Stainless Steel Rubik's Cube
owl writes:
http://lulabs.net/machining/ss-cube/
I wasn't entirely satisfied with the aluminum cube, so after thinking about the design for a while, I decided to make another one out of stainless steel. Just for fun, I thought I would make all the pieces using only manual machines. How hard could it be?
As it turns out, it was quite a bit of type 2 fun. It sure was slow and repetitive work, but I'm pleased with the result. I was motivated to think about ways to be more efficient, like machining multiple pieces at once and using looser tolerances where allowable. The slow pace also allowed me to consider details of the design while making parts. I have never been a fan of taking things slowly, but this could be a good argument for it.
[...] The final result is one incredibly heavy solid stainless Rubik's cube. Although it may be neat to look at, it weighs a massive three pounds (~1.4 kg) and is very tiring to manipulate. Solving this is more a test of the wrists than of the mind!
Between the relief grooves, the contours under the face centers, and the closer tolerances, this cube is much neater and smoother than the aluminum one. All the corner and edge pieces fit snugly without significant play. That does mean the faces must be better aligned to turn, but nobody would try speed cubing with this anyway.
Are any of our community into this kind of heavy metal construction at home? If you are, please tell us about it.
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