Perhaps this is why my puzzle turned so badly. I filed down the edge posts so that the edge gear was flush with the non-gear part. Maybe that royally screwed up the tolerance on my puzzle even worse when I removed the springs! I will try getting some M5 washers, but it will have to wait until I'm done with finals.

Does anyone know if putting an original ball core in this puzzle would help the turning? Or is it too small.

The core in the original puzzle was the same type as in the mass produced version: a four-armed spider, not a ball.

Hello all!

I received my gear pyraminx today, and like everyone else I am disappointed with it
I'm going to try and implement Timur's fix

To disassemble the puzzle do I need to remove all the corner stickers?
Is there anywhere I can order replacement stickers in case I mess them up?

Mine works quite well. I haven't had any problems with it.

After adding the washers and new screws my puzzle, it now functions much better and is completely usable! It still jams once in a while but nothing compared to the unmodified puzzle.

Hey again everyone,

I just thought I'd update you all.

I purchased another gear pyraminx to play around with and see what fixes I could do.

I tried out Timur's mod (using the M5 washers between the edge pieces). Although this has improved the structure stability of the puzzle, the fact that the core is short still remains an issue and it still goes a bit funny when the scramble gets complex.

So....

I took both mods and mashed them together ! with a little bit of a twist ...

here is what i did:

- removed the original corner screws and springs.
- added 1 M5 washer in between every edge piece making them alot more sturdy (6 in total)
- Added 5 little washers in the inner circle of the corner pieces where they meet the core to compensate for the length. However, before placing them, I superglued the 5 washers together to make ONE nice little bulky washer and made sure my M3 screw goes through smoothly first. This also made assembly a whole lot easier. (20 in total .. 4 sets of 5 washers glued together )
- Replaced my 16mm M3 with 20mm M3 screws for the corners. I did this because I noticed that there is alot of threading room into the core and I might as well make use of that room to keep the puzzle more stable and prevent de-threading of the screw.
- Added a slightly wider diameter washer before threading the corner screws in (as shown in the pictures i put before. (4 in total... one for every M3 screw)
- Added the center stickers (i got them with my new puzzle .. yay! )

Now the puzzle is so stable that it is almost impossible to pop or get malaligned ! The turning is perfect! and the Pyramidal shape is also consistant when solved (something you wont get with simply modding the edges due to the short core arms).

I highly recommend that if you wish to go for the mod option to go for the combination of both mods like I did. This will give it the desired structure stability, prevent pops, and keep it in Pyramidal form due to core arm length compensation.

After that its only a matter of tensioning to get your desired resistance from the puzzle

NOW I'm satisfied. LOL

I hope this is helpful to everyone.

Send your puzzle back to meffert and ask for a cut of the Mark II Gear Pyraminx cash!

I finally got my Gear Pyraminx last week, and I must have lower standards than most people, as I am satisfied with it so far.

Thanks for giving it another shot and sharing the results with us. Any chance you can add a few pictures?

Dave

Yes, thanks Emperor Cow for all your work. I have been waiting for this thread to draw a solid conclusion before making the mod.

Cheers,
Burgo.

Thanks to Timur and Emperor Cow I finally have a Gear Pyraminx I'm happy with!

Like Emperor Cow I used a mash up of both mod ideas but in didn't glue together the sets of 5 washers.

The details:

What I purchased:
4 M3x20 machine screws
24 M3 washers
10 M5 washers

First off I carefully removed the stickers and placed them onto some left over backing paper (not sure what it is called) from other sticker sets. I then wiped off the excess glue but didn't use any solvents. Since the original stickers were to be reapplied soon I didn't want to introduce anything which would prevent them from sticking.

For the edges I re-used the original screw and small washer and placed a M5 washer between the two pieces (the inner edge and the gear piece). I tightened them so that they wouldn't move easily and then loosened them just enough for them to freely spin.

For the corners I got rid of the original screws and springs. I used 5 M3 washers between the core and the inner corner piece and used 1 M3 and 1 M5 washer at the screw head. So starting at the M3x20 screw head I have (in order):
1 M3 washer
1 M5 washer
the larger gear part of the corner piece
the smaller inner part of the corner piece
5 M3 washers
the core

I also tightened these enough so that they wouldn't move easily and then loosened them just enough to freely spin.

I finally carefully reapplied the stickers.

The only thing that can make me happier with it is if I could get my hands on new stickers (including the missing 6 inner ones).

Sorry, no pictures. I did this during lunch at my desk at work and we're not allowed to bring or use cameras here. But Emperor Cow's pictures earlier in this tread are useful to show where the set of 5 M3 washers go.

Oddly enough this actually made the puzzle lighter!

I'm glad I could be of help.

If you check out redKB's mod video (using only Timur's mod) here :
http://youtu.be/Ui62VYnrch4

You will notice that although the turning is alot better, The pyramidal shape is still unstable. and the corners seem at a somewhat turned angle even if you try to straighten them out. In addition, the corners remain slightly loose so when the puzzle gets a heavy scramble, it does tend to act a little funny and the center parts tend to malalign. All this again is due to the short core arms.

All these problems (the shape stability and center part alignment stability) can be adjusted with the combination of both mods.

- Timur's mod basicly makes the edges more stable and improves turning.
- My mod makes the corners more stable and extends the core arm length solving all the alignment and shape problems.
- When you combine the two mods like I've done (and tried out as well by Volitar Prime), you get a very stable and playable puzzle.

RedKB's video is very clear on how to do Timur's mod.
And I think the two pictures I put (although not much .. sorry guys ) explain the order where the washers go.

However, I have some of the parts of the older puzzle lying around so I figured I would put a slightly clearer picture of my glued together washers and how they fit snugly into the inner circle under the bottom corner pieces extending the core arm to the desired lenght without having the corners interfere with each other as when you get the stock puzzle. (please see from bottom to top ..I had the order in reverse >__>) .

I hope these pictures make thing alot clearer.

I agree with you about redKB's video, but his puzzle is loose only because he didn't optimize the corner screws position and tension. If you compare this with my video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZDAl1LZXKk), you'll notice that mine does not look unstable, although we made the same mod.
Extra washers in core arms only help you to easier find optimal screws position, but they are still not necessary, because you can put the screws in the same position without them - if you keep the right distance between the core's arms and inner corner elements.

Thanks to redKB's video and Timur's encouragement, I tore into it and did the minimum repair. I think it was the first ever time I've been to a hardware store to purchase screws and washers in my life. I am not into this kind of thing. The first issue I had with the job was trying to get the bottom edges in without taking an additional corner off. Finally, I gave up, took off another corner, and then was able to assemble it from there. The second issue I had was getting the first corner screw started. It is much better to do the corner screws from the top, rather than trying to put in a screw sideways. Much pressure was needed to get them in. Most of you modders and builders are probably thinking, well, duh, you dummy, that is obvious. But nothing about it was easy or obvious to me. I have not given it a thorough test yet, but the few twists and turns I tried did seem like a big improvement.

Thank you Timur and Kenneth for pointing us in the right direction, and for those of you that try Kenneth's method and have trouble getting the third edge in, just take off another corner. So much easier. All the corners have to come off eventually anyway to complete the repair.

(sorry for the ~1 month bump, but since I haven't seen any news from Mefferts regarding a fixed gear pyraminx, this is probably still relevant)

I've tried both mods:

1) Just M5 washers and M3 screws

and

2) M5 washers, M3 screws and set of 5 M3 washers per corner

as described in earlier posts in this thread.

In neither case was I completely satisfied with the results. The puzzle would still block (though less than before) and I would still see the occassional tooth slip. All in all, the puzzle was still quite dissapointing, probably due to my inability in correctly setting the tension after the mods.

So I tried a third option: Using Timur's original mod (1) but instead of getting rid of the springs, replacing them with a set from a C4U DIY cube.

Therefore:

3) M5 washers on the edges and M3 screws and springs from an old C4U DIY set. No set of M3 washers.

I have to say that I am very pleased with the result. Puzzle turns perfectly, it never blocks, and I can easily perform all 3 moves: standard (1 corner), 3 corners (after half-corner turn) and full puzzle (holding 2 opposite edges).

I still have occassional tooth slips, but are quite rare and very easy to recover thanks to the springs, so I was finally able to solve the puzzle, devise a solving method an make a small tutorial.


So if, like me, you don't seem to succeed in correctly setting the tensions in this puzzle without the springs, you might want to give a try to this third option.

Hope it helps.

small tutorial video - Gear Pyraminx block / unblock solution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd4LEu1TqIA