Radiolarian 14 – The Radio Fathom – 5/2013

The following article comes from the original announcement on TwistyPuzzles.com in 5/2013.

This is the 14th in my series of increasingly deeper cut face turning icosahedrons. This is the second to last puzzle in the complete series of 15. The next and final puzzle in the series is the Radio Chop (These names have recently been shuffled around as a nod to the Chopasaurus).

This is a very large puzzle. With the cuts at this depth, we must have a very thin slice ring around the puzzle, which creates some very small parts with acute angles. In order to make the puzzle work, it has to be large.

Check out the size comparison below with Radiolarian 3!

There are 362 external parts, giving this puzzle close to the number of external parts on a teraminx, with the smallest part on this puzzle actually about the same size is a small teraminx part.

It jumbles in the same two ways that previous Radiolarians jumble, but because of the depth of these cuts, the jumbling moves seem to take about 1/5 of the total pieces along. Jumbling images are below.

Turning is quite good considering the depth of the cut, especially once the parts are jiggled into alignment. It has more friction than I like. I’d love to see a polished version of this some day.

Video here.
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Jumble Type One
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Jumble Type Two
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Radiolarian 13 – The Radio Gem – 5/2013

The following article is taken from the original announcement of this puzzle on TwistyPuzzles.com in 5/2013.

I’m happy to present Radiolarian 13, the Radio Gem! There are two more in the series.

This has been a very challenging puzzle to get to this point. This is the second version, and the third print. This one has been tough financially. Assembly and stickering take 8 hours.

Compared to Radiolarian 12, the deeper cuts in this puzzle have caused 60 outer parts to disappear. Unfortunately, stability is not increased much from the outer simplification, but hangups are reduced which is great!

Turning is fair, although I feel the puzzle is not as stable as it should be, so I’m very, very careful in turning, and did not make the video too long. I can feel the puzzle would be likely to pop under normal solving, and with a deep shells puzzle like this, a pop could mean the whole puzzle. I am not going to risk another long assembly at this point! It’s only the long road and problems already solved to this point that makes me proud to present!

Video Here

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