Involute - Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #214)

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Involute Interlocking Puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #214) Assemble the eight pieces into a 4x4x4 cube. Involute is the third and final entry in Stewart Coffin's classic trilogy of interlocking cube puzzles. It refines his earlier designs, Convolution and Involution, with a unique "coordinate motion" that remains unmatched. A masterpiece of design ingenuity, Involute involves a most baffling kind of movement. Updated March 2020 with a new design and larger size. Printing Instructions Two versions are provided: a four-color version and a single-color version. The multicolor version uses snap joints to enable each piece to be printed in several components with different colors. It's the preferred version, as shown in the photo. The single-color version lacks aesthetic appeal but is designed for ease of printing. To print the four-color version, print coffin.involute.color-1.stl through coffin.involute.color-4.stl each in a different filament color; colors 1 through 3 will appear on windmill patterns on cube faces, and color 4 will appear on corners. You can also print a two-color version by using the same color for color-1 through color-3. To print the single-color version, print coffin.involute.single-color.stl. There is also a smaller variant provided, coffin.involute.single-color-smaller.stl, which will use around half as much material. After printing, first connect all 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). The joints are designed to be tight and may require hammering into place. If they come out too loose, a drop of superglue will make them more solid. Unfortunately, tolerances vary across printers and filaments, so this may not always be necessary. The snap joint concept is discussed further in this tutorial: Getting Started with Puzzle Printing. The Printable Puzzle Project The Printable Puzzle Project aims to make available high-quality open-source models of many puzzle designs. All 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. 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 design parameters; more information on how to do this can be found in the PPP Puzzle Modeling tutorial. About the Designer 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 can be found on the Stewart Coffin Puzzles overview page. Happy puzzling!