3D Printed Puzzle Cubes

Description

I solved my first Rubik’s cube in 6th grade. It was my dad’s ancient cube that required strength to turn, but it worked! I regret to say I did not figure out how to solve it on my own. I watched a YouTube tutorial. But, over the years I got more kinds of cubes, and I always tried to get as far as I could on my own before resorting to tutorials. I got into speed-solving with some of my friends, and I reached a PR of 29 seconds. At my prime, I averaged about 35 seconds. This was done with a speedcube, not my dad’s old cube. I was never able to attend an actual competition, but a couple of my friends did, and maybe I still will someday!

I started 3D printing when I took an after school class in 4th grade. I was using TinkerCAD then, but I loved designing enough that two years later, my parents got me a LulzBot mini 3D printer. The only condition was that I had to learn a professional grade CAD software to use for designing. I chose Autodesk Fusion 360, and I started learning with gear systems and other small projects, but I wanted a real challenge. This is when I realized I could blend two of my hobbies at the time: 3D printing and Rubik’s Cubes!

I took apart my dad’s old Rubik’s Cube, which had the simplest mechanism out of all of my cubes. I learned how it worked, and I started recreating the geometry in Fusion 360. I printed multiple prototypes and redesigned as I learned new things. Eventually, I had a fully functioning cube in my hands. The challenge I had set for myself was to make the cube completely 3D printed. That meant no screws, nuts, or bolts. I ended up using some superglue, but I otherwise stuck to that challenge. After it was completed, I bought some stickers to finalize the cube. I still have it sitting on a shelf in my room next to my bed.

Over the course of the project, I learned to use an iterative design process, I gained experience using Fusion 360, and I learned to efficiently operate my 3D printer. This was my first major 3D engineering project, so I am very proud of this cool creation.