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Author
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Topic: 209 pc. Brass and aluminum Puzzle
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Guillaume Largounez
Multiple
Member # 1726
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posted February 12, 2011 01:34 PM
     
Hello Joe,
Thanks for your videos. Your puzzles are beautiful.Are they expensive to make ? Does it take much time to design and build a metal burr ? Unlike wood, I guess that once the pieces are cut to the exact size, the tightness doesn't change according to temperature : wood expands across two directions only, which causes problems when extreme precision is required, while metal expands evenly towards all directions when heated. However, is it difficult to adjust the initial size ? Some burr puzzles, especially the high level 18-pieces burrs, for example, need to be cut differently accordign to the model of puzzle, so as not to be too tight, or too loose. How does the metal behave with time ?
Aluminium does not oxydize, I think, but brass certainly keeps finger marks, that are starting points for future oxydation that happens in several weeks. Are your brass puzzles regularly polished ? A friend of mine would love to see a kind of sticks-n-boards puzzle with boards in PMMA, like the Padaung Rings, but with sticks in metal instead of wood : http://www.cubicdissection.com/html/purchase/discont/padaung.html
Posts: 100 | From: | Registered: May 2010 | IP: Logged
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Joe Pieczynski
Multiple
Member # 1807
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posted February 13, 2011 12:40 PM
Hi Guillaume. Thank you for the compliment. These puzzles are just as much static sculpture as they are functional challenging puzzles. The stock they are fabricated from is available in many different square sizes. The larger the square, the greater the square can vary from the size ordered. They go by a percentage of the nominal stock size or a given +/- tolerance. You can get material as close as .002 from nominal. Thats 2 thousands of an inch. All of my puzzles were dimensioned after I bought the most accurate material I could find and measured it after it arrived in my shop. The aluminum material is light, easy to machine, and stays looking very good for a long period of time. Some long parts with most of the material relieved on one side only will bow almost everytime and require secondary straightening after the machining. I would like to clear coat the polished brass to head off the tarnishing, but no one has been able to offer a thickness control that wont ruin the fit of the parts after processing. I have yet to have a stability problem with any of these puzzles due to the material changing from age, tarnish or humidity. They are very stable. Not just everyone can produce a metal burr puzzle because it does require some very expensive machinery to cut the parts. They do sell small table top milling machines, but you will have to be very patient and take small cuts to produce a good part. This may be frustrating on a 200+ part puzzle unless you invest the time to build multi part holding fixtures. I enjoyed the link to the puzzle you provided in your reply. I can imagine that a metal and plastic version of that puzzle would be awesome. I was shocked at the low cost. No wonder it was sold out! If I had drawings of the parts needed, I am sure I could sneak in the time to make a few. Perhaps you could send me something to look at. jpieczynski221@aol.com is my e-mail address. I have 4 plastic puzzles in my large burr collection that I would like to post pictures of in the near future. My favorite is called Orion. It is named after the mythical hunter Orion, because after you take it apart, you'll be hunting for the solution or you sanity. I designed this puzzle and to this day, it still trips me up everytime I attempt it. It resembles the Altek 48 but it has a full seperate 12 piece altekruse core. So yes, it is a shell around a core. 2 in 1. Thanks for your feedback. I look forward to hearing from you in the future. JP
Posts: 7 | From: | Registered: Jan 2011 | IP: Logged
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