Hi everyone!

This is my first hybrid puzzle, it combines Pentultimate and Megaminx cuts.

The Pentulminx is made of 337 pieces and 38 screws. It measures 85mm from opposite faces, the edge lenght is 37 mm for a weight of 319g.

On the first version I made, one kind of pieces was very fragile, and I broke some of them after few minutes of turning. I made a new version of those pieces that are stronger and gives a better turning to the Megaminx layer.

However, I believe this puzzle doesn't reach the quality I need to sell it, the Megaminx turns needs a precise alignement, and forcing a misaligned layer could bend or break inner pieces.
I have some ideas to improve this puzzle, and one of them requires to make it slightly bigger.

This prototype already cost me a lot of money, a bigger version will be even more expensive, and for now, I can't afford a new prototype. So, there will be a new version but I don't know when.

You can see the video here.

This looks absolutely amazing!

WOW! This was certainly unexpected!
Congratulations, this puzzle has been in the minds of many people for years.
From the video, the turning doesn't seem too bad for a first prototype. Out of curiosity, what mechanism did you go with?

This is incredible! Looks amazing

Damn Raph' you're doing great ! I'm a bit sad that I'm not the one who gets to finish my Pentultimate + Turn series after the Helimate and Dinomate (I was hoping the name would be Megamate ), but I'm glad someone made it

Congrats on a really cool puzzle

I've been asking designers to try to make this puzzle for years! It's one of my favorites from Gelatinbrain (1.1.8). Are you willing to share a bit about your mechanism design choices that made the puzzle possible?

Coded this puzzle on PCubes. Download the code here, or wait for the next version to come with it.

Pictures:

Amazing! ^^

tier4fusion wrote:This looks absolutely amazing! terrifying

Fixed that for you!!

Wow, great work leRafs - I love it!

I'm reading your post, including the "doesn't turn very well" part. Then I watched the video.
I've seen mass-produced puzzles turn worse than this. For a prototype and 3D-printed puzzle I'd say the turning is pretty good. Of course it isn't as perfect as your other puzzles, but it's definitely not bad imho.

You're really on a roll with these, Raphaël. Really great looking puzzle. And I agree with the rest, amazing and terrifying.

Greetz,
Quuador

Grégoire Pfennig wrote:Damn Raph' you're doing great ! I'm a bit sad that I'm not the one who gets to finish my Pentultimate + Turn series after the Helimate and Dinomate (I was hoping the name would be Megamate ), but I'm glad someone made it

Congrats on a really cool puzzle

You could just go straight for a pentultimate+chopasaurus

This is gorgeous and I want it now!!

Awesome!!

First, thank you all for your nice comments

benpuzzles wrote:what mechanism did you go with?

Brandon Enright wrote:Are you willing to share a bit about your mechanism design choices that made the puzzle possible?

I've planned to reveal the inner mechanism once I will get the final version, but the trick is not so complicated, I have already saw much more complex puzzles.

Grégoire Pfennig wrote:I was hoping the name would be Megamate

This was the name I was thinking about too at first, but since Tony Fisher called Gigamate his fused Gigaminxes, Megamate seems more related to fused Megaminx for me.

Skallos wrote:Coded this puzzle on PCubes.

Thanks Skallos, you're fast, that's impressive! I have a question about PCubes, there is a way to change the color scheme of the puzzles?

benpuzzles wrote:the turning doesn't seem too bad for a first prototype.

Quuador wrote:I've seen mass-produced puzzles turn worse than this. For a prototype and 3D-printed puzzle I'd say the turning is pretty good.

The puzzle remained wise on the video, I was lucky on this first shot, but believe me, sometimes the turning can be tricky, plus, in half-turn the half-edges of the outer Megaminx can pop out.

tier4fusion wrote:This looks absolutely amazing!

Nothing to add here. Well, it sort of looks confusing as well...

leRAFs wrote:

Skallos wrote:Coded this puzzle on PCubes.

Thanks Skallos, you're fast, that's impressive! I have a question about PCubes, there is a way to change the color scheme of the puzzles?

It's not that difficult if there are previous puzzles to base on.
As for the question, the default color scheme is what is shown, but an alternate scheme is available for Dodecahedral puzzles to make them be colored similar to how mass-produced Dodecahedrons are.

How many different puzzles can one fall in love with within a day? Raphaël, that is stunning. Congratulations!

Brilliant, simply brilliant! Just wondering, are there any unexpected moves?




Pantazis

Hard to decide what I like more: The puzzle or the extensive posting.
Both are excellent. Thank you.

WOW!!! I cannot believe I nearly missed this. Great job. I too would be curious to see the mechanism.

Carl

Since Raf didn't post his secret I developed my version of this mechanism and wanted to check the forum's opinion if it will really work. It uses only 6 screws and clips for the outer Megaminx
pentultimate core, red clips rotate
The yellow connector pieces are here to solve the famous reoccurring conundrum of this puzzle - "how to keep the corners from falling"
Megaminx centers click in place
megaminx edges split in 4
Outside look
megaminx face - isolated view from the inside

jiroscop wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:22 am Since Raf didn't post his secret I developed my version of this mechanism and wanted to check the forum's opinion if it will really work. It uses only 6 screws and clips for the outer Megaminx

Really interesting work!

Nice puzzle idea, great mechanism. Thank you for sharing this.

jiroscop wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:22 amSince Raf didn't post his secret I developed my version of this mechanism and wanted to check the forum's opinion if it will really work. It uses only 6 screws and clips for the outer Megaminx

Very interesting design. Not certain I fully understand the 6 screw comment. I think each of the red parts is held down with a screw and there are 12 of those, correct? But over all, the design looks very promising. I don't see any reasons to think it shouldn't work.

Carl

wwwmwww wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 11:08 am

jiroscop wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 9:22 amSince Raf didn't post his secret I developed my version of this mechanism and wanted to check the forum's opinion if it will really work. It uses only 6 screws and clips for the outer Megaminx

Very interesting design. Not certain I fully understand the 6 screw comment. I think each of the red parts is held down with a screw and there are 12 of those, correct? But over all, the design looks very promising. I don't see any reasons to think it shouldn't work.

Carl

I forgot to put a cross section of this 3 part assembly. Im actually curious what people think. No screws for the red parts. The holes are for a screwdriver to access the screws in the most inner shell of the Pentultimate. The holes on the grey parts are to be able to undo the clips and remove the grey parts

jiroscop wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 11:42 amI forgot to put a cross section of this 3 part assembly. Im actually curious what people think. No screws for the red parts. The holes are for a screwdriver to access the screws in the most inner shell of the Pentultimate. The holes on the grey parts are to be able to undo the clips and remove the grey parts

Two comments,
(1) Can the gray part rotate freely on the red part? Can the red part rotate freely on the blue part? If the answer is "yes" to both, couldn't the red and blue parts be merged into a single part?
(2) In your cross sections, the foot of the blue part appears connected with a very thin connection on the left side. This could be a weak point.

Carl

1. Yes, they can be 1 part. I just over engineered it to make sure it rotates easier. But you are correct, less parts - cheaper print.
2. Yes, I also noticed this right after I posted the cross section. So maybe I will go with fused red and blue

Unrelated - here is a picture showing the beauty of shells. The stack of 3 corners, linked with grey parts shows that my Pentulminx have 5 shells

Whoa!!! This puzzle combines two of my favorite mechanisms into one. I want one!!!