This project started with a Java applet I wrote to try out different two-coloured sticker patterns for a Skewb. I liked this pattern best aesthetically and it gives quite a difficult puzzle. Some patterns were harder though not so appealing.

It reminded me of a Battenberg Cake so I thought of extending the cube thus (since then I have become aware of a puzzle called the X-Block so I cannot claim originality for the shape):

I mocked up these cardboard pieces...

...and stuck them over the skewb stickers - which I would later be removing.

I was quite excited about continuing but was unsure how to do the build. In the end I bought a sheet of Glass Reinforced Plastic from a model shop, some spray paint and planned to use a tube of super glue gel.

The material was easy to work but there were 52 pieces to be cut. Here's one of them.

To help get the different chamfers correct I used this guide -

Checking in situ.

Here's a partly finished end piece. I chamfered only the equilateral triangles which saved a lot of time.

Now to attach the pieces to my Skewb
I glued the four edge pieces on first after peeling the stickers and cleaning with white spirit.
I centred the end piece by using four pieces of thin card as spacers in the gaps and glued it on.
Rearranging the puzzle I glued the other end between the first four edge pieces.
Rearranging once more the four remaining edge pieces were glued on.

Presently I am awaiting some vinyl stickers, so have tested the puzzle with stickers as shown below. Some filing was required where pieces were slightly misaligned (due to the SuperGlue sometimes grabbing too quickly)

I have opted for "Uncut sheets of self adhesive 5-7yr vehicle grade vinyl, available in various sizes, and all colours !"

Here are the final pictures:




YouTube Video


This puzzle solves in a similar way to the Skewb Ultimate but in addition:

• the top four edges can be in the correct location (as distinct from orientation) while the bottom four are not. This is not possible on an Ultimate.
• the diamond faces can be 90deg out of phase which cannot occur on an Ultimate. This requires a better than normal understanding of the sequences that move faces.
• an odd number of faces can be 180deg out of phase - this is not possible on an Ultimate but is quite easily solved using conjugation.
• the shape changes can hinder your concentration.