Introduction: Spider Web Puzzle
This is a well known classical disentanglement puzzle. The aim of this puzzle is to free the ring. I made only a graphical arrangement for this puzzle. This is a simple puzzle and very easy to make. With a good workshop possibilities you can make more than 50 puzzle in one day and may be a good gift for kids.
How to make your own spider web
First you can start by cutting a square wood piece. For this puzzle I used a square wood piece 60 x 60 x 8 mm. Dimensions of this puzzle aren't critical. You can use any dimension according to your materials. I can say only min. 50 x 50 and max 75 x 75 mm may be a good dimension for playing. (min 2x2 inch and max 3x3 inch).Wood thickness may be between 6 – 10 mm.
The template (Drawing 2) is for 60x60 mm square. You can save this picture, scale and print according to your material dimensions. After cutting a square , I cut four corners with a hand saw. Green lines show the outside of your square and hole centers. You can drill 10 mm holes (may be between 9-12 mm or bigger for a bigger puzzle). After sanding, you can draw your spider web and spider on the wood with a ball point pen. Don't use ink pens. If you have a wood burning machine, burning on wood is the best way. And don't forget adding feet for spider. For finish I applied a kind of lacquer mixed with thinner with an artistic brush. If you like you can use spray varnish.
And third drawing show rope arrangement. You can use a non elastic thick rope about 3 mm diameter. Beads must be bigger than your hole diameter. If you can find some wooden beads looking like a bug egg may be look better.
I used a small wooden ring. But you can use anything that you can find. If you like you can fix a small plastic fly on the ring with glue. Plastic flies are easy to find from fishing suppliers.
Solution
Take the loop 1, pass it from the hole 2 and after over the bead 3. Pull it back from the hole 2 and now the ring is free
If you like mechanical puzzles and looking for more puzzle craft projects,you can visit my non commercial blog "diypuzzles"
9 Comments
8 years ago
excellent instructable. very easy to make. making them as a stocking stuffer for my kids.
9 years ago on Introduction
how do you reset the puzzle once solved? Thanks
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Yo must make everything that you made for solving in reverse order. This is a part of the puzzle too.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
I thought so but was unsure. Thanks a lot
10 years ago on Introduction
nice one puzzlehan ;)
10 years ago on Introduction
Great work, how long do you recommend the ropes being?
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks for all nice comments. I explained the solution in the last paragraph. The ropes must be long enough to enter from another hole and pass over a bead. At the beginning you can cut your ropes a little long, fix only one bead and make a play test. According to your test result, if you like you can cut from one end. But in any case rope length isn't too much critical.
10 years ago on Introduction
Very clever puzzel and design :)
10 years ago on Introduction
this is great! i love making puzzles for my girlfriends little sister and this one i will make next!