It is one large cube with eight exposed quadrants. Each quad has a unique maze that requires manipulating the marble around all three sides in that quad. There is one exit point that leads from each quad to the next. The last quad has the official end point. I decided to try and build one out of wood.
The bulk of it is just made of 3/4" plywood. The outer edges and the maze walls themselves are made of 1/4" walnut. Because I wanted to give each of the eight quads of the puzzle a different maze pattern, I decided to use a 5" x 5" area for each face. When designing the mazes, that would give me a 5 by 5 grid pattern rather than a 4 by 4 pattern, which would give me many more design possibilities. Here are the design patterns for the eight quad mazes. When looking at these, you have to remember that what looks like the corner of a cube pointing out toward you is really the interior corner where three walls come together. So these drawings are a bit of an optical illusion, but it will make sense when you see the final product.
Here are some photos of the puzzle being built.
One of the interesting things I learned during this project was an interesting way to clamp small pieces being glued in place. Each of the maze walls was glued down to the maze surface. But the only way to "clamp" them in place was to put a weight on top of them. I needed something heavy enough to hold the pieces down but with a small enough surface area to focus the weight on such small pieces. I ended up using trailer hitches. They weigh about two pounds, have a small surface area, and a flat bottom. I ended up buying 8 of them and they worked great! And each one only cost about $7. I have used them on several projects since then as well.
Here is the finished product. It was more challenging project to complete than I thought. And, as a puzzle, it is more difficult than it looks!
