The Half-truncated Cube-My First Mod!

The half-truncated cube is exactly what its name says: an ordinary cube with half of its corners chopped off. This mod turns an ordinary Rubik's cube into a puzzle even more fun and cool-looking!

I'm new to the modding scene and wanted to start with something easy, so the half-truncated cube is a great start. Another one to start with would be a hexagonal dipyramid-something I'm currently working on (and it will be on here when it's done!)

I started by peeling the stickers off of an old cube and marking where the cuts needed to be made. I tried to keep the puzzle aligned with some sturdy rubber bands on each side, which worked until I had made a couple cuts. After finishing this project, I feel that for this particular mod it may have been better to mark each individual piece where to be cut, since they are all the same (corners and edges). I figure that by doing this it would be easier to make sure each piece is almost exactly the same. Sanding away at each corner of the whole cube allowed for small movements out of place to affect for the pieces line up. It didn't end up being a big deal, but for better quality work in the future I will try this method.

After all the shaping of the puzzle, my next step was to tidy up the rough edges created by my Dremel. With some 100 grit sandpaper, I made sure all the edges were flat and ready to be filled. I filled the pieces with JBweld KwikPlastic putty, pretty expensive stuff I think for what you get, but I could not find Milliput or Apoxie Sculpt around here and wanted to get started. I plan on trying some plastic prototyping compound but I have yet to see how it sands down and reacts to the working that would have to be done to it. After being filled and allowed to set, much more sanding was needed to make all the surfaces as smooth as possible before painting.

I cleaned all the pieces with soap and water and then with a little paint thinner before painting. I used Krylon Fusion for plastic, a good quality spray paint that turned out well. I used stickers from Cubesmith, because quite frankly I was too lazy to cut them myself, and the lubricated it with Maru lube. And the end result:

I am very happy with it, and it turned out about as well as I could have expected for my first project! up next: 3x3 hexagonal dipyramid!

Until next time...

Online Puzzle Stores

The internet is a beautiful thing, isn't it? What makes it even more beautiful is that people like me, can order PUZZLES with it! Awesome!

There are a number of websites that sell twisty puzzles. Most of these companies are based out of China, and they all vary greatly. I want to discuss the main stores that I use and recommend.

HKnowstore

This store is the main one that I shop from. The sales manager, Calvin Fan, is a very professional young man who cares about his customers. I have not yet had a bad experience with them. They are located in China, however their shipping (free!) never takes very long, for me in Canada, it has never been more than two weeks. Other Chinese stores have taken much longer to ship!

HKnowstore carries a wide variety of puzzles, however they do not encourage the sale of Knock Off puzzles and do not carry them. Regardless, they are usually in stock with their items and have reasonable prices for what you're getting. They also have their own brand of puzzles (called Calvin's Puzzles) which are very high quality, and excellent cubes. Payment is also through Paypal, which should make everyone happy.

51morefun

I have bought from this store a few times, and have not yet had a bad experience. Supposedly, a year or two ago their quality of service was not very good, but recently they have became much more reputable among the community. There are several shipping options, namely UPS, DHL or Air Mail. The items I have ordered from here have always taken quite a while, almost a month, however arrived in good condition. They also carry a variety of puzzles, as well as KOs, i.e Shengshou puzzles. They have reasonable prices and a great variety of products.

 Witeden

Witeden is a another shop I have bought from a few times before.  To me, it seems very similar to Hknowstore, and even their logo looks similar...hmm. To my knowledge, Witeden also does not carry KO puzzles, however still has a large assortment available. They also make their own puzzles, and have many unique designs that vary greatly from one to the next. At first glance, they come across as having slightly cheaper prices than say HKnowstore, however Witeden charges for shipping, and after that charge the price is almost identical to that of other stores. Over all however, Witeden is another good store to buy twisty puzzles from, and their shipping times are between that of HKnowstore and 51morefun in my experience.

In a future post I will discuss some of the other stores that are out there, as well as sites that specialize in the sale of a specific product. Until then, I always update the links at the bottom of the page under 'Puzzle Stores'.

Until next time...