I’ve found myself fiddling with a couple of simple-looking
puzzles for the past few months … one of them because I couldn’t solve it and
the other in spite of the fact that I’d solved it!
3-piece co-ordinate motion ring
As we were all packing up to leave DCD Wil Strijbos took a
couple of rings out of his pocket and passed them round to a couple of us to
play with – they were both 3-piece co-ordinate motion ring assemblies – one of
them had rounded edges (which ended up with Ali) and the one I ended up
buying had square edges.
Wil had helpfully given them to us in pieces … three
identical pieces … so we did the obvious and tried putting them together –
after a little bit of fiddling, Ali got his together but no amount of trying on
the train to the airport, over dinner at the airport or in the departure lounge
could coax the square edged one together. Eventually on the plane somewhere
over the English Channel I managed to get it together… success!
..and together it stayed for a few months! Not because I
wasn’t trying to take it apart, but because I was being thick! You see the
tolerances on this little puzzle are so fine that unless you’re applying
exactly the right force(s), in the right direction(s), this puzzle goes
nowhere!
On his latest visit, Louis picked up the puzzle and
separated it effortlessly – and I realised that I’d been heading in the wrong
direction the whole time!
…so now I find myself absent-mindedly fiddling with it and
opening and closing it in a rather mesmerising manner. (And it even goes
together reasonably simply as long as you make sure that everything is aligned
absolutely perfectly!)
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POSTSCRIPT: Oli has just pointed out that this was an entry in the 2003 Design Competition in its round-edge format as Round Band Puzzle Ring by Yael Friedman.
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Wil’s Lego symmetry puzzle
On his last visit, Wil left me a copy of his little Lego
symmetry puzzle – and it has managed to confound me for several months. (I
know. I know. It’s not hard…)
One of the simplest looking little puzzles in the world to
make, it consists of three odd-shaped Lego plates – and your mission is to make
a few symmetrical shapes that preserve the checker-board pattern.
I’d tried on and off to find a single solution over several
months and this puzzle easily became one of my best challenges as
a result
A couple of weeks ago I eventually managed to find one
solution and I had to smile – serendipitously it was a shape that just happened
to fit in with the festive season that was kicking off at the time – how cool
is that?
I haven’t got much further on it – but at least I’ve managed
to find one solution, eh? Perhaps I’ll manage to find another in the New Year…
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