I don't know if this thing has an official name yet. I figured "Master Cuboctahedron" sounded pretty nifty.



More pics and info here: http://www.twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/fs.cgi?str=puzzle.cgi?pid=669

Thanks to Ray for inspiring me to look at my 4x4x4's for possible modifcations just in time for the weekend!

Sandy

Did you make this one Sandy? It looks great. How long did it take to modify it?

Jürgen Brandt made the one on the left, that Hendrik Haak bought early this year.



Michael

Dang. Mine is sitting on the table with rough shaved corners and plugged holes with milliput. Being too lazy to continue. Well done, Sandy!

Plugged holes? I hate to rub it in, Wayne, but I didn't have to plug any holes! You must be using a different 4x4x4 than I did. I assume it's a Rubik's, but please confirm. I used a Meffert's Master Cube (thus the name "Master Cuboctahedron"), and was delighted to find that I didn't have to do any filling of holes.

The corner cubies on the Master Cube were completely solid, no worries there. Each edge cubie did have a plastic-saving, cylinder-shaped hole in it, but the holes wasn't deep enough to surface during this mod. I suspect the hole would come into play if you shaved an edge down to the straight 45 degrees angle required for the 4x4x4 Octagon. (Better name: "Master Octagon"?) I'll find out about this soon, as I plan on building one as part of a set of five different 4x4x4 mods.

Thanks for your comments and compliments all.

In my original post, I thanked "Ray for inspiring me to look at my 4x4x4's for possible modifcations". I was remiss in not thanking Jürgen Brandt for the idea and Hendrik for posting the pics online.

MaxWiz: your "ironic" comment is lost on me. Is Geert building one as well?!

Sandy

Thanks. Yep, made it.

Started on Sunday, finished late Monday. All told, probably about 10 hours of work. Seemed to take forever to fine tune those 32 plastic pieces after the initial crude cuts.

I'm really happy with it. I think it looks great. (But I wonder how much of its good looks are just because it's size!) I really should have taken a picture of it beside the 3x3x3 Cuboctahedron.

Now that the ball is rolling on the 4x4x4 mods, I think I'll do up the other four designs I have in mind. Two are easier than this one, and two are harder. I'll probably do the easier ones first, and never get around to the harder ones!

Sandy

Well done Sandy! Thats ironic hey Geert

Sandy, I really like your puzzle. Great minds must think alike; I want to build one, too. The first one of these may have been produced by Jurgen Brand, as shown at Hendrik Haak's Puzzle Museum

http://www.puzzle-shop.de/start-museum.html

See the Revenge Octaeder under 4x4x4.

Yea, i've never heard of a name for this thing before. Simple design, pain to make because all the pieces have to be equal. Nice work sandy!
O, btw, i've usually just called it a cuboctahedronal 4x4 but master cuboctahedron is better than what i had. heh

Very nice puzzle. What kind of colors are all on that?

Jaap you there? What kind of combinations does this have?

If you don't mind me asking. What other types of puzzles are you going to make? What shapes are they?

First that was my post, and I started to write it before Carter posted hers...

Sorry for that !

Michael

With regards to # of combinations it differs from the 4x4x4 cube only in that the corners have no visible orientation (assuming the corners have different colours). This gives 2187 times as few positions, or about 3.38e+42.

I hate to bug you again, but I think there is a little bit more because there are no 2 edge pieces are the same like in the Rubik's revenge cube (4x4x4). It's the triangles color that adds a little bit of combinations, but not a lot.
I can't seem to find your updated web site at all. I know I found it earlier once. Do I have the wrong link for it. This is the link I us below. I'm very sorry to bug you about this.
http://www.org2.com/jaap/puzzles/

From
Darren

...just before you posted, I mentioned in a email to Greet that one of the first puzzle I would attempt would be a Magic Cuboctahedron (or a 4^3 cuboctahedron as I called it). Ironic!

Magic Cuboctahedron seems like the right name though and I know my first attempt wouldn't be as nice as this one.

Max

...you know, think alike.

The 4x4x4 edges look the same but are different (as you will see when you open one). You can work out which one it is by its orientation. Therefore it does not make any difference if they are made outwardly different as well.

Jaap's Puzzle Page:
http://www.geocities.com/jaapsch/puzzles

You're too kind.

Honestly, I don't think of my skills as anything more than half-assed. Personally, I don't see how you can go wrong making something like this. Get some tools and some time, and away you go. Just don't cut off too much, and everything will work out eventually.

Sandy

Darren,

The square faces are coloured exactly the same as the original cube was. I didn't even remove the middle four stickers of each face. The triangular stickers are just simple modifications of the square sticker that used to be on the cubie.

The other eight colours are miscellanous colours I had in my suitcase full of vinyl stickers:

- two shades of blue
- two shades of brown/beige
- two shades of pink/purple
- pale green
- grey

The other 4x4x4 mods I'm planning to make (but I only have one 4x4x4 left!) are these:

2) Truncated corners. Like this, but 4x4x4:
http://www.twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/fs.cgi?str=puzzle.cgi?pid=655

3) Octagon. Like this, but 4x4x4:
http://www.twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/fs.cgi?str=puzzle.cgi?pid=457

4) Ball. Like this, but 4x4x4:
http://www.twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/fs.cgi?str=puzzle.cgi?pid=579

5) Dodecahedral 4x4x4. Has the OUTER geometry of the Dodecagonal Prism:
http://www.twistypuzzles.com/cgi-bin/fs.cgi?str=puzzle.cgi?pid=502
But it's a 4x4x4. Top and bottom flat, edges all shaved to new angles. Make sense? Should be a kick ass mod, but it'll take forever to make because of those 48 individual piece mods and stickers.

Sandy