2-layer Star (from 4-layer Square 1)

Alex · **Joined:** Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:36 am **Location:** Europe

I got the idea here.

I shortened the axis, making sure one of the holes usually holding the rails remained entirely in one part. The rails then had to be glued on rather than screwed. Before I glued them on, I removed some of the material from the middle (where the rails were attached to the axis) to allow for a nut on one side and the washer+spring+screw on the other. The screw and the nut had to be put in place before securing the rails. I made sure I could reach the screw with a screwdriver through the rails so I'm able to put the puzzle together or take it apart.

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The reason behind the unusual color scheme is that all my 4-layer square-1 came with blue/green top/bottom stickers so I only had four colours available. I'm still waiting for Cubesmith to release replacement stickers for these. I now have a 4-layer Star, a 4-layer dodecagonal prism and a 2-layer star to resticker :wink:

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Edit: here are a few more pictures

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And a photo of the screws and springs: to the left is the original pyraminx screw, on the right are the screw and the nut I used for the star. I also added about 1/2 of the spring from an old pen. The second screw from the left is the one I used for octaminx.

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aliengrey · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:59 am

Great builds!

There's so many different mods you can make with a four layer square-1.

Alex · **Joined:** Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:36 am **Location:** Europe

Thanks. 4-layer square-1 really seems to offer a lot of possibilities:

- the original puzzle,
- two simple piece-swapping prisms (star and dodecagonal),
- cut the corners of a star prism to get a six-sided prism,
- the 2-layer variants of all the above,
- ???

My initial plan was to make a six-sided prism from one of the two stars I had, but now I made the 2-layered star and I don't have any more puzzles left to destroy

I don't even have the normal 4-layered square-1 now. I think I might get some more after the holidays.

So, other than the above, what other simple mods are there?

Jeffery Mewtamer · **Joined:** Sun Nov 23, 2008 2:18 am

I do not know how the 4-Layer Square-1 mechanism works exactly, but could one cut a second 4-Layer Square 1 in half at the waist and attach these halves to the top and bottom of the base puzzle to create an eight layer version? Or would the puzzle being almost twice as tall as wide make it too easy for pieces in the top/bottom layers to fall out?

Bigandrewgold · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:24 pm

The 1,2,7,8 layers would fall out

Yannoo · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:27 pm

I build a square-5 layers and I think that 5 is the limit. or else you would have to reduce vertically the corners and the edge

Bigandrewgold · **Posted:** Sun Dec 14, 2008 4:33 pm

Yeah, 5 is the limit by conventional methods. It would be very hard to go any higher.

qqwref · **Joined:** Sat Jan 22, 2005 12:12 pm **Location:** NY, USA

What if you just made all the edges and corners really, really, really big? Maybe you could do a 6+ layer square-1 if you just made the pieces big enough so nothing would fall off when you did half a turn.

Jeffery Mewtamer · **Joined:** Sun Nov 23, 2008 2:18 am

Logically, extending the pieces to restore (near-)cubicle shape would be sufficient to hold the outer layers in, provided the extensions are solid. Alternately, thinner layers could allow higher orders as well, but that would probably require starting from scratch.

Am I correct that the basic principal to the Square-1 mechanism is two stacks of semi-circular tracks that are joined by a pivot joint in their center layer(Odd) or between their two center layers(even), and that all visible pieces have tabs that ride in these tracks?

dhrm77 · **Joined:** Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:44 pm

Isn't this 2-layer star equivalent to a UFO?
Except that a UFO doesn't have a center piece to align, and therefore is probably easier to turn...
Of course the color scheme can change everything.

Alex · **Joined:** Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:36 am **Location:** Europe

dhrm77 wrote:

Isn't this 2-layer star equivalent to a UFO?
Except that a UFO doesn't have a center piece to align, and therefore is probably easier to turn...

I never had an UFO but in the pictures it looks similar. It also reminds me of the pucks. The turning part is probably true, it takes a while to get used to aligning super square-1. It turns nicely though, you just have to apply some silicone and make sure you grip all the outer pieces when turning the core.

Danny Devitt · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 2:35 am

Except for the center piece, yes, this is equivalent to a UFO.

Vadim · **Posted:** Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:45 pm

I love the star!
Great job Alex!
Vadim

Alex · **Joined:** Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:36 am **Location:** Europe

Thanks

Sigurd · **Posted:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:58 am

finally the mystery of the 2 layer Sq1 is solved! This is GREAT!!

I (along with most of you) wonder how Anthoney made his back in the day. btw was his FULLY functional?

sokoban · **Posted:** Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:14 am

I still believe 2-layer SQ-1 is not possible. With the center pieces invisible, it is pretty hard to get the outer pieces align.

Anthoney's not fully functional.

Quote:

Not all of the pieces can twist - four of the pieces on one layer are permanently bonded, but it's still a fun puzzle.

2-layer Star (from 4-layer Square 1)

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