I’ve printed up pieces uploaded this morning to Thingiverse, tried them together, broke two pieces, modified them, printed, and fit some together. I’ve just modified the STL for what I hope is the last time. However, I have the barbell fit snugly into the center cube. It rotates relatively freely and does not want to pop out. (Of course, I’m sure it could/would if I applied enough force). This leaves the outside cubes. I modified the semicircular tabs a little and will reprint them later.
The only problem is that it takes about 40 minutes for my machine to print up two cube parts and a barbell, since they’re so solid.
The important thing is that I’ve just been able to print up and assemble the crucial mechanisms for this puzzle. I think the next iteration may be what I needed.
This version incorporates the prior improvements as well as designing a connector system inspired by R3bbeca‘s beco block connectors.
This has enabled a totally printable toy. This just makes me happy. 1 The idea that I can crank out a set of these parts, clean them up a little, and just snap the toy together is just amazing.
TomZ‘s original 1x2x3 “friendlier” Rubik’s cube designs were also totally printable – but required a printed pin that was later glued in place. I like the ideal of all printed parts – but strongly prefer a design that can later be disassembled easily. And, as I mentioned above – the ability to hand assemble the toy is important to me.
I wasn’t able to recreate R3bbeca’s female connector designs2 so I made a simplified version that should suffice.
The simplified connection mechanism is essentially two plastic fingers that will (hopefully) pinch the barbell into place. This was made by designing the outline of the gripping “fingers,” creating a horizontal cylindrical hole slightly larger than the intended end of the barbell, then creating a vertical cylindrical hole in the center for the barbell to be inserted through, then a bit of cleanup.
The biggest potential problem is that this design will require a carefully tuned ‘bot. The center cube pieces have a lot of stuff packed in there – semi-circular slots for the semi-circular tabs, connectors for the barbell, and thin walls separating things. With those thin walls and interior overhangs, this may be a difficult design to print.
I think Bender is up to the task, but we’ll see in a few hours. :) I can’t wait to print this!
For me, having a MakerBot is like waking up to Christmas every morning.
