Coffin's Quartet - Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #93)

prusaprinters

<h3>Coffin's Quartet</h3><h4>Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #93)</h4><p>Assemble the four pieces into a 3x3x3 cube.</p><p>This is a neat little design that makes a great introduction to Stewart Coffin's interlocking puzzles. As a puzzle, it's not too difficult, but it's a very elegant design: a 3x3x3 cube dissection that completely interlocks. Coffin wrote of this puzzle:</p><p>"[D]issections of the 3x3x3 cube continue to fascinate me, but especially those that interlock. Better still, with all dissimilar non-symmetrical pieces. Is such a five-piece version possible? I doubt it, after having searched for years. ... A four-piece version that satisfies all of these requirements can also be entertaining. Here is one."</p><p>Coffin also poses a provocative question: "How many others are possible? Why not explore on your own ..." If you like this puzzle, you might try searching for other similar designs ... and please post any that you find!</p><p>This puzzle has gone by various names over the years, including <i>Interlock Four</i>, <i>Coffin's Quartet</i>, and <i>Coffin's Four-Piece Cube</i>. Coffin's own "official" name is <i>Four-Piece Serially Interlocking Cube</i>. I usually prefer the canonical names, but that's a mouthful, so in this case I went with perhaps the most widely used of the others.</p><h4>Printing Instructions</h4><p>Print either <code>coffin.coffins-quartet.stl</code> <i>or</i> <code>coffin.coffins-quartet-smaller.stl</code>. I prefer the larger version, but the smaller one will use around 1/3 less material.</p><p>After you print it, first connect all the joints before attempting to solve the puzzle. Snap each male connector into a corresponding female connector (for example, the male connector labeled "A" should connect to the female connector with a matching "A" label on the interior).</p><p>The joints are designed to be tight, and depending on the printer and filament used, you may need to hammer them into place. If they come out too loose, a drop of superglue will make them more solid (in most cases this shouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately tolerances vary across printers and filaments). The snap joint concept is discussed further in this tutorial: <a href="https://www.puzzlehub.org/tutorials/getting-started">Getting Started with Puzzle Printing</a>.</p><h4>The Printable Puzzle Project</h4><p>The <a href="https://www.puzzlehub.org/ppp">Printable Puzzle Project</a> aims to make available high-quality open-source models of many puzzle designs. All of our models are posted with the generous permission of their designers and are licensed for <strong>non-commercial use only</strong>. Anyone may print copies for their own personal use, but selling or otherwise monetizing them is not permitted, and puzzle designers retain all rights as copyright holders of their work.</p><p>Our puzzles are modeled using the open-source <a href="https://www.puzzlehub.org/puzzlecad">puzzlecad</a> library. The <code>.scad</code> file is included with this model in case you want to modify any of its design parameters; more information on how to do this can be found in the PPP <a href="https://www.puzzlehub.org/tutorials/puzzle-modeling">Puzzle Modeling tutorial</a>.</p><h4>About the Designer</h4><p>Stewart Coffin has been called "the most outstanding designer and maker of interlocking puzzles that the world has ever seen". He is credited with over four hundred designs, has pioneered numerous ingenious puzzle forms, and has written extensively about puzzle design and craftsmanship. More information on Coffin, along with many other printable models of his designs, can be found on the <a href="https://www.puzzlehub.org/puzzles/stewart-coffin">Stewart Coffin Puzzles</a> overview page.</p><p>Happy puzzling!</p>