Rubik's Lego Cube
Intro: Rubik's Lego Cube
How to turn an old (original) Rubik's into a Lego cube
STEP 1: Getting Started / Find a Patient Aka Cube. and Lego Pieces
Flea markets, second hand stores, friends who gave up... there is allways someone, somewhere having an old cube.
I found 2 on a flea market for only about 1,5 €.
Make sure they still turn good and have no damages. If the stickers are gone, don't worry! Thay have to go eventually ;).
For the lego pieces I've used the partnr 3022. Wich is the normal flat 2x2 tile.
You can search on the net or forums to find your needed pieces. You can also contact me if you like to have a 'ready made set'.
STEP 2: Taking Apart Your Cube...
There are a lot of video's available on the net of how to do it.
Basically you turn the upper layer 45° and you flip out one of the middle side pieces by using a screwdriver, knive, little spoon...
From there on you just go on by hand. The pieces should come out fairly easy.
Keep the center cross (core) together. Some cubes will have pieces with top lids (not original cubes) wich allows you to tension your cube more or less.
Original cube's don't have this option (Except the latest version 'speedcube')
Once you have all your pieces, you can start off peeling the stickers... this goes normally without problems.
Don't worry about the colors / or wich place the sticker was. It doesn't matter at this point. as we are replacing the complete cube by lego tiles.
You will end up with a stack of all black pieces.
STEP 3: Bathing the Pieces / Clean Up / Dry / Assemble Again
Time for a bath!
Trow in your pieces inhot water with some soap. and start cleaning.
I used a soft spunge with a rough side. The rough side was easy to clean up any left glue from the stickers also it sanded a little the surface to glue on. Wich makes the glue attach better.
Dry your pieces, and assemble again. Also on assembly you will find video's and how to's on the net.
STEP 4: Glueing Time!
For this step you need to know some stuff about the cube.
If you want the original color scheme, keep a picture or another cube next to you as reference.
Bassically you have WHITE and YELLOW on opposite sides as well as BLUE and GREEN & RED and ORANGE are opposites. Off course you can use wathever scheme you like or any colors you want. As long as they are different from eachother.
Glue: I used some kind of superglue (Cyan acrylate) gel. I prefer the gel, as it dries a little less fast and is also filling up holes. It gives you little more adjusting time ( as far as you can describe 6 sec as 'time' )
Start on a side and then go the opposite. Make sure your Lego tile is in the middle of your black squared base. Any corners sticking out can cause damage or trouble for the cube to work well.
As you see I started with white. Then I did the yellow on opposite side.
As for detail freaks or perfectionists: I made sure all the lego text ( wich is written small on the 'dots' ) faced the same origin. It's just some detail you can add, but this is according to your own wish.
STEP 5: Continue and Be Patient
Continue glueing and glueing...
Just keep in mind the colorscheme, or your own scheme.
Important to the perfectionists: Don't toy or play around with while glueing. It might turn some pieces from orientation. wich leaves the Lego logo turned according to the other pieces. (not neccessary if you don't mind the logo direction)
STEP 6: Enjoy Your New Puzzle
Finished!!
Now it's time to shuffle that thing and play with it.
Eventually you can add some lube, grease or other stuff to make your cube turn more smooth. Again for this, Google's your best friend.
Have fun and keep up the good work!
18 Comments
make_stuff 8 years ago
dieter demeyere 8 years ago
@make_stuff
Please PM me for pricing.
Itsatrav 8 years ago
Super_doodles 8 years ago
Probably not, considering there is space between the Lego tiles. If
your cube was 48mm then it would work (lego tiles are around 16 mm). One
cube I've found is the QJ mini 3x3x3. If you use it as a bandaged cube,
it would probably be good to round the corners of the Lego tiles, so
then you get better corner cutting. Also, if you do make a bandage cube
with lego, you probably would want to stick all the tiles to a bigger
tile and glue all at once, so you know for sure that you can bandage the
cube.
I haven't made this project, but looks awesome! I want to make one now. Good job dieter!
rocco coco 8 years ago
dieter demeyere 8 years ago
Hey Rocco coco,
Nice that you liked my project. If you need help or something else, just shout!
I also have the complete sets of blocks for your Cube if you would need them. Just let me know.
Best Regards,
dieter
washo1 8 years ago
I just built this using your instructions! Thanks, this was such an awesome project. Just what my 10-year old Rubik's Cube needed!
dieter demeyere 8 years ago
Hey Washo,
Cool that you tried that out!
It would be nice if you could add a pic under the 'I made it' button.
Thanx and have fun!
taz8430 9 years ago
realy cool but next you should make it of all lego bricks
EvolvedAwesome 9 years ago
This idea is awesome! Gotta try this, but I need to get some lego pieces first :/
dieter demeyere 9 years ago
thx for your comment.
If you like you can PM me for pieces. I have have some 'ready made' sets for this. So you have every Lego piece needed in 1 package.
bijan22 9 years ago
maryanna warner 9 years ago
dieter demeyere 9 years ago
Yes, but you could also use different lego tiles. they have round plates, flat tiles, tiles with a centered dot.... and so on.
Just be creative and it will work out fine!
tomatoskins 9 years ago
So awesome! I love this idea so much!
trailogy 9 years ago
Sweet! I love cubing as I have the dian zhanchi speed cube. You can also do this with the smooth 2x2s lego pieces.
Jeph Diel 9 years ago
dieter demeyere 9 years ago
@JavaProgrammer: 'Thx... it has been on my 'to do' list for some years. :) Finally got the time and stuff to do it.