{"id":458,"date":"2010-05-25T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T16:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/archives\/458-matthew-mindys-romantic-3d-printed-puzzle-wedding-proposal.html"},"modified":"2014-07-03T16:55:48","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T16:55:48","slug":"matthew-mindys-romantic-3d-printed-puzzle-wedding-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/matthew-mindys-romantic-3d-printed-puzzle-wedding-proposal","title":{"rendered":"Matthew & Mindy’s Romantic 3D printed puzzle wedding proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Matthew Farnsworth has the most romantic 3D printed twisty puzzle story you will read all day. It has to do with Matthew, Mindy & how a Rubik’s cube can be the key to someone’s heart. I will let Matthew tell you the story in his own words: <\/p>\n

Many years ago, while digging through some boxes of stuff in my grandfather’s garage, I found a small keychain Rubik’s cube<\/b>. I didn’t know how to solve the cube, so my brother and I did some research and eventually figured it out. After a few months, during which I got a standard sized cube, I decided to turn the keychain cube into a sort of personal “sword in the stone.”<\/b> Whosoever could solve the Rubik’s cube (and meet some standard requirements) I would then and there ask for their hand in marriage.<\/p>\n

Time passed and the cube ended up at the bottom of a box of games. Every so often I would see the cube and think of my secret little pact. <\/p>\n

Eventually, I forgot about the cube and life moved on without any significant change. One day, I was asked to sing at the funeral services of a friend’s grandfather. Not wanting to sing alone, I called some friends who called other friends and eventually, a girl named Mindy was invited to sing<\/b>. We met shortly before the funeral to practice and before too long, Mindy and I were dating.<\/p>\n

Some time afterwards, We were looking for a particular game and happened to come across the keychain Rubik’s cube. I told Mindy of my little arrangement involving proposing to whoever solved the cube. A few days later I noticed that the cube was missing and I realized that I really liked Mindy and wanted her to solve the cube.<\/p>\n

It was then that I was hit with a burst of inspiration: build a Rubik’s cube that would open when solved!<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b> <\/p>\n

I immediately turned to some engineer friends of mine to start the design process. Chris, Kevin and myself spent a fair bit of time drawing and sketching on the whiteboard many different possibilities<\/b>. Most of these possibilities looked fine on paper but as soon as we tried applying a third dimension, things would get complicated. We had just about finished a design involving spring-loaded pegs, when we discovered a YouTube video of a hollow cube.<\/p>\n

Oskar van Deventer had actually redesigned the interior of a Rubik’s cube, creating a beautiful cavity where one could hide a ring. <\/p>\n

Now all I needed was to buy the hollow cube and edit the design so that it would open upon completion. I decided, instead of trying to setup costly experiments and purchasing multiple hollow cubes, that I would propose the idea to Oskar himself to see if he had any ideas of how to help me. And help me he did.
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\nWithin two weeks, I had the designs in my hands. a few weeks later and I had the Gift Cube.<\/b> In the meantime, I created a small wooden ring box that would fit inside Oskar’s Gift Cube. When the Cube arrived, I was ecstatic to discover that the ring box (a sphere actually) fit perfectly inside. After assembling the whole device and scrambling the cube, I hid it in the bottom of a box of my old high school memorabilia. I suggested to Mindy that we could reminisce about “the good old days” while looking through my box of stuff.<\/p>\n

Eventually we got down to the Rubik’s cube and I informed Mindy that it was my first Rubik’s cube (a slight fib). She proceeded to solve the scrambled cube only to discover a small wooden ball. <\/b>I told her the ball opened, but the lid was too tight and I had to open it for her. Getting down on one knee, I handed her back the ring box and asked is she would consider marrying me. She accepted and we are absolutely thrilled.<\/p>\n

We would both like to thank the people of Shapeways for their part in this love story. I would also like to personally thank both Ralph and Maartje for their patience with me during a time of great anxiety. And of course, none of this would have been possible without Mr. Erno Rubik and Mr. Oskar van Deventer.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You can see a video of the Gift Cube on YoutTube<\/a>. The Gift Cube model on Shapeways is here<\/a>.  <\/p>\n


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