In light of Sandy's Octaminx project, I managed to finish mine last night. Not 100% happy but it has come up pretty good. The first couple show it finished without stickers. The holes are a bit dodgy:

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Bare Octaminx with sticker sheets:

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Finished and stickered:

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Well, that's it. There's nothing quite like having it stickered and finished, and finally having something that you've seen elsewhere for years. Don't know when I'll do another one...

Next stop, Wall Cube (4x4x4) and Rhomic Dodecahedron (2x2x2)...

Wayne.

Nice.
I assume the core of your puzzle is a Pyraminx (which is what this puzzle is based on).
I obviously used a Pyraminx on the one I made and trimmed the pieces down.
I also had a problem, not necessarily with the holes, more with the spring loaded screws. When the centre pieces were trimmed to the hexagonal shape, the thickness left (relationship of front face and recess for the centre inner ball) was not a great deal, considering the holes had then to be recessed to accommodate the screw heads. This left very little space for a spring, when the springs were shortened there was not a lot of 'spring' left in them which sometimes effects the ball bearing locking mechanism from operating smoothly, if you get my meaning. I did get a satisfactory operation in the end. I also inserted cover pieces to the holes and sanded them smooth following assembly to provide a nice flat smooth surface for the stickers. Making sure of course not to get glue on the screw heads.
If you wish I can send you a photo of my Octaminx.
At the moment I have got an idea for another (should be quite challenging) transformation of a Square 1. More later when I get time to commence working on it.

Anthony

Yes, definately send me the pics. I'd love to check them out.

Well, I did have some technical issues. Like Sandy, the screws did start unscrewing themselves and I was hoping the washers would solve this but they only held out for a while. Basically, I am using a shorter screw, not the original one, cut down. Therefore the thread is slightly different and therefore unscrews after quite a while.

What I did to solve the problem was to fill the holes in the ball with plastic shavings and then srcew the screw back in. This provided a nice tight fit and it seems stable for now. This blue glue might be the next stop if it doesn't hold forever.

Unlike yourself and sandy, I didn't use any springs here at all as it doesn't really need it. The ball bearing springs provide enough bounce and it has a good feel.

The mech is actually a tetraminx, well a pyraminx really I guess. Didn't want to bother with dissassembing tips so I used the tetra instead.

Photo sent to Wayne for inclusion on this site.

Without doubt the finest example, and very very precise!

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Ouch. Now I'm worried how mine will look in comparison! Very nice. I can't even imagine room for visual improvement.

Those stickers must be computer cut. Do you have the hardware / software to do it, Anthony? Any chance you'll sell me a set of computer cut stickers?!

Finally, would you mind me using your picture on TwistyPuzzles.com?

Sandy

Nice one. I hope mine turns out as well as that! I expect to finish it over the weekend.

One thing I noticed (and I'm sure you did too, so me mentioning it is only adding salt to the wound, but it's an interesting point), is that making only 3 cuts instead of 6 into the large triangular stickers shown in pic #3 result in a misalignment when you move the three mini triangles a few millimeters away from the remaining hexagon (eg yellow face). The difference seems much less noticable on the opposite faces (eg white face).

Otherwise, the puzzle looks production run quality. I am excited to be so close to owning one of these!

You've brought up a good point about not really needing the springs. Maybe I'll just ditch the idea completely, and let the ball bearing springs to the job as you said. I don't really plan on playing with it much... it's still a Pyraminx, after all.

Was there a stickering pattern you went by, or did you just stick 'em on where ever they looked best? I was thinking of trying to match the standard Tomy/Meffert Pyraminx colours (green, orange, yellow, blue) on the four original sides (eg white face), then try to find variations on those colours for their new opposite faces (eg yellow face!).

Your finished version is inspiring to me. I wonder how many people would be helped through a complete puzzle mod (who doesn't have incomplete mods hanging around?) if other people on the board were doing the same one at at the same time? We might want to organize a "group project" so we can all consult and learn together, and benefit from each other's energy and experience. Sounds like a great idea to me.

The first few group projects would probably have to be mods based on easy to get puzzles... like the Octaminx or the Rubik's Mate, for example. Then we could get more complicated, requiring buildups, for things like the Fisher's Cube, the Mental Block or even the Rhombic Dodecahedron puzzles. Finally, we could get into plastic molding where we could build pretty much anything.

I'd be interested in getting this starting right away if anyone else shares my enthusiasm for the idea.

Sandy

Dear Sandy

I must apologise for not replying before now. Please don’t think I have ignored you.
I have been very busy lately, holidays and also attending the IPP22 in Antwerp.
With regard to the stickers on the Octaminx – sorry, no computer software or anything as easy as that, all the stickers on my self made puzzles are individually cut and the corners rounded, all using a scalpel. I make a template/stencil of each sticker shape to ensure they are exactly identical, cut them out, then round the corners. That’s after making the sticker ‘sheets’ in the first place. As you will appreciate this is time consuming, as are a lot of my puzzle making ideas. In the end though I think it pays off.
With regard to putting the photo on the museum site – please do. In fact if you want to use any photos of my self made puzzles I have no objection as long as you indicate they are mine and are self made. I suppose a more detailed description would be better, but this depends on time. If so, you will require a list to see which puzzles in my collection are self made. Maybe you can email me to discuss what might be the best way to do this.
Once again I apologise for the delay.

Anthony