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I'm a Freelance Speedcube Designer. AMA

Sion

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As title suggests. I'm sure much of this community (or at least a good portion of it) knows about me designing a cube called the Tempest 3v1. I Have over a year of experience designing 3x3s, and I can confidently say I have learned a significant amount of skills pertaining to it. That said, I can't answer certain questions, which I'll let you know when asked, since I might not cover all bases if I attempt to list them.

AMA!
 

Sion

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Hi

As you can create cube designs, what about the possibility to make avaiable simulators for the community?

Also, could you post your designs?


I can't exactly make simulators; CAD and Coding are rather different from eachother (except if you're talking about scad, but I don't use that one.) I mostly just focus on the actual design/engineering aspects of the cube than the actual software.

While I would love to post my designs, I'm planning on mass producing many of them eventually, and therefore can't be disclosed at this time. I really do wish I can give a detailed and also non-compromising answer (trust me, it is quite painful saying I can't give an in-depth answer when you want to.) I'll give something about it though: the most recent prototype is stable without magnets.

However, I do have ways I like to share my expertise (such as commissions, which more often or not I will do for free because It's something I'm just *that* passionate about.) So if you do have some ideas or want to push my limits, let me know! My skills have improved significantly since my last 3x3 comission.
 

Sion

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Have you ever tried designing a mega minx? A lot of the 3x3 design skills would transfer I’d think.

Actually, I haven't! I've designed everything other than Skewb, Mega, and Clock (I want to do clock; It'll just be different since it isn't designed like other twisty puzzles.)


I might design a megaminx in between homework and comissions, now that you bring it up!

Actually, for most Nxns, your skills transfer from cube to cube. 3x3 is the easiest to design however, by far. Aside of being the most popular event, I'm guessing the simplicty of designing one is why so many designers push their designing limits when it comes to that event, as you can do more and not worry about massive and expensive failures. (For me, a library print or Higher quality $300 prototype versus something that could cost me over a thousand dollars easily.)
 

OreKehStrah

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Actually, I haven't! I've designed everything other than Skewb, Mega, and Clock (I want to do clock; It'll just be different since it isn't designed like other twisty puzzles.)


I might design a megaminx in between homework and comissions, now that you bring it up!

Actually, for most Nxns, your skills transfer from cube to cube. 3x3 is the easiest to design however, by far. Aside of being the most popular event, I'm guessing the simplicty of designing one is why so many designers push their designing limits when it comes to that event, as you can do more and not worry about massive and expensive failures. (For me, a library print or Higher quality $300 prototype versus something that could cost me over a thousand dollars easily.)
Awesome! If you’re interested we should talk about some potential clock ideas I had a little while back. I actually asked Chris Tran about some of them and he thought they would be good but too expensive for thecubicle to produce.
 

OreKehStrah

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Would you get a big company to produce it or make it urself?
I have no way of producing it myself, but I’m willing to put the ideas out into the world and hopefully just help advance the hardware. Mainly I only have 1-2 hardware improvement ideas and a few minor quality of life adjustments to clock design such as rounding the edge of the chasis so it’s more comfortable to hold
 

OreKehStrah

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I’m just gonna throw out some ideas for clock here and you guys can tell me what you guys think.
So like I said earlier, rounding the edges of the chasis will make holding the clock a bit more comfortable, especially during long sessions. The next thing would be rounding the edges of each of the “clockies” so they have a smoother turning surface.
This next idea is the most impactful in my opinion. Idk if any of you guys have seen any really nice game controllers, but for the analogue sticks they use a really high quality anti friction ring, so I was think it would be really good to add anti friction rings to where each clockie makes contact with the frame to allow smoother turning. Chris Tran said he thought this would be a good idea, but only cost effective if a arte company implemented it.
 

kadabrium

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Is there some particular type of 2x2 core that tends to compromise to lesser extent corner cutting of the fixed side? This is something i have never seen eg. reviewers talk about. Some 2x2s i have experience with have only 1/2 as much CC range on the fixed side compared to the mobile side, but on some others it can reach near equal
 

Sion

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What would you call it/them? Do you think it would be a sub-brand like x-man is a sub brand of Qiyi? Sorry about all the questions, just think its great that people are designing new ideas!

Can’t disclose anything other than planning on the sub-brand being called Tempest.
 

Sion

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Dec 13, 2015
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Location
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Is there some particular type of 2x2 core that tends to compromise to lesser extent corner cutting of the fixed side? This is something i have never seen eg. reviewers talk about. Some 2x2s i have experience with have only 1/2 as much CC range on the fixed side compared to the mobile side, but on some others it can reach near equal

it’s less to do with the core and more to do with the alignment mechanism being used.I’m a big fan of the ones in earlier 2x2s like thewittwo v1 and zhanchi 2x2, since they allowed the edges to move afair amount without severely compromising the overall performance. the only major downside is that they were prone to getting dislodged

That said, I’m not too big a fan of specially designed centers that interlock with each other, though it is an effective alignment regardless.

the most interesting I’ve seen was the chuwen, which used a corner as an alignment and have that stick into a few edges to immobilize them.

I designed my own alignment for my 2x2 which I hope works as well as I intend it to.
 

Zain_A24

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How many prototypes does it take to get to the final product. Is there a way of telling a puzzle will be good at corner cutting or performance based on the design itself? Do you create the moulds for the part to be injection moulded or do you just produce the solid single-piece edges/corners to be sent off. Thanks
 
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