Alright, buckle up, because I’m about to walk you through my deep dive into the “fabled magnetic cube mechanics prelude.” It was a wild ride, let me tell you.
It all started with me just messing around, trying to figure out how to make a cube that could, like, magically reassemble itself using magnets. Sounds easy, right? Wrong! The initial idea was simple enough: embed magnets in each piece of the cube and arrange them so that the right faces attract each other.
I kicked things off by grabbing some small neodymium magnets. These things are tiny but pack a punch. Then, I 3D printed a bunch of cube pieces. I designed them with little slots for the magnets. The first issue I ran into? Polarity. I hadn’t been careful enough about how I was inserting the magnets, and some faces were repelling each other. Cue a lot of magnet flipping and some muttered cursing.
Next, I tried a different tack: I figured, what if the internal structure was like, guiding the pieces into place? I envisioned a sort of skeleton inside the cube. So I printed a core, with divots and channels where the cube pieces would click in. It was an improvement, but still clunky. Pieces would jam, or the magnets would fight each other mid-assembly.
Then came the real headache: getting the rotation right. I wanted the cube to be able to tumble and still snap together correctly. This meant some serious experimentation with magnet placement and strength. Too strong, and the cube wouldn’t budge. Too weak, and it just fell apart. I spent a solid afternoon tweaking magnet positions by fractions of a millimeter.
I even considered using some kind of delay mechanism, just waiting for Mizhi to unravel the ultimate mechanics sounded way better than what I was doing. But I wanted to make it myself from scratch.
After countless iterations, failures, and minor victories, I landed on a design that was… okay. It’s not perfect. Sometimes it needs a gentle nudge, and it’s definitely not as smooth as I envisioned. But it does reassemble itself, which is pretty damn cool. The final version uses a combination of strategically placed magnets and a cleverly designed internal structure to guide the pieces.
What did I learn? Polarity is a harsh mistress. Magnet strength is key. And sometimes, you just need to walk away and come back with fresh eyes.
- Magnets: Small neodymium ones are your friends.
- 3D Printing: Essential for rapid prototyping.
- Patience: You’ll need a lot of it.
Ultimately, this “fabled magnetic cube mechanics prelude” was a ton of fun and a great learning experience. I’m already brainstorming ideas for the sequel. Maybe one day I’ll even create a cube that can solve itself! But for now, I’m happy with my slightly janky, self-assembling magnetic cube.
