Pentafold

Pentafold was proposed by Bram Cohen, inspired by the Gear Fold puzzle and several of Bram's earlier gearing ideas. It is a gear train of five seven-teeth gears. As the gear train has an odd number of gears, it is locked and it cannot turn. Moreover, it is locked by a piece in the center. Pentafold can be folded open in five directions. Once folded open, three gears can turn. This enables to scramble the puzzle. The object of the puzzle is to scramble it and then to bring it back into its original state.

"God's number" for this puzzle is five, i.e. it can always be solved in five moves. Bram found a generic easy-to-remember solution that requires at most eight moves.

Watch the YouTube video of the improved version (this model).
Watch the YouTube video of the original prototype.
Read at the Shapeways Forum.
Read more at the Twisty Puzzles Forum.

Please order a 3D-printed do-it-yourself puzzle kit from Shapeways at this page (check with Oskar about screws and stickers), or contact Oskar directly if you are interested in obtaining a fully colored, stickered and assembled sample of this puzzle.