Print in place 1x2x3 Rubik's cube

thingiverse

I've always been passionate about Rubik's cubes, but my collection is relatively modest, having spent my hard-earned cash on an old 3D printer instead of more puzzles. After countless hours and a lot of trial and error, I finally succeeded in creating my very first successful twisty puzzle. One of the key factors I was looking for when designing it was simplicity. Gluing things together, dealing with numerous pieces to print or needing extra hardware is something that holds me back from printing many things on Thingiverse, so I aimed to create a design that printed in a single piece and didn't require any additional work or components to function. I'm quite pleased with the final result and haven't seen anyone create one exactly like it. It prints with its largest side facing down on the build plate, ensuring that no pieces overlap during printing. Edit: I've now included a version with a larger gap between pieces. This should be easier for many 3D printers to handle, although it will result in a looser-fitting puzzle. If you can get the original design to work, I'd recommend sticking with it. Update 2: I Stickered my old puzzle and absolutely love it! Print Settings Printer Brand: MakerBot Printer: Thing-O-Matic Resolution: .3mm Infill: 20% Notes: While these settings worked great on my printer, which is a very "special" device in that it doesn't always function perfectly, various factors (such as your printer's precision and other variables) might require adjustments. Try it out and let me know what you find. Post-Printing It may be a bit stiff at first if some of the inner pieces fuse together slightly during printing. Simply pick it up and turn it, trying different ways to move the pieces around. You'll need to add a coloring system for it to be solvable. Stickers would work fine, but I opted for printing it yellow and using Sharpies instead. They soak into the plastic so they won't wear away quickly, and if they do, I can always add more. How I Designed This I relied heavily on trial and error, having printed at least 10 different renditions of this design. Some worked better than previous attempts, while others failed miserably. I designed them in Solidworks, so if anyone is interested in the files, I'd be happy to share.