Right now, we are just waiting to get all of our pieces printed.  We are printing 10 edge pieces, 16, straight pieces, 12 turn pieces, and 6 t-shaped pieces, for a total of 50 pieces. There are enough to fill up two faces of the cube.  There will be 1 base cube, 1 trigger, and 1 top face printed out.

Figure One: T-Shaped Piece

Figure Two: Edge Piece

Figure Three: Straight Piece

Figure Four: Edge Piece

Figure Five: Base Cube

Figure Six: Top Face

Figure Seven: Trigger

Figure One: Test Face with Test Pieces

Figure One: Microscope

To better differentiate the pegs and the surface of the cube, the pegs were colored with black expo marker.

Figure Two: Computer

The pegs were too large for the camera to pick up, so to take the measurements of the diameters and spaces between, two measurements were taken.  Two measurements of the diameter of the pegs were taken, .2664 centimeters and .2631 centimeters. The distance between the pegs were taken as well, at .2924 centimeters and .2818 centimeters.  The measurement for the diameter in the peg was supposed to be .2 centimeters and the measurement between .3 centimeters.  The average percent differences between the ideal diameter and distance and the real one are  32.3% and 4.3% respectively.

Polycarbonite, to our dismay, is not a material that can be used for laser cutting.  A new material had to be ordered, cast acrylic.
An optically clear cast acrylic sheet was ordered from McMaster-Carr. It is 1/16'' thick and it is a 2 feet by 2 feet square.  This material can be cut using the laser.  We should be able to get all of the acrylic pieces cut for the pieces in Week Seven.  Glue will be used to keep the glass in place.  The acrylic costs $21.14 (including shipping).

TOTAL SPENT SO FAR: $32.94

An impact-resistant polycarbonate sheet was ordered from McMaster-Carr. It is a 24 inch by 24 inch sheet that is 0.04 inch thick.  It is clear, with "good" tensile strength and "excellent" impact strength. Both sides of the sheet will be smooth.  It was $13.66.
A 25 pack of 3/8 inch diameter ball bearings were ordered off amazon.com from BC Trade, LLC.  They are made of a steel alloy. They have a smooth finish. It was $8.21.

TOTAL SPENT SO FAR: $11.80

Figure one: Face cube

The base cube will be 10 centimeters by 10 centimeters, with 1.5 centimeters thick.  There will be 100 protrusions per face of the cube, as seen in figure one, only on the side faces.  The top face will be connected to the rest of the cube using hinges.

Figure Two: Piece. Front View (left), Side View (middle), Bottom View (right)

The pieces will be 2 centimeter by 2 centimeter cube.  The groove will be a little more than .5 inch deep and .5 inch wide so it can hold a ball bearing that is 3/8 inch will be able to travel through the grooves smoothly.  The impact-resistant polycarbonate will be used to cover the grooves so that the ball would not escape.

Small prototypes of the base cube and pieces were made.

Figure One: Base Cube

The cube was made without a top.  It is 5 centimeters by 5 centimeters. There are 100 protrusions per face, except on the final cube the bottom face and the top face will not have any. The walls are 1 centimeter thick.

Figure Two: Test pieces. Front View (left); Side View (right)

Two test pieces were made. They are 1 centimeter by 1 centimeter cubes. The groove is .6 centimeters wide and .6 centimeters deep.  The two pieces were made to compare the bottoms and figure out which was the best to use as the final piece.

Figure Three: Test bottom. Four Holes (left) and Center Circle (right)

The two bottoms are the four holed bottom and the center circle bottom. In the four holed bottom, there are four holes that would fit over the protrusions on the faces of the cube. In the center circled bottom, the circle fits in the middle of four protrusions.  The piece that worked the best is the center circled one, thus the one that will be used in the design.