iTopSpin

I think with a few more improvements and some publicity from the spinning top and puzzle communities I can start talking to some companies.

Sure, after I repair it I will post pictures and video. It will probably have to wait until the weekend.
I saw that Zenith installed a regular metal tip on it. I might print a standard-looking tip-piece in ABS, but I will have to be very careful not to break it. Unfortunately, if I used a flexible filament material the friction between pieces would be detrimental to the puzzle movements.

Hola interesa,podrías ponerte en contacto con migo me interesaría poder hacer algo creo tener algunas buenas opciones e ideas saludos

ta0 wrote: Sure, after I repair it I will post pictures and video. It will probably have to wait until the weekend.
I saw that Zenith installed a regular metal tip on it. I might print a standard-looking tip-piece in ABS, but I will have to be very careful not to break it. Unfortunately, if I used a flexible filament material the friction between pieces would be detrimental to the puzzle movements.

Indeed, with Zenith I have been trying to improve the prototype, the last thing I did was to modify a corner so he could add that metal piece at the tip.

CUPER wrote: Hola interesa,podrías ponerte en contacto con migo me interesaría poder hacer algo creo tener algunas buenas opciones e ideas saludos

Claro, no hay problema, envíame un correo a este e mail: sidgman1996@hotmail.com

On the difficulty of the puzzle, I just realized that as the tip and crown (two "corners") can be rotated without change, this would make it easier to solve.
On the other hand the 3 smallest edges are not symmetric but almost: one side is taller than the other. So it would be difficult to tell which side is which until they are in place and one can check if they are flash with the surface or not. This could make it more difficult to solve in practice.

ta0 wrote: On the difficulty of the puzzle, I just realized that as the tip and crown (two "corners") can be rotated without change, this would make it easier to solve.
On the other hand the 3 smallest edges are not symmetric but almost: one side is taller than the other. So it would be difficult to tell which side is which until they are in place and one can check if they are flash with the surface or not. This could make it more difficult to solve in practice.

When I started solving 3x3x3 modifications I had trouble understanding those corners without orientation, as they are common in several modifications.

Regarding the symmetry of some pieces, it is possible that it is a design error, Zenith also commented it to me, even so, I can't see it in my gray version.

I finished printing the parts and tried to boomerang it. Because I haven't got the springs yet, the centers are somewhat lose (so I can assemble it). Because of this the pieces shift easily what makes the top unbalance. I got it to my hand on my first 3 times attempts, but each time it was vibrating too much and I dropped it. And on the last time it exploded! One leg of the core broke off as well as the tabs on three pieces. So I'm printing those pieces again. The core will be ABS this time. And I'm getting those springs.

I have video of the attempts, including the explosion, but it's not worth posting. I should have first recorded a puzzle solve. I'll do that when it's working again

In many jigsaw puzzles springs are important, they allow stability. As this is a spinning top, they are even more necessary, so that the pieces are not loose. I'm sorry that you broke some pieces, I guess that printing in ABS or PETG will be much better for this spinning top cube.

I can't wait for that recording anymore !!

I'll keep trying to improve the design.

Best regards my friend!

You surely meant to write "twisty puzzles" when you wrote "jigsaw puzzles".

Yesterday I finished printing the broken pieces. I made the core out of semi-flex (98 hardness) filament, as that would never break. I also used it, as an experiment, for one of the center pieces (it's cap is still PETG). I still do not have springs but with the slightly flex core there might be enough play for it to work well.



As you can see, the top is in three colors, slightly spiraling counterclockwise going down (with the same pieces it could be assembled spiraling in the opposite direction). The tip and cap are white.

I decided to first try it as a puzzle before risking it as a top. Even though it's topologically equivalent to a Rubik's cube (except for 3 centers not being rotational symmetrical and two corners being so), I find it much more difficult. It's very confusing and I still have to wrap my head around it. I cannot yet follow mentally the pieces and even completing a "face" I find challenging. But it's an appealing challenge, so it's a great puzzle.

On the left there is the solved configuration and on the right two views of one achieved with a few moves:



As you can see 3 pieces ("centers") on the top switched places, moving counterclockwise (the same happened with the 3 centers on the bottom.) The yellow one remained oriented the same way with respect to the top axle, but the other two spun around and because of their weird shapes the top now has two horns, even if all the pieces are in the correct positions (not counting colors).

With a few more moves, I got this animal-looking configuration:



I found myself giving different configurations different names based on their shape.

Looks great!!!
Regarding the springs:These days the trend in modern 3x3x3 cubes is not to use springs at all. Instead they use two ring magnets in opposing orientation in each center piece.
But I do not know if they could be incorporated in that design you have there.

Well done ta0! You found the solution all by yourself again?

Amazing

Ah ta0, maybe you did not solve the puzzle at all ! Maybe you just played a prank on us!How can you prove that you did not just film a video of yourself scrambling it and then posted the reverse version of that video???

I admit that I did just that once with a 5x5x5 cube. I wanted to impress my brother in law by solving the 5x5x5 cube while blindfolded, in less then 5 minutes. That was more then 10 years ago. By now there really are people that can memorize a fully scrambled 5x5x5 and then solve it in less time then I pretended to do it - blindfolded!