On 2 Jun 2005 11:51:51 -0700, "Mike Reed"
wrote:

These suggestions involve straight cuts, not curved cuts like a lot of
the 3d puzzles...

Could he prototype some puzzles with legos? I think if you started
experimenting, you could come up with some decent cube puzzles designed
around a 3x3x3 breakup of a cube. Those would also be easiest to cut.

I guess you could actually mill some square stock and crosscut 9 small
cubes off of it, and prototype with those. To make a puzzle piece,
temporarily hold the small cubes together with headless brads on
adjacent surfaces? Or maybe with hot glue?

I use masking tape when cutting two sides of a table leg taper on the
bandsaw. Works pretty well- I'd be a little worried about using brads
simply because they're likely to mess up the blade if you slip. Then
again, if you're cutting something like a puzzle piece on several
different orientations, it might hold together on it's own, provided
you don't slide them apart.

Maybe even start with flat puzzles, using pieces made from squares.

I think it would be a good exercise for a teenager to design the puzzle
himself anyway

Maybe, but sometimes it's easier to use a plan or make a copy of
something the first time around to figure out the things to watch for
first.

My vote would be to buy one of those cheap plastic puzzles, take it
apart, and copy it- then go from there with your own design. I've got
one that makes an apple when assembled, and the technique looks like
it would be relatively simple. Basically, you could slice a cube into
several thin slices, cut those into flat-style jigsaw pieces, and then
glue adjacent peices together to make many two-layered pieces
(assembling the finished parts after each glue-up to make sure there
is nothing in the way for the next two pieces). When all that is
done, and you've got the cube back together, carve the finished block
to the shape you want. The one I've got just has a little plastic
dowel with a flair on each end to hold the thing together when
assembled.

It's a big project, but it could be awfully interesting to do!




-Mike