorry to go with this derail. but I think its rather relevant. Those two designed by Grigr are very interesting. Would they be printable?

Those two hybrids, Starminx with corners and Pyraminx Crystal with centres/edges are quite nice, but not possible at this scale. The former could quite easily be done at a larger scale and might still be possible at this scale (I haven't made up my mind yet), but the shallow cut Pyraminx Crystal is a beast to design at any scale.
As you can see, grigr made his curved (since apparently, non-curved would be very hard) but we don't know what size his was. Grigr has designed many puzzles but printed very little yet, so we don't know if his version would be practial or not.

I would love to make them, but my interest has been slightly decimated since they can't be made at this scale.

What about the other two kinds of Starminxes, II and III, and also the Dino Dodecahedron? I reckon Starminx II and the Dino Dodecahedron may be possible, but could the Starminx III be made that small?

I'm not going there. The Dino Dodec is a totally uninteresting puzzle, the Starminx II and III are just plain impossible at this size (plus Andrew wouldn't like me very much if I made those!).

Actually he said it was curved purely for aesthetics and designed a non curvy one but as you say they weren't printed so we can't be sure they would work well and he didn't say what size they were.
Pity the pyraminx crystal megaminx cross is hard to make, the circle version of that puzzle is one of the most fun puzzles i've solved.

How large would those two hybrids be to be possible? you think? I think there is plenty of market for them!

I usually have the same opinion as those who say they don't like the mini puzzles, but I can guarantee you this is a beauty! I've seen this at DCD live and it's not really that small. If I remember correct it's similar to a Rubik's cube, which is a decent size. Movement is just great.
I will definitely buy this puzzle, if not now, maybe in early 2011, but I will. It's worth the money!

I guess that this is the same size as the Mini Pentultimate, so as I see on shapeways the size is only - Height 4.5m, Width 4.5cm, Depth 4.5cm which is a little over 1cm smaller than a normal rubik cube.

In my opinion it would be much better with a pyraminx crystal size, and we should have the option to buy a min version OR a normal size version.

So what about a Megaminx? Or does that fall into the catagory of totally uninteresting? I think the set could be complete without the hybrids.

Carl

Elwyn is correct. There are 3 hybrids in that animation. I just labeled one of them. As for why I didn't call it the Master Pentultimate... I don't think this puzzle had taken that name at the time I made this animation. If it had I wasn't aware of it. Is the term "master" well defined? I'm looking at it as just a name.

Carl

"Master" is not well-defined. A 4x4x4 is called Master Cube, while a Master Pentultimate is also called Master Pentultimate, which is an order-3 puzzle (like Master Skewb), not order-4 like the 4x4x4.

I will make a Megaminx sometime. It is needed to "complete" the series.

The size as listed on Shapeways is not accurate. All of my Mini Dodecahedra are about 55mm high.I am looking into making a lager version but it would be Megaminx-sized, because Pyraminx Crystal size would be 4 times as expensive as this. And really, this puzzle doesn't need to be large (there are only two, not three layers to grip).

Drewseph's Starminx look like just the right size - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ELCLhD ... re=related.

This will be the next on my list. Once the Pentultimate gets here, I will write a small review for it. Once I have the Starminx, all that remains is the hexaminx and I can relax. Darn this puzzle addiction.

I plan to soon begin printing my some dodecahedron: void master pentultimate (no magnet), stellaminx and crystalminx.
(But you have to wait - I already said that ShapeWays does not work with Russia and I have to wait 2 months to get its details).
all the puzzles are very simple mechanisms and may be small, but not crystalminx.
My stellaminx has 165 parts (also I can make it starminx I - parts will be the same),
My void master penultimate has 130 parts (also I can make it pentultimate)

Great puzzle Tom!

May you please post a few details about the puzzle such as
•how many pieces it has
•how many screws and springs
•how thin the layers are (it has 2 layers, right?)

This is an amazing puzzle and I will buy it hopefully soon.

Presumably it would have 12 screws and springs, as it uses the Shells Mechanism. It has 197 parts to it, and it has three layers as you can clearly see in the second picture.