Gear Orbit City - Black Body (1/2 Space Capsule)

A planetary‑gear twisty puzzle designed by Sam Jiang

The Gear Orbit City from Calvin’s Puzzle is a striking mechanical creation that blends artistic engineering with serious puzzling challenge. Designed by Sam Jiang, this model showcases a fascinating planetary‑gear system housed within a bold black‑body exterior. For this special version, the top center cap is left open, allowing you to display the internal mechanism—or cap it off for a cleaner look.

Crafted from durable ABS plastic with vibrant PVC stickers, the puzzle weighs approximately 150 g and comes packaged in a compact clear display box.

Development began in 2019, and after multiple design iterations and mold refinements, the team finally perfected a functional, reliable gear system. The result is a puzzle that turns smoothly while revealing the beauty of its internal engineering.

The Gear Orbit City combines 2D and 3D rotational geometry in a way few puzzles do. At its core, it functions as a 3×3×3, but each face features four small gear circles that rotate in sync with every turn. A 90° turn of any face causes the corresponding circles to rotate 90° relative to that face, creating mesmerizing motion and deeply complex scrambles.

Inside, a stationary sun gear drives the surrounding planetary gears. Removing the center cap reveals this hidden mechanism and also provides access for tension adjustments—useful when gear alignment shifts during heavy solving.