3D Puzzle

For Christmas, Olivierbricole's shop made a 3D puzzle, inspired from a model I found on Pinterest, but I can't find again the source.

On a wooden basis are attached wooden rods with different lengths. disks with different hole patterns are inserted on the rods in a given sequence. When finished, the puzzle is a complete cylinder.

Better have a look to the pictures which shows the sequence to understand.

I first published this instructable in french on my blog. You can visit it, there are many other articles.

Olivierbricole

Step 1: Cut the Disks

I long hesitated on the number of rods, and I ended up with 6 around and 1 in the center. It is easy to trace with a compas, and the size is reasonable. I cut a first disk in thick plywood with the scroll saw and I used this first disk as a template for the next ones made out of thinner plywood. Everything went quite well until I made a knotch in the first disk (and the other one of course).

Step 2: Sand the Edges Together

I attached some disks together and sanded the edges on the drum sander to smooth the edges and get a quite circular shape. I repeated with the rest of the disks.

Step 3: Drill the Holes

I then drilled pilot holes in the basis, and carefully drilled the right pilot holes on the other disks.

this pilot hole allows to center the big drill for the rod. I drilled from one side till half of the thickness and drilled the rest from the other side, this allows to avoid splinters in the wood and both faces are clean.

I sanded the holes with the drum sander.

Step 4: Fix the Rods and Test

For the rods, I used a curtain wooden rod. The rods are cut with different lengths so that they are flush with the disk.

Rods and disks are colored with tinted alcool (I already explained how I made this stain in other instructables).

Rods are screwed on the basis from the bottom, starting with the center one and then the shorter to the taller. I used the disks as templates to fix the rods in the right place.

It works, but I had to enlarge the holes a little bit to make easier to insert the disks. I also used some wax to make the surfaces as sliding as possible.

Comments

[Penolopy Bulnick]

This is a fun puzzle design :)

[oragamiunicorn]

this looks excellent, perhaps spoiled slightly by the exposed screws. I would imagine the dowels / rods could have been glued instead, alternatively the screws could be covered with a thin layer of ply, or countersunk and covered with dowel plugs.

If I've understood the puzzle right, it must stack with the most holes at the bottom through to the least at the top? If so, not so much of a puzzle more of a stacking toy for toddlers? As an alternative maybe you could consider either loose dowels which have to be slotted in to the right space at the right time, or dowels which are fixed into the various layers at various heights so that it is unclear which order they go. As such you could alter they puzzle's design to make it suited to different age groups.

[jessyratfink]

I love wooden toys! These look so nice.