Free the Rope

I saw this puzzle in a novelty shop a while ago and thought I would have a go at making one myself. I didn’t have any suitable timber for the required size other than radiata pine, but I did have some 30mm redwood strips that I have been using as paint stirrers, so I decided I would use them for this project.

Step 1: Sourcing My Materials

Step 2: Making the Frame

I started by cutting them into 150mm lengths (mainly because I could make two from each piece) and glueing them into 5 x 180mm squares as shown. To fit the eye bolts, I cut out sections about 25mm along each side of the centre square and chiselled off each side of the squares that would marry up either side of this square. In hindsight, I should have drilled the holes to accommodate the eye bolts first before glueing as it would have made for a much neater hole. I’m definitely not a craftsman. With that done, I glued all pieces together and gave it a quick sand followed by two coats of clear varnish.

Step 3: Prepare the Eyebolts

I bought four 200mm eyebolts from my local hardware store to use as part of this puzzle. I cut three of them down to 120mm just above the thread, and the fourth at 90mm. The internal diameter of each eyebolt is 25mm. I roughened the end of each by cutting grooves with a grinder to help with fixing them to the frame with glue.
I just used Araldite, which is an epoxy glue to fix them to the frame, but i recon wood glue would work just as well because of the grooves.

Step 4: Hiding My Mistakes

I assembled each eye bolt with a washer to tidy up the hole.
On the reverse side, I cut some steel rod and inserted them to hide the mounting holes I made during the construction phase. There is always a way to hide your stuff ups.
For the loop, I cut a length of braided rope and joined the tips by melting with a lighter.

Step 5: Task at Hand

The puzzle now is to remove the rope from the eyebolts – not as easy as it looks.
For those who give up and want the solution, it is included below in step 6.

Step 6: The Solution

Comments

[rnwalton]

Same issue as everyone else. You can't see what is being done, not even how the rope is looped at the start. Video is a puzzle in itself.

[CHRIS11556]

Hah, its definately a puzzle.🙂

[Ace11162]

once i seen your puzzle i had to download the plans.
We have three grandchildren and it will be awesome to help them solve it. It will also give great pleasure to build it too.
Thank you very much
Don

[CHRIS11556]

I hope you make it and the kids enjoy it.🙂

[AussieAlf]

No problem Don, glad you like it. Cheers..Alf

[Prayogshala06]

Good activity for brain

[AussieAlf]

Thanks Prayogshala06, not that easy to solve

[Instructo-novice]

Very nice, definitely going to make this! Still trying to understand how the eye-bolts are glued to the frame? It just says glue... wood glue? Epoxy? Can you also include the eye-bolt lengths in the instructions?

[rnwalton]

Why not just screw them in? They come threaded that way. It seems like all the work to cut off the ends and glue them is a lot of extra work.

[AussieAlf]

Hi,
So sorry that i missed that you had asked a question, my apologies.
The eyebolts were 200mm in length, and i cut three of them down to 120mm just above the thread, and the fourth at 90mm.
The internal diameter of the eyebolts is 25mm. I just used Araldite, which is an epoxy glue, but i recon wood glue would work as well if you cut grooves in the eyebolts like i did.
Cheers

[rwhitehouse]

Can't see anything. The hands are in the way!

[BobC167]

Remove the rope. How ? The man's hands are in the way. Can't see anything

[AndrewB624]

so i made one (little bit harder then i thought but not to bad) and my dad tried for a few hours and then my mom tried it and said it wasnt possible lmao!

[AussieAlf]

Well done. Yes it can be frustrating to solve. Cheers

[JonathonT]

Hi, great project. It would be helpful if you went back in the instructable and added some of the missing information from the questions below. Size and length of the eye bolts, where the eyebolts were positioned, how the eye bolts were glued in, etc. Needs a bit of cleanup to actually follow the instructions! Thanks!

[AussieAlf]

Hi Jonathon,
Mate, i did answer those questions, look under WoodChuck ans SteveS125 replies. As for the glue, i just used araldite, any glue should be good enough make sure you rough up the end of each eyebolt as mentioned.
Yes i guess I've got my hands in tge way a bit in the video..sorry about that
Cheers, Alf

[jegatheesan.soundarapandian]

Very nice puzzle and very difficult to complete. Even see one time it forgot again.....Superb

[AussieAlf]

Thanks Jegatheesan,
Glad you like it. Yes i think i repeated a step in the video, it's quite confusing.
Cheers,

[3dwoodplans]

Very cool puzzle. What is the length of each eye-bolt and how far from the corners are the holes drilled.

[AussieAlf]

Thanks, glad you liked it. The eyebolts were originally 200mm in length, and i cut them three at 120mm, the fourth at 90mm.
The internal diameter of the eyebolts are 25mm
The internal length of the square is 115mm, the holes are 25mm in from the side.
Cheers