My son has been getting more and more interested in wood working. He's
in 9th grade and has been getting pretty good at using the scroll saw
and he's finally learned to watch his finger tips on the sander :-)

He saw some of the 3D wooden puzzles and would like to attempt one.
I was wondering if anyone knew of anyone beginner level free ones
online?

thanks

-dave

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?

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

-Mike

Dave Chamberlain wrote:
My son has been getting more and more interested in wood working. He's
in 9th grade and has been getting pretty good at using the scroll saw
and he's finally learned to watch his finger tips on the sander :-)

He saw some of the 3D wooden puzzles and would like to attempt one.
I was wondering if anyone knew of anyone beginner level free ones
online?

thanks

-dave

Dave Chamberlain wrote:
My son has been getting more and more interested in wood working. He's
in 9th grade and has been getting pretty good at using the scroll saw
and he's finally learned to watch his finger tips on the sander :-)

He saw some of the 3D wooden puzzles and would like to attempt one.
I was wondering if anyone knew of anyone beginner level free ones
online?

thanks

-dave

I don't know of any free plans but here are a few sites with lots of ideas.

http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles/

http://www.puzzlesolver.com/index.php

http://www.cleverwood.com/puzzles_by_type.htm

"Dave Chamberlain" wrote in message

He saw some of the 3D wooden puzzles and would like to attempt one.
I was wondering if anyone knew of anyone beginner level free ones
online?

I have a 3x3x3 block puzzle of irregular shapes. If you like I can take some
pictures of the pieces and post them in abpw. Each 1x1x1 section is an exact
cube so it shouldn't be too difficult to replicate the entire puzzle from
picture examples.

This message is for Son of Dave:

Hi, how ya doing!

This NG your dad posted at does not have a lot of Scrollers because of the
general nature of this NG.

If you are enjoying the hobby of scroll sawing, why not go on over to a
couple of forums just for people who like the hobby.
This site is hosted by a scroll saw magazine Scroll Saw Workshop:
http://www.scrollsawer.com/forum/index.php?

This site is also a good site:
http://www.woodworkingcrafts.com/info/forums/index.php?

There are about 5 or 6 other sites for scroll sawers where your question
about 3-D puzzle for a beginner might be answered. Go ahead and visit and
read some post. You might just like the company there and want to join.

BTW: I know this is not at your level yet, but someday it will be:
http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles/index.html

Phil

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

On Thu, 2 Jun 2005 15:55:09 +0000 (UTC), Dave Chamberlain
wrote:

My son has been getting more and more interested in wood working. He's
in 9th grade and has been getting pretty good at using the scroll saw

Some years ago, I had a pile of thick ivy (4" diameter) and a friend had
a new scrollsaw. So we made lots of things from the pair, including
"Slide-apart ring" on this page
http://www.jarkman.co.uk/catalog/jewel/index.htm

The same idea works for all sorts of puzzle boxes - you just saw out
progressively larger "keyholes" from the piece, starting with the
smallest and first to open, then turning it round 90° between them - I
think one puzzle had seven parts.

Thanks for the suggestions!

The http://www.research.ibm.com/BurrPuzzles site looks very
helpful, as do the other sites. This was allows you to design it
and test it on the web.

He's been having a great time experimenting and I think that
having to plan things out before jumping in is helpful to
him.

Thanks again!

-davec
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