Matt, our coach, designed the new 3d pices and when they were ready to be used, the group ran into some problems. There was a lot of sanding that needed to take place, we used both the dremel and sandpaper to shave down some of the plastic so when put together the two piece would slide. 

The Puzzle Cube group ended up with two different puzzle cubes. Both Owen and Walker designed their own puzzle cubes. There were major changes to the final projects compared to the original idea. There was no longer going to be a mechanism and there would only be one cube/box instead of eight that were able to turn. Both puzzles incorporated a marble that had a starting and ending point. Inside the box there were obstacles that would prevent the marble from getting to its exit. Both puzzles were made up of over 100 laser cut pieces and Walker's incorporated gears. These cube were made out of acrylic making it easier for people to solve. 

The group has done a lot of experiments that mostly revolve around the mechanism. But now it was time to rethink of a way to use three axis; one idea was to make a magnet. But in the end, mostly because of the time limit on the project, the boys decided on having the cubes rotate on one axis with different types of puzzles. 

There are many parts to the Puzzle Cube, a lot of what the group was doing was experimenting with smaller dimentions so eventually the cube could be scaled to size.

Owen started off by designing 3d pieces that would be located in between two cubes that would be designed later. These pieces were designed on Sketch up and printed by the MakerBot. To make duplicates of these 3d pieces, Owen and I experimented and poured a cast into the mold that was made out of silicon. These pieces failed because they didn't fit together proberly and move how we wanted them to. 

 Another part to the puzzle was making 8 small cubes that were 1.25in; we cut these out of compressed wood. There were no problems with putting these together, everything was aligned correctly. The group was slowed down because the laser cutter did not cut through the wood the first time and it did take a long time to cut. These smaller cubes were used as an experiment to see if the mechinism would work, this part of the project failed. 

A bigger cube that was designed was 4in cubed. Inside the cube were 3 intersecting planes that run along each axis with holes placed in them to allow marbles to pass through them. The holes were placed such that there are paths which the marble can take. In the end there are going to be 8 big cubs that can rotate around a center point. 

Owen and Walker's Puzzle Box

What’s more fun that playing with toys? Inventing toys!

After tweaking and tinkering, we finally made something presentable. We created a working trigger and put it inside of the gun, which was make from laser cut sheets of plywood. The final product looked and worked very similarly to a crossbow, with a T-shaped piece of wood at the front of the gun running perpendicularly to the rest. In place of a rubber band, we used super-durable vulcanized rubber surgical tubing, cutting it down to appropriate sizing. Two pieces of electrical tape were placed in the middle of the piece of rubber, indicating where the plane was to be fired from. Luckily for us, the Stratos Glider came with a hook to allow it to be shot from a rubber band, so we did not have to change that design at all. The launcher was, at this point, practically finished.

We went out in the hallway to test our masterpiece and quickly noticed a couple things that needed to be changed. The electrical tape was off-center, causing the plane to be fired in inconsistent directions. A piece of the trigger was sticking out too much, and the plane's wing would collide with it every time. These problems, thankfully were easily fixed, and we had a working launcher by the final day of the Toy Studio. I'm really proud of Brian, Eli and Javier for working hard and producing a very cool toy. 

The first proto type was made out of acrylic and it had many flaws. The second prototype was made out of wood and it had slits so the box would fit together nicely. The hole for the marble was slightly bigger and it was put together with a screw and nuts. Some improvments that could be made on this protype would be making the top and bottom surface not have hole so the screw would not go all the way through. 

After tweaking and tinkering, we finally made something presentable. We created a working trigger and put it inside of the gun, which was make from laser cut sheets of plywood. The final product looked and worked very similarly to a crossbow, with a T-shaped piece of wood at the front of the gun running perpendicularly to the rest. In place of a rubber band, we used super-durable vulcanized rubber surgical tubing, cutting it down to appropriate sizing. Two pieces of electrical tape were placed in the middle of the piece of rubber, indicating where the plane was to be fired from. Luckily for us, the Stratos Glider came with a hook to allow it to be shot from a rubber band, so we did not have to change that design at all. The launcher was, at this point, practically finished.

We went out in the hallway to test our masterpiece and quickly noticed a couple things that needed to be changed. The electrical tape was off-center, causing the plane to be fired in inconsistent directions. A piece of the trigger was sticking out too much, and the plane's wing would collide with it every time. These problems, thankfully were easily fixed, and we had a working launcher by the final day of the Toy Studio. I'm really proud of Brian, Eli and Javier for working hard and producing a very cool toy.