Lollipop puzzle

This puzzle is very similar to Dumb-bell puzzle. For craft tips you can read Dumb-bell puzzle. The aim of the puzzle is removing the ring.

If you want make your own puzzle this small drawing can help you,

Turtles puzzle

Another variation of three hole puzzle that I made . Puzzle pieces and approximate dimensions are here,

For solution and detailed rope arrangement photos you can download or preview my free PDF file from here. (1.27 MB on secure server box.com).

 

Turtle and rabbits puzzle

This is my variation for three hole puzzle. This puzzle is more difficult to solve. The aim of the puzzle is removing center bead from the system. My dimensions for this puzzle is here.

For rope arrangement and solution I hope these photos will be enough.

If you change the rope arrangement you can make a different version of this puzzle, Here version 02 of this puzzle,

Three hole puzzle

Hello to all puzzle friends. After long time finally I can enter to my workshop for a few new puzzles. I was made this puzzle long time ago. This is a very easy puzzle. This puzzle may be a start point for beginners. the aim of the puzzle is removing the bead from the system. After making this puzzle I found this very simple and I decided to make a few variations more difficult. I will share them also with you. If you want make this puzzle my dimensions are here,

I made this puzzle from a 3 mm thick wood piece. But wood thickness isn’t critical. You can use something between 3-10 mm. My bead diameter is about 20 mm. Bead diameter must be smaller than hole diameter. Rope arrangement and solution is below.

 

Eight cubes

This puzzle is made of eight cubes. On each small cube there are six different shape (or color) The aim of this puzzle is to arrange eight cubes so each face of the cube will contain same four shape (or color) and all internal touching cube faces will have same shape (or color).  This puzzle is more difficult to solve than you expect. By turning cubes and trying, it’s nearly impossible to find correct solution. For each small cube arrangement there are two way. You can read more about the mathematics of this puzzle from here. I made for myself two different version of this puzzle. I used 30x30x30 mm (11/4″x11/4×11/4) wooden cubes. I cut them from a 30×30 mm stock with a miter saw. For the version on the left I draw shapes with some templates and painted them with an ink pen. For the colored version I draw circles on each cube face and I painted outside of the cubes with black and inside of the circles with color ink pens. You can make also with wood burning or by pattern transfer methods on wood. If you want you can also print labels and you can put labels on school cubes etc. Or you can find your best method.

If you want make your own puzzle, puzzle pieces are here. You can read also more information about this puzzle and you can find the solution of this puzzle from Jaap’s octacube puzzle page. If you follow solution steps you can solve and also you can understand better this puzzle.

Nine queens puzzle

Eight queens puzzle was one of my old puzzles. When I shared this puzzle I saw nine queens chess puzzle on wiki page.  This was a good puzzle idea and I decided to make a nine queens puzzle. Unfortunately all the solutions that I found on the web was including empty tiles. I tried to find a solution so each tile include a queen. After a few hour my sister found a solution. As you can see from photo there are three type of piece. One piece has a queen on center square. Four piece has a queen on the corner square and four piece with a queen at the center of the edge.  The distribution of tiles looks interesting.

The aim of this puzzle is placing eight chess queens on an 9×9 chessboard so that no two queens threaten each other. For solving this problem, you must place nine wooden tiles so no two queens share the same row, column, or diagonal.For making this puzzle I used 6 mm cherry wood. I cut first a 30 mm strip and after 30×30 mm tiles. I made saw traces with a hand saw. I made spots with my wood burning tool. Tiles are two sided.

This is a very easy to make puzzle. But if you don’t have woodworking possibilities you can download or preview  print and play PDF file including solution from here. (0.4 MB on secure server box.com) You can print and play or you can glue them on thick cardboard. Another easy and durable puzzle making method is printing them on full sheet label and putting them on plastic tiles.

Ariel puzzle

Another old puzzle from Victorian era. This puzzle was in my “do it list”. Finally I made this puzzle according the drawing from the book “Puzzles old and new” by professor Hoffmann. A nice but forgotten puzzle. You can see an original antique example from here.  The aim of this puzzle is to free the red rope and big bead from the system. If you are good about solving string puzzles, this puzzle may be easy for you. But for a lot of people may be very confusing.

I made some small changes for making this puzzle easily in my workshop. I made the base of the puzzle from olive tree and other parts are from beech. You can make this puzzle with a few hand tools. You can find beads from craft stores. Sometimes I visit craft stores and buy beads, wooden rings, metal rings etc. This small things are very useful for puzzle craft. In my workshop I have a big box of beads, rings etc. The big yellow bead is an imitation amber bead from India. This is only for fixing ends of red rope. You can find some thing decorative or you can make a small decorative object from wood. If you want make your own Ariel puzzle you can preview or download my free PDF file including drawings, cutting templates and solution from here (1.6 MB on secure server box.com)

Architect’s dilemma

A crazy businessman find ten billionaire and prepare with them a dream office plan for each one. And this businessman comes to the architect and want them to build a tower according to this ten plan. Architect make a model for each dream office and try to put them in his tower. This is my funny story for this puzzle.

The aim of this puzzle is to place ten piece inside the frame. For this puzzle I am inspired from “Campanile” of Naefspiele.  I made my own design. My design is different then campanile. Pieces are different and in my design the center of the frame is empty. According to my computer analysis campanile has 256 solution and this puzzle has 56 solution.

For making this puzzle I used 20x20x20 mm ready beech stocks and my hand miter saw as usual. I painted frame with colored varnish for a better appearance. If you have possibilities you can use different woods for frame and puzzle pieces. Puzzle pieces are here,

The only part difficult to make of this puzzle is the frame. I prepared a document for making your own puzzle with craft tips. If you want make your own puzzle you can preview or download my free PDF file including craft tips and solution from here (0.6 MB on secure server box.com)

Half cubes

This puzzle pieces are made by joining half cubes. I guess original idea belongs to Toshiaki Betsumiya. He was designed Gemini puzzle for Naef spiegel AG. This company has very nice products. You can see some of their other puzzles fom Rob’s puzzle page. Gemini puzzle is aiming to make a 4x4x5 block fom a mathematical set made by joining half cubes. After Stewart

Coffin was designed “Split cube”. He was designed a 4x4x4 cube by using some pieces of this mathematical set.

And lastly I designed my own puzzle “Half cubes” by using some other pieces of this mathematical set. This puzzle has four solution. Puzzle pieces are here,

For making this puzzle you must cut 16 half cube. For this purpose I used a 40×20 mm ready stock and I cut 40x40x20 mm pieces with my hand miter saw. If you glue first 7 th pieces (bottom line third piece) you can use this piece as a jig for gluing other pieces. Another easy to make and difficult to solve puzzle. If you need solution you can preview or download this free PDF file including pieces photos and solution from here. ( 0.3 MB on secure server box.com)

Skyscraper

This puzzle is one of my old puzzle designs and craft. I made this puzzle long time ago from Jenga parts. I was found some small  Chinese Jenga sets for a very low price. You can make this puzzle very easily with a hand saw by cutting and gluing Jenga pieces. If you want you can make also a better copy by using ready stocks. I painted puzzle pieces with acrylic paint. I am sure you can paint also better than me. Puzzle pieces are here,