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My first thought was: how the heck could you assemble a metal cube? Putting a plastic one together relies on the springiness of the material in order to place
by lisper 5y ago
My first thought was: how the heck could you assemble a metal cube? Putting a plastic one together relies on the springiness of the material in order to place the final piece, but metal won't give in the same way. The solution:
> The face centers each receive a hollow stem that screws into the 5/16-24 thread. This assembly holds a captive spring-loaded screw, which screws into the core. The spring provides some give to the entire unit and allows the cube to be assembled and disassembled easily by snapping pieces in.
Brilliant!
- globular-toast 5y agoI had the same thought but just tested with a fairly standard "premium" plastic cube (not Rubick's brand) and I think it works in the same way. There are springs and that allows assembly/disassembly and I think it would work with a less flexible material. Not sure if the Rubick's brand ones are the same or if they really do rely on flexible plastic.
- HmOh6WbJ 5y agoRubik's
- scoopertrooper 5y agoCube
- Doxin 5y agoThe original Rubiks brand cubes would rely on the springiness in the plastic. These tended to be rather hard to turn with even the slightest misalignment. Copy cats invented the improved mechanism. These will turn with a misalignment up to something silly like 40 degrees. Rubiks copied this mechanism for their own cubes eventually. Long story short, a random chinese Rubiks cube knockoff is quite likely to be higher quality than an actual Rubiks brand cube these days.
- gaudat 5y agoConversely this is a cube that can't be cheated by smashing it into pieges like those plastic ones.