The original Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube from Portal. I based my entire design off this picture.
There are four circles to each side of a companion cube. Once I established their various sizes, I could make templates to cut the curves in the corners and edges. This doesn't reflect the finished product, because it doesn't have the cuts for the "flat edges" on the corner and edge pieces.
The rough base cube, made from poplar wood. This is made of three pieces cut down from a 2" x 6". It is a WEIGHTED companion cube, so of course there's a 5 pound lead weight in the center.
This is a lead weight similar to the one in the base cube. John bought them both at a plumbing supply store.
Shown here are the corner pieces of the cube. They're 2" x 2" x 3/4". There are 24 of them. Two sides are cut to form 45° angles.
John, cutting the curved and angled center out of a corner piece.
Some corners, post center cut. On the right piece, you can also see where John cut angles from the top of the piece to the base on the two sides that intersect with the center cut.
John cut 24 edge pieces from this 1/4" poplar plank. The pieces were 1 1/4" x 1". This time, only one edge was cut with a 45° angle.
This is the base cube after being cut down to 5" x 5" x 5". John used the table saw at the most shallow setting to cut grooves, approximately 1/8" deep, into the surface of all six sides.
Hey, its starting to look like something!
I sanded the base cube smooth then stained the grooves with Red Oak Minwax oil based wood stain.
Base cube, after being stained with Fruitwood Minwax oil based wood stain. I was so happy that you could still tell the grooves were red!
I sanded each of the corner pieces, then glued them together in sets of three. The previously cut angles allow them to join like a picture frame on the bottom, and create a "flat edge" on top. I taped up each corner and sanded it to create the companion cube's flattened corners.
A lot of work between this picture and the last one. The edge pieces were glued together in pairs - the 45° angle cuts allowed them to join neatly on the base, and created the "flat edge" on top. I sanded some more funky angles into the corner pieces - they run from the top of the "flat edge" to the base of the corner piece. John cut six circle pieces from 1/4" inch poplar, and then one heart from the center of each circle with a scroll saw. I stained the hearts Red Oak to match the grooves on the base cube. The circles, corners, and edges are here stained with Natural Minwax oil based wood stain.
I wasn't happy with the Natural wood color of the corner, edge, and circle pieces after they dried. The stain had brought out a green tinge in the poplar which looked horrible with the base cube's brown. So I sanded down the edges, corners, and circles. I then stained all those bits Fruitwood. In order to keep the color contrast I wanted, I darkened the base cube by adding Provincial Minwax oil based wood stain. I waited a day for all the bits to dry, then started gluing everything together with Elmer's professional wood glue.
The glue on the edges wasn't dry, but I wanted to see what the finished product would look like.
Finished cube at an angle, Christmas day
Finished cube, front face, on Christmas day.
