From cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Wed Mar 17 14:07:04 1999 Return-Path: Received: from sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil (sun28.aic.nrl.navy.mil [132.250.84.38]) by mc.lcs.mit.edu (8.9.1a/8.9.1-mod) with SMTP id OAA07131 for ; Wed, 17 Mar 1999 14:07:03 -0500 (EST) Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@mc.lcs.mit.edu Message-Id: <015c01be7033$e646df80$8ccfaf8b@uwe> From: "UMroaming" To: "Christ van Willegen" Cc: "Cube-Lovers" , "Jing Meffert" Subject: Re: MULTI COLORED PLASTIC SURFACES Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 13:05:23 +0800 Dear Christ Thanks for your email, I will answer / comment in text > From: Christ van Willegen > Date: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 12:29 AM > Subject: Re: MULTI COLORED PLASTIC SURFACES > Uwe Meffert > I saw one of your newer cubes in Eindhoven, The Netherlands > last week. They are black, and have plastic tiles as the colors. > By the way, 'newer' as in: I've never seen them before. > Prices vary from $1.50 to $2.50 (about 3 to 5 DM, your name > makes me assume you're German, but I may be wrong, of course). > I saw them at 'Jolie/Promida' in Eindhoven, my gf saw them at > Intertoys (she's not sure...) in Veldhoven. YES I AM GERMAN LIVING IN HONG KONG > I've modified one of those cubes (with glue and electricity wire) > to bear symbols that can easily be discerned by hand (as you may > be aware from previous discussions on this list, one of my friends > is blind, and I wanted to learn him how to solve the cube). > I assume (from glue residues found on the cube (even glueing together > two cubelets!)) that the tiles are glued on. How 'hard'/'expensive' > would it be to make these tiles not square, but pre-formed? It > would make the cubes nicer, and even more useful for blind people > (and seeing people who would like to learn to solve the cube > behind their backs). The forms would be: THE CUBES THAT YOU REFER TO ARE NOT MINE BUT A CHEAP COPY OUT OF CHINA. Different textured labels including tile labels should be easily purchasable from a good stationary store and you can easily up a few samples by hand. About 12 years ago I made 50k pieces of my Pyraminx with 4 different texture material for the Blind which I donated to several Blind Intitutes around the world and I understand that some of the players where able to solve the pyraminx by themselves without any help. > - Filled square > - Open square > - Filled circle > - Open circle > - Plus sign > - Star (6-points) > Do you like the idea? Is it marketable? Is it produceable? It's Produceable yes marketable NO. > probably a bit harder to produce. I don't know if the tiles are > glued on by hand, or if they are glued on by machines. It would > make a big difference... All the self adhesive labels are glued on by hand one side at a time using a sort of special scotch tape with its adhesive properties being lower then the adhesive on the labels. > The cubes I have (2 of them) suggest hand production. A few tiles > are glued on a bit skew, and the colors are not in the same order. > I'd assume a machine would glue them on in perfect alignment and > always in the same order. Thats because the cubes are from a small copy company that does not care about quality > By the way: I can solve the ImpossiBall! I'm using about the same > sequences of rotations as I do on the cube. CONGRATULATIONS With warm regards Uwe HAPPY PUZZLING Uwe Meffert P.O. Box 24455, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Tel. 852-2518-3080, Fax. 852-2518-3282 Email:- uwe@ue.net www.ue.edu www.ue.net www.mefferts-puzzles.com