Cuckoo Nest - Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #21)

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Cuckoo NestInterlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #21)Assemble the seven pieces into the interlocking nest shape shown in the photo.This classic puzzle is Coffin's first design involving interlocking hexagonal sticks and dowels. There is one "free" stick/dowel pair, and the remainder are permanently joined into various "elbow pieces" as shown in the photos. The confusing geometry of Cuckoo Nest, and the slight variations in the manner in which the dowel pieces are constructed, make for a satisfying challenge, despite the small number of pieces involved. If you enjoy this one, you might also try Locked Nest, which ups the difficulty.Printing InstructionsPrint one copy of coffin.cuckoo-nest.hex-sticks.stl, five copies of coffin.cuckoo-nest.elbow-dowel.stl, and one copy of coffin.cuckoo-nest.free-dowel.stl. The dowels are intentionally oriented vertically in order to produce smooth cylinders; printing horizontally with supports gives poor results. You might wish to print them with a raft or brim for stability (although I've had success printing them directly on the bed with no brim). To get the contrasting effect shown in the photo, print the sticks and dowels in different filament colors.After printing, first assemble the pieces before attempting to solve the puzzle. Five of the pieces are "elbow pieces" that have a dowel permanently attached to a hexagonal stick. To assemble the elbow pieces, screw the threaded dowel segments into the the corresponding threaded holes into the hexagonal sticks. Each threaded hole is marked on the inside with one or three dots. Screw a short dowel segment into each hole with one dot and a long dowel segment into each hole with three dots. (One of the hexagonal sticks has no threaded hole, and correspondingly, one of the dowels is a single solid cylinder with no threads.)Once screwed together, the elbow pieces are intended to remain permanently joined (the screws are not part of the puzzle). If you'd like, put a generous drop of superglue into each hole before screwing in the dowels; this will ensure a strong, precise, permanent connection.If you find that the free dowel is too loose in the final assembly, you can try replacing it with the alternate (optional) coffin.cuckoo-nest.free-dowel-tighter.stl.The Printable Puzzle ProjectThe Printable Puzzle Project 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 non-commercial use only. 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.Our puzzles are modeled using the open-source puzzlecad library. The .scad 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 Puzzle Modeling tutorial.About the DesignerStewart 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 Stewart Coffin Puzzles overview page.Happy puzzling!