Construx Chess Set

Chess Board (tied together with threaded wire)



Chess Pieces


Perspective View

Nu-Construx Spaceship

Made with Mattel's Deluxe Builder Set, 1997 or so. Lighter Plastic with more ribbing and specialty pieces. Immense wheels as turbines.

Dharma Logo In Construx

Yes, there are 42 blue knotted connectors. Wheel keeps on Turning.

Wah-Shing Construx

Dinner Plate for the ABS Plastic calorie-free diet:

Smelling of Mildew. Eew.



Reactor Core #1 (drying after cleanse)


Reactor Core #2 (drying after cleanse)


Reactor Core #3 (drying after cleanse)

Packing Strategies, v3

How many #Construx can fit in these 8 cases? Notice the PowerBook G3 is DVORAK, by the way :)

TOP ROW: White Beams & Turntables / 100% Gray Beams / Black & Wheels
MID ROW: Army & Weapons / Nuts & Pods / Engines & Boats (Hi, Mac!)
LAST ROW: Panels / A Nut Case / Wheels & Specials Pieces (smaller, yellow cases)

5,768 pieces sorted by color & size.nothing rattles, they're in there to such tight tolerances. I actually felt air escape upon closing each orange case, and located the small pressure hole drilled into the case. Each case closes effortlessly,so no nasty stretching and compression that can break the occasional fragile or overstretched/overturned pieces. The Gray case was liberated from a DREMEL Tool.

RIP 20 broken beyond belief pieces. Slight cracks may be taped or glue-ed back.

SOMA Puzzle Cubes

Inventor Piet Hein and his SOMA puzzle cubes were always a bunch of fun to play with, so I recreated them in #Construx. The Seven irregular combinations of 3-4 Cubes form a 3x3x3 cube, and are used to make puzzle figures.



Here the 6 remaining pieces form a double-sized copy of the 3-cube piece. I had to adjust the models so they didn't overlap. The original soma cubes assemble with no gaps because they are simple solid blocks. My frames needed spacers to assemble properly.



Notice the little yellow axles with nuts in the center. They fit the Construx pieces' holes) With these in place, lightly squeezing both sides of the assembly lets you lift it as a whole and turn it on end:



Pretty META, huh?

Construx Pyramid Ball

Having recently acquired a bunch more Construx for Xmas, I have been building up a storm. Here's my Latest creation, made using several interlocking shapes:

















and here it is taken apart:

















There is a Flickr Group called Construx Creations with only 2 members. Anyone still enjoying these Fisher-Price construction Toys is encouraged to join. Truly an all ages phenomenon.

Re-Watching LOST

My #FrogPad keyboard wanted to thank everyone for re-watching #LOST with @LOST_WFTB:

Construx Mega Collection

The Collection


And Here's Some of the Stuff I Built with it over holiday:

Rounded Rhombicuboctahedron (go ahead, google it)


Rounded Rhombicuboctahedron Elements


Rounded Rhombicuboctahedron Taken Apart


Light Bulb


Light Bulb Taken Apart


Green Column


Green Column Taken Apart


Small Beam Cube


White Shipping Crate


Beams Big Case #1


Extras Big Case #2


Gears Wheels Pulleys Motors


Rounded Rhombicuboctahedron Applies to the #LOST Numbers :)

To Build... Construx

The Coolest Building Toy ever. eBay is a godsend. 27 years after Construx debuted, it is still widely available. The pieces, made of ABS Plastic, retain their bright colors and most definately a fun factor.

In addition to making a bad-ass custom Keyboard & Mouse tray, there are many ways to play...

How tightly can one pack them in a box?
Given a random set of pieces, can you connect them?
If so, what is the smallest area you can do it in?
Make a structure that can hold x pounds, arranging the beam's directions to keep the structures intact)
A variant on the egg-drop engineering challenge

Merry Christmas everyone!

I wanted the perfect keyboard

I wanted the perfect keyboard














The Final Maltron-Inspired Letter/Symbol Layout












The TypeMatrix Keypad and Arrow Cluster Overlay

Assembled for Cellophane Coating