Homemade Rubik's Cube Puzzle

Make your own Rubik's cube using dice and magnets

Rubik's cubes are toy brain teasers popularized in the 1980s. A Rubik's cube consists of 27 smaller cubes with six colored faces, which must be spun in multiple directions to be aligned. Though now made with a plastic base, the original Rubik's cube puzzle was connected by a series of magnets. A homemade version of the Rubik's cube can be created using dice and magnets.

Things You'll Need

• 27 dice
• 108 tube magnets
• High strength epoxy
• Drill press with stop
• 3/16" drill press bit
• Carpenters square
• Square jig
• Permanent marker
• 3 clamps
• Safety goggles
• Water
• Glue
• White, red, blue, orange, green and yellow construction paper

Instructions

1. Connect the magnets in a long chain. Mark the north pole of each magnet with a permanent marker.

2. Center your square jig underneath the drill press, then clamp it to the table. Set your drill press stop so that it drills through the center of the die, but not all the way through to the other edge.

3. Place a die in the jig and drill a hole in its center. Repeat this for a total of 18 dice. Pause every couple of die to allow the drill to cool and prevent melting. Water can also be used as a coolant.

4. Adjust the drill press stop so that it goes through the entirety of the die. Place a die in the jig and drill through it. Repeat this for a total of nine dice.

5. Squeeze a small amount of epoxy into the half hole in a die. Slide a magnet in with the marked north pole facing out. Repeat this for a total of nine die.

6. Squeeze a small amount of epoxy into the half hole in a die. Slide a magnet in with the unmarked south pole facing out. Repeat this for a total of nine die.

7. Squeeze a small amount of epoxy into a die that has been drilled through. Slide the magnet inside. Repeat this for a total of nine die.

8. Allow the epoxy to dry for eight hours.

9. Align the die with similar poles side by side to form a layer, then connect each layer to form a cub, with layer in the middle having a hole drilled all the way through.

10. Cut nine squares of each color construction paper the size of a die face. Glue the paper to each outward facing side of the cube.

11. Spin the cube in multiple directions to mix up the puzzle.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wear safety goggles when using power tools.

References

• Make a Rubik's Cube Out of Dice