Yup, I’m at it again. Real life has been keeping me busy the last couple of years but I think my latest puzzle is finally ready to announce. As usual, it will be machined from aluminum, bead-blasted, and anodized. I’m thinking of using colored anodizing this time around – which would be a first for me – but I’m not certain. Also as usual, the challenge to the puzzler will be to figure out how to take it apart.
This design has gone through more iterations than I care to admit (twenty-three). Getting the mechanism to always work when it should and never when it shouldn’t has been maddeningly elusive. Anyway, without further ado, here’s a picture of the working prototype I printed with my Prusa MK3:
Woops, I forgot to put something in the picture to give a sense of scale – it’s four inches tall and a little over two inches wide. I’m waiting to hear back from machine shops to decide how many to make but I’m figuring it will be between one and two hundred. I made two hundred of the Model #357 and that was ridiculously exhausting. On the other hand, it’s hard to cover my costs with just one hundred. Whatever number I end up choosing, it definitely will be a limited edition. I love designing and making puzzles but the enjoyment I get comes from sharing a new design with fellow puzzlers rather than running a manufacturing line or managing a business.
OK, that’s the news for today and I’ll post updates as I get closer to releasing it for sale. (Which is a long ways away still!)