Hello everyone, and happy Thursday.

I'd like to present my latest Shapeways puzzle, the Enneaminx. Essentially, it is a Dino Cube with splits at two extra angles along four of its tetrahedral axes. A while back DKwan suggested on IRC that I make a puzzle with the geometry of the Enneagonal Near-Miss Johnson Solid shown on this website. I didn't see any immediate way to construct a puzzle that would somehow introduce the Enneagons into the solving process, but when I saw the Split Jing's Pyraminx, I recognized that it was possible.











More information: (edit)

• Building process:
  
  I broke in and sanded the puzzle by hand, but it was a ton of work so I'd probably look into tumbling for next time. I dyed it black, but it didn't look quite black enough for me, so I spraypainted it. It looks really glossy and smooth now, unlike most SLS puzzles.
  
  
• Stickering:
  
  The heart of the color-scheme is based on the Pyraminx. The four sides with the Enneagon center pieces are colored with the four colors of the Pyraminx: green, red, yellow, and blue. The sides opposite from them (the sides with the triangular centers) are colored with analogs to the Pyraminx scheme: light green, orange, purple, and light blue. The six square sides have the standard Rubik's Cube colors, and finally, the corner triangles are covered in an alternating silver and gold pattern. The pattern is arranged so that it never changes when regular Dino Cube moves are performed, but does change when the stored cuts are broken.
  
  
• Classification:
  
  This is a bit of a grey area. The puzzle acts like two tetrahedrons that share the same mechanism, only one tetrahedron has two extra splits at 40° increments. The extra splits create stored cuts, but I don't think they cause jumbling. If the puzzle were to be further split on the other tetrahedron (ignoring the fact that some pieces would be cut to slivers), jumbling would be introduced.
  
  
• Center caps:
  
  I used something similar to TomZ's Multidodecahedron center caps for this design. They snap but don't lock into place so that they are removable:
  
  
  
  
• Video

Andreas, I'll edit the pictures for you eventually so you don't have to deal with the background.


Chandler

Wow, it turned out beautifully!

Excellent job =)

It looks like it would be a lot of fun to solve...

I, too, am interested in a video, simply because the turns along the faces don't appear to introduce the need for that many cuts... . The pictures are also very nice (and so is the puzzle!); perhaps you would consider adding them to the Puzzle Photography Facebook Group? Send me a request and I will add you (the same applies to any forum member, by the way).

That's a cool shape and a very nice looking puzzle. Congrats!

This of course isn't my puzzle, but I can see how depending on the way you turn the face all the cuts would be used.
(Please excuse the poor paint job) The picture below, I believe, shows all the various cut planes that exist on the nonagonal(?) faces. I could be totally wrong, but this is how I see it.
This puzzle is amazing! I would definitely buy it off shapeways.

Really nice puzzle and great pictures!

What did you do to the WSF to give it that look? Is that a combination of glue and a permanent marker?

You're absolutely right. The nona/enneagonal faces can turn at increments of 40° so that they can be sliced through the stored cuts, causing shapeshifting.

It's actually black spraypaint. It's dyed black, but I wasn't happy with the color so I painted it and waited a few days to be safe.

I'm actually not on Facebook anymore, but if I were I would definitely join. I might remake my account someday, we'll see...
The pictures were taken at my friend's book warehouse which I've always wanted to take pictures at.

I'm going to add the video and more information tomorrow, and maybe even try to get it up for sale on Shapeways. My only concern with Shapeways is that the breaking in process was so difficult that I'm not sure most people would be comfortable with it.

Thanks for the kind comments.

Chandler

Very Great picture & puzzle! Seems like a modified GEM III which allow jumbling? Hoping forward for video~

Just shape shifting no jumbling? Awesome puzzle especially since I'm not a fan of jumbling.

Wow, bizarre shape, but I live the pattern of the cuts and the stickering, especially the small gold? silver? ones. Can't wait for the video.

Added the video and additional information about the puzzle in the top post.

Is an unbandaged version (enneagons on all sides) possible?

No, unfortunately it would cut some pieces way too thin. If the base solid was a different shape it might be possible, though.

Chandler

What a post. As good as the puzzle!
Someday I have to post my ever-growing list of classifying challenges. Needless to say you added another entry.Thank you!