Hi Puzzlers,

Inspired by a shape mod of my Fun Block puzzle from Claus, as seen in this post, and with credit to Mike Armbrust and Ender Delphiki (the creators of the first working model of this puzzle), I am pleased to make available my own version of the fully functional siamese 2x2x2.

I re-sized this puzzle so that standard 3x3x3 stickers can be used, and to reduce the cost. I also recessed the stickers slightly so that they do not tend to get peeled off as the puzzle turns. As with the Fun Block, no hardware is required since the puzzle snaps together. All you need are the parts, and a set of 3x3x3 stickers. Also similar to the Fun Block, the fully functional siamese 2x2x2 can be taken apart very easily after assembly. There are small bumps that hold the corner pieces on in mid-turn so that the puzzle doesn't fall apart unintentionally.

Here's a video of the puzzle.

You can buy the fully functional siamese 2x2x2 in my Shapeways shop.

Here are a few pictures of the puzzle:
Have fun!
Dave

Wow! Only $50! Awesome!

-Doug

David, I love this puzzle!

As soon as I saw this puzzle I bought it, because it was a good price and a great puzzle:

It is a simple yet elegant mechanism (as usual) and very easy to put together. The only criticism is that if you stop the "mixing" turn at 90 degrees then you can turn some cubies so that they drop off the puzzle.

Can this be fixed David? (But please don't let this stop you from buying this puzzle)

Remarkable!

Question: is it still fully functional after you turn a big layer by only 90 degrees (instead of 180)?

I just ordered one as an Easter present!! Sure beats an egg!

Absolutely not, pieces just drop off as they see fit

I just ordered this, and I am scared. This is my first 3D printed puzzle, and I am afraid that now I opened the door, all the monsters are flooding in But at that price, it was a great candidate for a first 3D print

And I am really looking forward to this puzzle, it looks great on the pictures, and it turns nicely on the video

Do tell how this goes.. I am gently eying this puzzle from a distance

I got the parts for mine on Friday but haven't assembled it yet.

I finally assembled mine. I used some oil-free silicone lube before I assembled it but it probably didn't really need it. I like it quite a bit so far but you do have to be careful not to let pieces fall out. I may end up picking up a 2nd one some day...

ooo pretty

Pieces falling out weren't as big of an issue when it was hand-made since, being bad modder, the pieces were not consistently built. I wonder how much the clean build increases the problem. It seems to twist really well from the video [jealous smiley], and the bumps seem to do a great job of solving the mechanical enigma.

I prefer a stickering scheme that inverts the colors, personally. having identical corners makes it a little more confusing to isolate the parts properly. Parity if you know what I mean.

I'm happy to see that people are enjoying this puzzle!
I intentionally designed the puzzle to be easy to make and as inexpensive as possible by using no screws and standard 3x3x3 stickers. This did mean shrinking the mechanism substantially from the scale it was for the Fun Block puzzle. Consequently it took a few tries to get the best balance between easy turning, and not having the pieces simply fall out on their own in mid-turn. However, due to the Shapeways process tolerances some copies of the puzzle will be a bit looser, and some tighter. Unless a copy starts out very tight, the puzzle should not require lubing to turn well, and the lube may increase any tendency for mid-turn fall-outs.
As you can see in the video, my copies of the puzzle do turn very nicely. I should also mention that the video was made with no editing. The bumps do a good job of making the puzzle playable, but if anyone has ideas for a more secure mechanical connection I'd love to hear them!

I really regret pre-lubing mine before assembling it. Pieces now tend to fall out every turn, I think I ruined the puzzle

I used an oil-free silicone spray and I’m sure there is no way to remove the lube without doing further damage. This was my first time ordering something directly from Shapeways and up to this point everything I’ve read and/or been told from others stated that it is necessary to lube puzzles from them before assembling them. Unfortunately, due to the way the two center pieces connect to each other, I didn’t do a test assembly first since I’m pretty sure that they can’t be taken back apart without damaging them.

I wonder if there is something sticky/thick that can be applied that would counteract the effect of the lube and won’t damage the material.

Does the Fun Block have the same falling out problem?

I'm very sorry to hear this. I've added a note to the puzzle description in my shop letting people know to test the assembly before applying any lubricant. Hopefully others can avoid such problems in the future.
There is no way to take apart the two center pieces, but those are likely not the problem. You can take all of the corner cubies off easily enough, the issue is how to get the silicone off the corners and the core petals that the corners grab.
Unfortunately my duct tape trick will be hard to use since the parts are contoured and have crevasses, etc., but it still might be worth a try. I've tried other solvents to get the silicone oil off parts of the puzzle I didn't want it on, but did not have any luck. Nothing damaged the puzzle material though, so you probably don't need to worry about that, although you may need a new set of stickers.

Hopefully you can find a solution and make the puzzle playable again.

Fun Block uses the same mechanism, but at a larger scale. The parts are still easily removed from the core, but due to the larger size of the details, they are a bit more robust, and hold the pieces in place a little tighter than in the Siamese 2x2x2. Even so, it's a balancing act between allowing the pieces to move easily enough for the puzzle to be playable, and preventing them from being so loose that they move easily in mid-turn. They don't fall out on their own though.

I got it today, dyed it, stickered it. And it is a fantastic puzzle. Much more of a challenge then I had thought...

I really enjoyed the process of dying? and assembling it!
My only problem with the puzzle is that it is a bit loose, and my stickers keep falling of but hey, more of a challenge

I will however recommend it to my friends!

If anyone needs help solving, I've got a video on my youtube channel. I did discover a terrible parity afterwards so I will be reuploading it