time for another puzzle after slipping in a decoy to delimit my single streaming.
Maybe I have grown a set… conscience that is, and am trying to lure others into puzzles by venturing away from my laser and sticking to conventional tools.
Here is yet another puzzle that I have managed to make using only conventional tools, but before you rush down to your workshop and make one for yourself, be warned that it takes 18 steps to solve this conundrum
However, before I get into the nitty gritties of my diversification, let me detail what I did before that 360°, about face.
Initially I designed it using my usual mortice/tenon (finger) joins for cutting out of 3mm MDF using the laser. Why 3mm? Having the intention of solids, I didn’t want to waste 6mm MDF on a futile exercise.
Well, that 3mm ingenuity turned out to be a major flop… besides the difficulty of glue up because of the side shapes, the 3mm MDF didn’t give me enough meat to anchor pieces together at 90° and I nearly recreated the Pisabuilding,
The picture doesn’t reflect its morbid deformation… in fact this was probably my first prototype that graced the bottom of my rubbish bin.
As I design my puzzle boxes to be created from thicknesses ranging from 3mm to 6mm, I immediately cut one out of 6mm MDF and was gruntled with the results after assembly,
all 90° angles , which was followed up with laminated MDF pieces,
assembled (solved) and was further gruntled,
after nearly running out of fingers and hands… those bloody 8Ɩ18 steps tested all my 10 hands,
… phew.
Was now time to,
and try it in solids, though still laser cut using the fingers for easier assembly.
The hardwood timber I used was only about 4.5mm thick whose thickness was chosen due to difficulty in laser cutting some hardwoods
and I didn’t have a Janka scale… not so much no scale but unknown timber.
The exposed edges were scraped to remove the laser burn marks,
and the inside faces were sanded (outside faces marked with small piece of masking tape),
and also buffed using my Beall Buffing System to minimise friction.
While the 4.5mm was a tad easier than the 3mm MDF, it still presented difficulty during dry setup. I created two different styles of packers (3 of each)
to tape to the side for glue up/assembly assistance,
and eventually I had a solid box,
which was rigid enough to sand off the protruding fingers,
Replaced the packers
and used them to support the sides during buffing.
I still hadn’t given up on solids without the laser, so prepared some new timber (out of firewood),
OK, I lied, I laser cut some set up templates out of 6mm MDF
and used them to setup my mitre saw using the timber to extend the lengths by their thickness,
Again, I used those laser cut packers (the rectangles could easily be cut on the standard saws) for assembly, sanding and buffing,
Not having the fingers for added support/glue up surface, I reinforced the joins by pairs of 2mm toothpicks,
2Bsure, 2Bsure... you gotta look close, but they're there.
Of course, the pieces were made from my cache of 18mm³ cubes,
Finally, as per my practice with packing puzzles, two set aside for packaging and distribution,
one filed in the archives,
Again, that Indiana Jones scene is forever expanding
and looking less and less ridiculous.
The model is available from the 3DW,
and the A4 PDF solution can be downloaded from here.
If interested in any of mine (LBD), measurements can be made available on request for anyone not familiar with SketchUp… though a working knowledge of SketchUp’s navigation (as opposed to its design/use features) and access to 3DW could be of benefit.
All the solutions to my puzzles can be found at this link... *** Measurements and further details can be provided on request. *** Christmas is coming and puzzles make a great stocking stuffer... for all ages. Kids love ‘em and most of us are still kids.
Don’t be crafty Craftisians,... SHARE your craft!
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
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