Awesome Cubes

Object manipulator SHAO shows off an amazing stage prop that can smoothly change shapes in the hands of the right performer. Designed by flow arts prop maker Thomas Foyk, this series of interconnected rods can morph from a cube into various other geometries.

The latest creation from the talented artists of AltDynamic puts a new spin on the machinist’s practice object known as a Swiss cube. Their version twists the cube in the middle and will have you wondering how they engineered such a thing. The palm-sized cube is CNC machined from solid aluminum in the USA, and comes in raw metal or anodized colors.

These magnetic 3″ cube lights can display numbers, letters, animations, and fields of color. There are three kinds to connect: a dot-matrix, a diffused color panel, and a spotlight projector. They can react to games, music, and video, and can be programmed using mobile or desktop apps and are Matter compatible.

One of the more interesting items you can produce in a machine shop is a sphere inside of a cube. Emil Hogslätt shows how he produced one such object using a DMG Mori 5-axis milling machine. The finished product is immensely satisfying, as are the soothing noises the machine makes as it cuts and smooths the aluminum piece.

There are some off-the-shelf kits out there for building colorful LED cubes, but we’ve never seen anything quite as impressive as Mike Caan’s custom-built light cube, which features a whopping 24,576 RGB LEDs across its six 64×64 faces, each capable of displaying animations and videos uploaded from his computer.

Food Kingdom takes us inside the kitchen at Korea’s Saebil Patisserie for a satisfying baking video. After cooking up some yummy-looking croissants, they crank out dozens of cube-shaped breads, which spiral like a tornado in the center. We also enjoyed watching all those oranges take a bath before being sliced up for marmalade.

It’s pretty tricky to balance a cube on one of its corners or edges. But ReM-RC shows off a really cool machine they built that does just that automatically. The system uses an ESP32 controller, an MPU-6050 gyroscope-accelerometer chip, and a set of three servo motors that spin wheels to maintain its balance.

Artist Andreas Hönigschmid designed these wonderful interactive playthings which can each flex and fold into more than 70 different shapes thanks to their hidden magnets. The 3″ cubes come in six color schemes, and you can connect multiples to create more complex shapes.

These from Peru’s D.A.R. Proyectos are made from a unique combination of gemstones, cut to form interlocking shapes. Stones include rhodonite, celestine, serpentine, and jasper, which come together to form a colorful 1.75″ cube. Since each stone is real, every puzzle is one-of-a-kind.

Woodworker James Garwood last wowed us with his 2000-segment pen. For his latest project, he challenged himself by crafting a wooden cube, filling it with resin, then painstakingly turning and sanding the blue material to create a perfectly shiny sphere. Support James on Patreon for a chance to win this unique plaything.

The VersiCube is a unique object made from CNC-machined aluminum. KAD Models and Prototypes‘ cubes allow light to shine through, and provide a nice tactile feel. They come in 1.375″ and 0.5″ sizes, and a version with pegs for 3D Tic Tac Toe. Profits go to the Advanced Manufacturing Program at the Vermont Technical College.

Keep inspired and entertained with this anytime game. Haikubes is a set of 63 word cubes from Chronicle Books and the creators of Cranium. Just roll the dice and pick from the upright words to create a three-line haiku poem using the classic 5-7-5 syllable pattern. Includes two cubes with cues to nurture your poetic genius.

Metal shop Midwest Tungsten makes this elegant desktop conversation piece that includes five 1″ cubes, each made from the element it describes. Includes blocks made from 100% pure copper, aluminum, titanium, iron, and 95% pure tungsten, each engraved with the element’s symbol, electron configuration, and atomic mass.