UGEARS Mechanical Tellurion 3D Puzzle - 3D Wooden Puzzled for Adults, Solar System Model Kit, Wooden Model Kits for Adults to Build, Mechanical Models Brain Teaser Puzzle

Excellent product!!!! Challenging wood construction model. When done, the interacting and turning gears are mesmerizing. It works!! Great product support...from Ukraine! Construction is not easy. Instructions are all pictorial to cover multiple languages. Careful location and orientation of parts to each other is a must. Observe and study pictures carefully. I mean really carefully. Even the designs printed on parts mean something. Parts go together with a hard and loud "snap". I was constantly thinking I just broke something. Nimble fingers and dexterous hands are required here. But when you're done (about 50 hours), It's WOW. It's a movable statue!

This is a fun project to assemble. Take the time to sand the burrs off where the pieces connected to the board. There are a lot of moving parts on this so sanding and waxing is important. I rubbed teak oil on all boards both sides before assembly for a finished antique look. It looks great in my home office.

The instructions were fairly clear, with nice 3d images and arrows to follow along. I completed the project in one evening. The beautifully cut laser-cut planks came in a very satisfying bundle. A few caveats: 1. Halfway along the journey of our orrery, I found my pushing fingers (mostly my index and thumb) were quite sore. Either break the build up or find a few ways to save your fingertips! 2. It is often not clear what is meant to be waxed and sanded (gears? faces? both?). I will say that by the end of the build, I was *really* tired of waxing and sanding, and I had used up all the wax, leaving a bit less than I would have liked for the final piece. 3. You are sometimes urged to check something with a green/red circle. It is almost always but not always clear what the check is. 4. Punching out is almost always perfect, if requiring a firm push. For some of the (usually smaller) pieces, they may crack or chip very slightly. There's not a great way around this. The worst for me was one of the moon's parts as well as one of the axles that is under torque (pg 18, piece #50), which would slip under certain conditions. Which brings me to... 5. The orbit mechanism (pictured above; assembly c6; pg. 21) is very clever - but pretty finicky! My first build-through, it got stuck, but would "slip" if I turned hard enough (see my previous point). This was frustrating, because it meant the orbit was broken, and I had no way of knowing if it was intended or not. I took it apart, reseated everything and it stopped working again after a few dozen turns. Third time was the charm for me, but I am definitely concerned it'll break again. tl;dr: when you are told to test the rotation, test it *thoroughly* (at least a few dozen turns) and make sure *everything* is turning! Also, when you place the frames that hold gears together, make sure everything clips together and the gears are seated properly. All in all: after the beautifully cut, if occasionally brittle, pieces had their rough way with my fingertips, after a millennium waxing and sanding, and after two false starts on the orbit mechanism, I am very satisfied to have a working orrery, with delightful details like the zodiac, and a rotating/orbiting moon + phase indicator dial. Minus 1 star because of a few pitfalls in the build quality, build steps, and some gaps in the instructions.

I got this project and a marble run from ROKR at the same time. See below for comparison. This UGEARS tullurion is a really fun project for people who can focus on what they are doing and be precise and strong. The wood used here is reinforced plywood and can take some abuse, but it will snap if you are not careful. And there are places where it's possible to make errors if you are prone to distraction. You must, must, must sand the gears and wax them when called for. It's possible to assemble the machine without doing this, but it will not run. Comparing the marble run from ROKR with this project: The ROKR project had a lot of flimsy wood and the instructions had you assemble things in an almost haphazard order. It also has a bunch of plastic and screws. This project is very satisfying in build (i.e., wood) quality and uses only wood.

Bought for grand son was told he likes a lot

Pieces did not align and would not work the way intended. I’ve put together 10 wooden works and this looked like a fun one, but it would not work the way it should. They did include extra pieces where they seemed to want to fracture the most, but overall would not recommend.

I originally got this puzzle for my boyfriend who loves puzzle projects, critical thinking and working with his hands. It took him a week yet he is ecstatic and wants more! The directions are easy to follow and his finished tellurion is fully functional. Very happy with this product, however the material is quite brittle so take care during assembly. Highly recommend!

I’m still struggling to get it to work. Advice to others: Make sure you understand the way it needs to work, so you can properly wax the gears. Make sure you assemble it correctly the first time. I broke several pieces trying to disassemble them. The plywood is fragile so be very careful or it will delaminate. I do like the design and I’m hoping that I will eventually get it working.

Ottimo prodotto, acquistato come idea regalo per mio padre che ha apprezzato, amante del tutto, si diletta ovviamente anche nell'assemblaggio. Il tema osservatorio astronomico è interessante e curioso, il meccanismo di rotazione funziona in maniera adeguata ma non è un prodotto da utilizzare a scopo dimostrativo, una volta assemblato è bello esporlo in una vetrina.

Un regalo estupendo. Muy divertido

I've been trying to find something like this for a while and while there are some nice-looking alternatives, this one seems to have everything I wanted in terms of size, complexity, and accuracy. And then I saw the company is Ukrainian, so of course I had to buy this one. :) (It ships from the UK, not Kyiv in case you're worried !) Construction is a very satisfying process. The model comes in flat-pack, you push the pieces out of their wooden surrounds and snap them together. No gluing or cutting is needed, just a bit of sanding and waxing using the supplied sandpaper and wax stick. The design is efficient and elegant. The parts snap together very securely and seem surprisingly sturdy - I managed to avoid breaking any, though there are some spares provided just in case. Plus you can contact the company if anything does go badly wrong. Construction took me a bit longer than the estimated 5 hours because I made a few mistakes and had to backtrack a couple of times. This is not too difficult, but some parts can be harder to undo than others. My advice is just to be slow and careful and make absolutely sure you have all the parts the right way around before finally attaching them. The instructions (clear and easy to follow) do highlight particular points where getting the positioning wrong would be worse than others, but it pays to be a bit paranoid. Anyway I found the process quite therapeutic, so taking a bit longer is no bad thing. The final constructed model is about 30 cm tall and 40 cm in diameter at maximum extent. I was impressed to learn that the rotational speed ratio is accurate : one turn of the handle causes one complete rotation of the Earth, but ~28 are needed for one rotation of the Earth around the Moon, and yes, this means you need a full 365.25 rotations for the Earth-Moon system to orbit the Sun. There's also a dial showing the phase of the Moon given its position, which is a useful education aid. But it's also designed with aesthetics in mind, so it makes a great display piece. Overall, an easy 5 stars from me. One day I'll be able to afford a brass version, but until then, this'll do nicely. I hope UGEARS will release an astrolabe in the future... :)

Ein tolles Holzmodell, welches die Bewegung des Mondes, der Erde und der Sonne zueinander korrekt und schön darstellt. Der Aufbau war nicht schwer und ich kann keine der Probleme anderer Reviewer bestätigen. Ich bin kein Experte beim Zusammenbau solcher Modelle, habe aber durchaus Spaß daran und achte auf Details. Beim Aufbau habe ich immer wieder geschut, dass sich alle Zahnräder schön zu einander bewegen. Beim Aufbau erkennt man leider nicht woran man genau arbeitet und welche Rolle welches Zahnrad spielt. Erst gegen Ende des Aufbaus wird man dann mit der ganzen Pracht des Modells und seiner Funktion belohnt. Bis dahin muss man sich leider gedulden. Insgesamt hat mir das Modell aber Spaß gemacht. Das Modell hat mir auch geholfen meinen Kindern zu erklären, wieso gerade Vollmond oder Neumond ist, aber auch wie die Jahreszeiten entstehen, da die Neigung der Erdachse auch sehr gut dargestellt ist. Insgesamt bin ich sehr zufrieden mit meinem Kauf.

Mon Ugears préféré !