Hi all,
6x6x6 progress update can be seen here. Hopefully not long to go now.

http://www.twistymegasite.com/6x6x6.asp

It will be a dream come true, an engineering masterpiece!

I see meffort is already selling a 6X6X6! ;)
http://shoppingcart.mefferts.com/index. ... roduct=111

Wayne. congratulations & a few
Questions
Molded pieces (currently)or
are you making each individually?

Good to hear things are working out Wayne. Do you think you are any nearer to find a manufacturer for it?

Max

No, they're being manufactured for me. No molding.

Now you have to think of a cool name for it . HMM let's see uummmm Einstien cube? Professor's Revenge? Ultimate cube?

Professor's Revenge sounds good, even fits with the way I classify puzzles, Professor is +2 order, Revenge is order 4.

I think the name should also reflect that it is the largest possible using standard techniques. eg Super, Total, Ultimate, Ultra, Maximal, Top, Limit, Monster, Apex, Summit... cube/hexahedron?

Or of course you could go mathematical with HexaHexahedron. Or just a symbol like prince did with 6^3.

Max

Or play on the 6x6x6 and call it 666 or Lucifer's Revenge or Devil Cube!

Max

I'm not sure about a manufacturer just yet. I'll wait till a unit is in my hands and then I'll be preparing a video file to show it off.

I'll second the 666 thing. Call it the Sinister 666 or something. Muahahaha!

Those last suggestions won't do for anyone who knows me well enough. :) I'd have prefered to go with God's number and construct a 777 but as you know that's not achieveable. Probably says something.

What about along the lines of "Final Cube". I dunno. It's just a 6x6x6 right now, that list above was good though.

My vote's for "ultimate cube". So, the 6X6X6 is the largest possible because the corner pieces hang off midturn right? Don't the 2X2X4s pieces hang off? Couldn't a similar mechanism be used in the same way?

Rubikon Cube. Should remind of a rubik's cube, as well as of a rubicon. :-) Or, simply name it Wayne's Cube. Or Wayne's Rubikon Cube.

Sorry for my stupidity but isnt a rubicon a rubbish bin (trash can)!

Max

Hehe yeah

I thought that it wouldn't offend you because you are in control of it. You could beat lucifer by solving this puzzle ;)

Max

So any bets as to what the first mod puzzle of this would be?
heh heh

-d

Wayne Johnson wrote:
> Those last suggestions won't do for anyone
> who knows me well enough. :) I'd have
> prefered to go with God's number and construct
> a 777 but as you know that's not
> achieveable. Probably says something.

Wayne, Wayne. SomeTimes you have to appreciate the irony in such things. I'm pretty sure The Big Guy has a sense of humor. So call it The God Cube. That's pretty ironic too.

That can't be cheap! I assume you will cast the pieces once you have a set?

Max

Hi, first time poster here although I've been around the boards for a while. I second the Rubicon idea.

From dictionary.com: a line that when crossed permits of no return and typically results in irrevocable commitment

What an appropriate name for a puzzle like this!

How about Genius Cube?

I'll second the 666 thing. Call it the Sinister 666 or something. Muahahaha!

Also i think there is a puzzle called ultimate cube.

Max

I'm afraid that's not true. Get up, run to the library, and get a book on Julius Caesar! :-)

All tongue-in-cheek. Don't take me too seriously. And if it's called the God cube well... it would have to be packaged with God's algorithm which I don't have on me at the moment.

Thanks for support! :-) In this name, I also like the fact that it's nearly the same meaning and pronounciation in many languages! So, Wayne, how do you like "Wayne's Rubikon cube", or simply "Rubikon cube"? Please note that I tried to play around the "Rubik" word, but it is still quite meaningful to go with plain "Rubicon cube" (note the "c"/"k" in the word).

Hi Wayne,

Any news on this badboy?

I'm chomping at the bit. Where are we at?

When is the expected completion date? The expected sale date?

Where do I sign up?

Is there actually a working prototype?

Thanks!

Geez ok... I'll answer these one by one:

1) No news
2) No news
3) No expectect date buy maybe photos in 3 weeks no guarentees
4) You can't. I'll probably only make two a year.
5) In three weeks, I hope, maybe longer.

Two a year, sounds like bad news for us. One word--EBAY!
Highest I would go is $200.00 american$$$

I think on ebay you might have to move that . at least one to the right to be in with a chance.

Max

Maybe so initally, but maybe I'll get my $200.00 cube in about 2009 or so. It would be worth the wait!

So at 2 per year you are guessing your the 12th person to ask for one! And assuming that Wayne will be selling the puzzle for a fraction of what it would be worth ;)

Max

I think this would be a big seller. Even if it were to cost $100, many people would buy them.

Ever think of hiring a company to build the pieces? The actual outer layer pieces should be easy to make in quantity. The internal mechanism maybe more difficult but I haven't seen anything so I don't know how it works.

Well if there are only going got be 2 a year, put my name on the list ASAP. maybe my future grandkids will be able to enjoy it oneday! ;-)

Bob

Gee, by 2009 there could be other manufacturers. Hopefully, Wayne could sell patient rights to somebody and we could get $40 cubes by then.

My theory is, anyone interested in the 5x5x5 would surely buy a 6x6x6, so I believe it is feesable for production.

The puzzle enthusiast community is constantly expanding.

a 6x6x6 production should be quite lucrative.

That's what you would think... But where's the Dogic now...

thats sad

You are forgetting that the moulds for Meffert's 5x5x5 were made during the cube craze. Definitely worth making then, not so now! Rubik's, if you believe that they are any different from Meffert's, are at most a rework of the existing moulds, a proven design.

To develop and make moulds for the 6x6x6 would cost >$150,000 probably much more. Even if a $50 price gave 50% profit you are looking at selling 6000 to pay for the moulds. In reality you would need to sell something like 10000-20000 to get a return that was worth that investment risk. Very approx figures, but you get the idea. I don't think the big manufacturers are going to take the risk.

I think the only way we would see these things in production would be small scale. In England (guessing everywhere else too) there are many smaller companies, who do injection moulding using lower pressure heated systems and aluminium moulds. The figures are very different, maybe £10000 to develop and make the moulds, at say £10 profit per puzzle you only need to sell 1000. This is more like the way I think it would work. With international sales being so easy, 1000-2000 can easily be sold even if it is a niche market. The limitations here are that the product quality is less good and you could never step up production, if the thing really took off, without going back to option 1. You would also be assembling 1000-2000 puzzles yourself!

I am guessing now, but I think Wayne would have looked into both approaches and would have got a "no" from the big boys and a "sure, if you pay the set up costs" from the smaller companies. If this is the case then the 3rd option, build them yourself in very small quantities, to keep them rare. Then sell them at $500-$1000 each, would give the best return and almost no risk. The risk is that someone else goes for the first or second option and you only sell 3! But even then you haven't lost any invested money, just time. I think you would also still sell some for a bit less, even with a production one around. I would pay $200 for a quality hand built 5x5x5 if it was different to existing models!

Anyone willing to invest £10000-£20000 in this should give Wayne a call, I couldn't/wouldn't and no investment banker in their right mind would. Some government run business start-up schemes might?

Max :(

Well, hearing that I guess the only hope is that either Wayne, Rubik's or Meffert have some cash in the bank they are willing to risk. Of the 100 million + cubes of all types sold surely there is 10,000 people out in the world of 6 billion people whom at least 100 million are cube owners would buy a 6x6x6. Niche market yes. Risky, maybe.
My question is how many 5x5x5's were sold?

Then again, Bethel did do it with their 2x2, 4x4 & 5x5. So don't give up hope.

Max ;)

You are absolutely correct. It could be a long wait at my price. Manufacturer is definately needed. Only the elite few will get the first dozen. I guess in time these originals would be worth a small fortune.

Doh, Bethel did with the rainbow. Is what I meant to say. EastSheen did it with those others.

Max

I've been looking into other possibilities but it looks like the hand made way is the only option. I was toying with the idea of building my own equipment so who knows. I'll keep researching to come up with a cheap option. I know there has to be one.

The dogic was boring and too easy in the first place.

Its popularity only grew after its death.

Wayne, it seems that you're making each piece of the puzzle individually, aren't you? Why wouldn't you make them layer by layer? Cubes are grouped in one layer (in a jig), and radial pass is made with a proper diameter bit to remove some material. And so on. I did that with Rubik's cube long time ago, and this should work in a similar fashion for your 5x5x5. This way you work on multiple pieces in one pass.

My point is that the investment in the 5x5x5 was done when cubes were big sellers. I think its a different market these days.

Max

There is a book with instructions on how to build a hand pumped injection moulder. Trouble is you will need to spend about £2500 on a used CNC mill to make the moulds! You can buy a proper small scale injection system for about £2500. So a reasonable setup would cost about £5000. This is a minimum.

Max

Okay, here's my feelings:

I know there have been many new puzzles that have been produced recently (far after the 80's cube craze). I'm referring to ones never even sold in stores like the skewb and others. The cubic (rubik's type) design will always be far more popular than other shapes/ideas in my opinion.

I don't understand how these companies can turn a profit selling at $10-$20 a puzzle and we are saying we can't on a 6x6x6 rubik's-type puzzle and that's even if it were $50 a cube.

Also, if assumble costs are a concern, I'm sure most puzzlers wouldn't mind assembling their own to save $10 in labor costs.

How many unique pieces are there? i.e. how many molds would need to be made?

Bob