I’ve been plugging away at my next puzzle, Model #360, for some time now. I made the first prototype out of wood, oak I think, back in the late 1990’s and it was pretty bulky. It sat in a box until I found a machinist to make me some slimmer models from delrin. Then I changed jobs and other interests and responsibilities consumed my time so it sat on a metaphorical shelf for another couple […]

I just received my latest prototype back from the 3-D print service I use (i.materialise – whom I recommend highly) and I’m very happy with this latest revision (the sixth I think!) The puzzle has two major pieces, the top and bottom, and the biggest design challenge I’ve had so far has been to keep the two pieces aligned while the puzzle solver is manipulating the puzzle. If the pieces move out of alignment, it can put the puzzle into […]

The summer was way too busy but I nonetheless was able to design and prototype my first mechanical puzzle. It even works! Building a working prototype turned out to be much easier than I expected now that 3D printing has become so affordable and so widespread. All I had to do was create .STL files (I used OpenSCAD) and take them to a local outfit called Einstein’s Workshop whose fantastically helpful staff (thank you Katy and Matt!) printed […]