Puzzle made of paper-clips

As a kid growing in Soviet Russia before Perestroika began, there were not that many toys, games and crafts available to you.

This puzzle is an example of the game that we were making using simple tools from father's toolbox and regular paper clips (bureaucracy provided infinite supply of paper-clips so they were quite easy to get),

(paper-clips and tools shown are not authentic although quite as regular and rusty)

Step 1: Straightening the paper-clip

Unwind the paper-clip with pliers or just by fingers (it's harder with bigger paper-clips).

Use flat part of pliers to make it straight where it was rounded.

Comments

[bostabudi]

I Love it. it reminded me of my childhood. I had many like this.

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Glad you liked it! It brought a lot of memories for me too ;)

[JordanC957]

Thanks for the post, was lots of fun.

For those who struggled on how to coil the ends of the straight bar and the loop, i found the easiest way was to hold the end of the wire with my pliers, but instead of struggling to make a perfect circle, I wrapped it around a pencil (circular) and then cut off the excess, giving me very neat circles.

[MatrixQ]

This puzzle is great, I used to make tons of them, when I was younger. Though I used copper wire and soldered it together, but paperclips is a great idea, too. Keeps it a lot smaller than mine ever were.

Some tips:
I had done the trapped piece in the form of a heart. To get an even shape, I had drawn a heart on a piece of wood and put in nails around the outline. now I could just lay the wire around the nails and I would always have the exact shape I needed. If you plan on doing a lot of them, I strongly recommend preshaping every piece.

The puzzle works with 2 U shapes as well. You need a small U and a larger U. the larger U is created like your puzzle, the smaller U is hanging at the larger U (with the larger U going through the small U's loops). It becomes a lot more difficult, but it is solvable.

[rainspirit4]

Hey, is there any way to UNDO it without loosening the loop? please respond :D

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Yeah, same way you did it
http://www.instructables.com/id/Puzzle-made-of-paper-clips/step13/SOLUTION/

but in reverse order ;)

[rainspirit4]

HAhhaha yeah, i forgot the part where you push it back through the bow loop after the straight loop.... i feel stupid nowww.... hahaha thanks

[Mattrox]

Wow! Thats really cool. I've made a couple out of thicker wire. They're great little gifts. Good job.
:o)

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Great! Was it harder to make from thinker wire?
Do you have photos?

[Mattrox]

Yip, it was a fair bit harder, in fact the pliers gave me big blisters.
I'll take some photos as soon as I can.

[lightweight1206]

do you know that u can add another bow to the first one? and u can still hang the "heart" in the 2nd bow! ill try to post it when i get one done. we had one of this when we were kids.

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Yeah, please post it! I'd love to make one!

[flamethrower1010]

Haha got it! great instructable very detailed, I added a extra ring on the bow to throw off my friends

[Nicolas M]

AMAZING!!! A little time consuming though. This is the type of situation in which you would like to be friends with Bender from Futurama.

[Sergey Chernyshev]

It doesn't take that long once you know what you're doing - most of the time is reading the instructable ;)

[Appollo64]

Great Instuctable! You should put more puzzles up.

[Sergey Chernyshev]

I don't remember any other ones - maybe if I google a bit, I'll do, but this one was classic ;)

[Saturn V]

These things are addictive!!!  I haven't even solved my first one, and I'm already making a second!!!

[Saturn V]

Solved it, if only by dumb luck.  Didn't look at the solution.

[Sergey Chernyshev]

 It's not terribly complex, but it's good puzzle at young age, for sure. ;)

[Sergey Chernyshev]

 Yeah, they are pretty cool - I made tons of them, it's always easier to make one then to find old one too ;)

[yukonman]

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

[goku ssXXX]

this is awesome! great use of cheap materials!

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Thanks! This was the reason for creativity back then ;)

[The Wizard of Cause]

This is going to be another one of those things that makes me not work while at work. *Sigh*...

[Sergey Chernyshev]

 I'm thinking about an office project with business cards and stapler - complete work killer ;)

[Yandle]

Great job!.. just made one and I had troubles with making the loops rounded also. I can see how it would come naturally after making a few hundred of them though lol..

[Spedy]

Very cool, and as others have said very thorough. I have a box of paperclips one of my teachers gave me, so I'll make a bunch and sell em. :) 10/10

[Sergey Chernyshev]

I should probably sell kits ;)

[msw100]

(removed by author or community request)

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Great news! Good to see the creator here! Can you publish a story about it somewhere?

[joshuaburns]

how do you make such perfect loops, mine are all squary

[gabe1ong]

round nose pliers i guess, then just follow the curve

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Round nose are the best in this case. I actually used regular pliers, but very carefully shifting them to make round shape ;)

[gabe1ong]

exactly what i did, turned out fine with regular pliers : )

[Nautilus34]

in soviet russia, loops make you!!

[Sergey Chernyshev]

Just do it 100 times when you're a kid and you'll know ;) The other way is to use round-nose pliers ;)

[hivemachine]

cool puzzle...

[smashbob]

great i'ble interesting idea

[flio191]

lol, great 'structable but spell "throw" right! :P