3D Jigsaw Puzzle

thingiverse

With a 3D printer, would it not make excellent sense to make a 3D jigsaw puzzle? It takes most people about 30 minutes to solve the puzzle, and everyone likes it so far (your mileage may vary!) The easiest thing to do is to just print out the 8 stl files which gives you all 64 pieces for my 4x4x4 puzzle. However, you can also choose to make your own! Run the included python script, giving as arguments the dimensions of your desired puzzle (e.g. "random_puzzle.py 4 4 4 > MyJigsaw.scad"). The output file (MyJigsaw.scad) can be read into OpenSCAD, and now you can modify the very final line of the file (the one with "many_cubes()") to build an array of cubelets. When I printed I went 8 at a time (more than 9 wouldn't fit on my printer's build plate, and going 9 at a time still means I need 8 total .stl files, so I just went with 8 x 8-cube files). Anyway, you go through a cycle of: * update many_cubes() line * F6 to render * Save stl file * Repeat! People have commented that the puzzle would be better if the pieces actually snapped together. I thought that too, but there are two reasons. First, if the pieces snap together, then when two or three pieces are in a corner configuration, it's hard to impossible to fit the new one in without pulling it apart anyway. Second, I don't have a good design for a snap shape which is both easy to put together, and pull apart, and hold together, all within the tolerance of my standard PLA printer.