After posting the Boom-Boom Sick box, I was getting concerned that people have misjudged me and prayed to the Leprechauns in thanks that I have abandoned my puzzle. Unfortunetely I am in the process of drafting a new one and developing another, so got caught with
To appease my CPAP compensating for my nightmares, I chose to migrate this puzzle that was posted at LJ on Sep 19, 2022 till I get my act together with my current puzzles.
This will at least let me
till I get my act together again.
------------------------------------- ooooOOOO From LJ OOOOooooo ----------------------------------------- Boy and Girls,
The arm is getting a tad more usable… contrary to what's nestled behind my eyes… I can continue my puzzling resurgence after being subliminally coerced by NHdude's post.
Some people make boxes, other's make chopping boards, a few make pens (guilty me) and the twisted ones turn bowls (sorry bowls for associating you with the twisted), while others just turn bowels. This independent, thrill-seeking duck seems to have gravitated towards puzzles lately and when I discover a new one, I just cannot ignore it and unleash my discovery on you unfortunates here on the LJ site.
This puzzle is not in the ranks of hardware or even Viagraless software, but rather in the brainware of why? It may be attributed to me looking at far too many bloody sideways pictures here at LJ… am I being mean… blood oaf… I have a phobia that alcohol or medication cannot treat.
I found this puzzle that is referred to as "Luban's Balls" by Mr. Luban and Luban Sphere by others, and anything in between (who's ever appendages you desire or chose to ignore) by others still.
Try as I might, I couldn't find any plans, however, I found countless versions of it on sale. I can't for the life of me understand how any one can sell one for around $6.00(Aus), OK, the above is a selective reduced item on eBay. At $50 an hour for my labour, it takes me 15 minutes ($12.50) to just package the bugger before I even considering other costs. I was also inundated by nearly as many videos on the solution… I proudly added another video just to add further congestion…. see further down. One of the videos recommended an order of assembly which I blatantly refute and somewhere in this thread I hope to poo-poo him/her.
I have managed to create the puzzle in SketchUp with this (supposedly) assembly "aid", using a colour code mentioned further below, The design was based on snapshots of the pieces in one of the downloaded videos. My initial design was formulated on using 3mm MDF (2 layers to get the laminated profiles) with dowel alignment,
however, the dowels seemed to have faded into insignificance along with the holes to hide them in… not due to mechanical efficiency, but rather to LBD laziness Nevertheless, I am no way discouraged as here is a picture of the laziest member of my family. in action!
By laminating 2 layers of MDF giving a thickness of 6mm and the fact that the shape was circular, basic mathematics (and a shitload of trial and error) dictated the final dimensions… and eventually concluded that laminating 6mm MDF was easier and faster than the same with 3mm… however, I didn't discover this till a few paragraphs further down in this article.
I "printed" off a prototype set and glued the pieces together only to find that the 3mm MDF was too fragile and had a propensity for easy breakage. I managed to assemble it, but it was a bugger to disassemble… my 6 piece puzzle turned into 7 and just one deft maneuver saved it from 8.
Consequently I promoted the pieces to 6mm MDF size using CorelDraw (resized 200%). The shapes still had to be laminated to get the correct shape, however, the 6mm MDF was much more robust and could take a bit more abuse… no, not from my cussing when I couldn't solve it, but rather due to tight fits because of the 0.15mm kerf of the laser. This was rectified by sanding both outside faces and a dose of my Beall Buff… slippity doo-dah!
This doctoring with the sander made me reconsider my 3mm MDF pieces.
After replacing the broken pieces and a bit of sanding, 3mm went back on the production line.
Interesting feature of this puzzle is that it seems to self-lock (oh the mind boggles) when assembled. Because of the geometry, during disassembly, there is a marginal tendency to jam up the puzzle if you pull on the wrong puzzle piece. To make life easier, owners may choose to mark the key part (the turquoise #3 in the instructions below), however, that does make it easier to disassemble… this is determined by your degree of masochism. Some people choose to colour code them like my diagrams… fortunately I've yet to hear of one… but then again I wear glasses over my nose.
Because of the labour intensive gluing requirement for laminating, I'm not overly keen in adding this puzzle to my freebie goodies and I will reserve this puzzle for closer friends and potential Chrissy presents.
To solve the puzzle, simply line your ducks in a row (as per instructions),
While making the video, I did cock up several times during glue up,
moral of the story is, don't make videos in colour.
Can't remember who started me off on the video craze… well, actually I can, but I won't embarrass him/her/it in case someone knows their address and are prepared to plead the 2nd.
maj, 987 and the isolated DW… I don't recommend mass distribution of these unless you have an appointment with the debt-collectors.
PS. APB… Any puzzle suggestions would be appreciated, as long as it doesn't include wood, metal (including aluminium and bras), cloth (including brass), string, paper, glass, plastic OR THINKING… blank cheques that need my filling in, are acceptable.
PPS. The block plane in the gallery pictures is just to prove to others that I do own hand tools and not just a laser!
If you've managed to get this far, prepare yourself for another puzzle installment coming to a neighborhood near lucky you… Yey!
Keep safe, jocks... and your jocks, safe!
------------------------------------- ooooOOOOO The End OOOOOooooo -----------------------------------------
Don’t be crafty Craftisians,... SHARE your craft!
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
yes thank gods duckie you remembered to transfer this great "puzzle". which reminds me i may have forgot about a bowl i may have missed ? but lets not let us all enjoy this for now !!!!!
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
There are many more to transfer across... but it's a choice of priorities of those from LJ or the countless never published... yet! Lucky I have a 2 headed gold coin (disguised as MDF), to ease the conundrum.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
The fragility was only an issue with 3mm MDF, putting the big pants on solved it and the smaller 3mm ones were give aways... If I want to afford my Fe$tools in the future, I can't be too generous with freebies.
Unfortunately acrylic is a premium here and comes in large, bloody expensive sheets unless I import cheap Chines crap for 10x the shipping cost... either way I lose.... then I cut out a few puzzles and what do I do with the leftovers?... cut other giveaway items?
Eitherway, I fear the MDF gods who'd strike me down for disloyalty... and what would I do with my Beall buffer?
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
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