Japanese Crystal Puzzle 51 Pieces Combined and Scaled

prusaprinters

I scaled the original 51 piece "Japanese Crystal Puzzle" by NacAlain to 1/3 (33.33%) of the original size in three dimensions and I organized all the pieces into one stl to fit on a common Ender 3/Ender 5 sized print bed. (I've also seen the Japanese Crystal puzzle referred to as Pagoda and Burr Cube puzzle as well I think) I have printed it (successfully the first time!). It took 7 hours at 0.28mm layer height at 80mm/s. This combined stl file has all the pieces needed. I did not use a brim. For me, all of these scaled down pieces are just a little too wide for the channels that interlock the pieces together so each of my pieces needs about 30 seconds of filing with a mini-file to make the channels a little wider and a little deeper so the pieces fit together. If I were to print it this combined stl again, I would consider scaling the width (of the pieces) down by a percent or two. Be sure to have a small file around to deepen a channel up as needed so everything fits flush. After a few seconds of filing the channels wider and deeper, the assembly is still tight enough to hold itself together as it is being constructed which makes it easy to put together but be prepared to file each channel open and sand roundness from corners. I used these files which are small but about near perfectly sized for this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WDCBJ1G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I also used an emory board to sand the bulges off around the corners in some cases. It makes me want try out linear advance! ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3yK0lJ8TWM ) Narrowing the width should be easy to do in the slicer since all the parts in the combined stl are oriented in the same direction so you might consider making all the parts a little narrower by adjusting the width. The width of the channels would stay the same. That would result in for less post-processing (by filing of the channels wider (or the width thinner) I believe. This puzzle does work and I have assembled it successfully but every piece needed filing. The pieces fit tightly and held themselves together which made it easier to assemble. The three longest pieces that create the initial cross section I think could be improved a little as the tips of all three pieces have some sort of disconnect causing the tips to print as their own squares. They still work though but I would make those starting three pieces about 1mm longer as well so that the other pieces have a little more room as they stack up. If you scale down the width of all pieces by maybe 1%, the length of these longest three parts will probably be fine as they are as the pieces would crowd less as they stack up. I found a video solution for a similar puzzle is here if interested which is correct for assembling this model: The print would be a disaster without good bed adhesion as I didn't use a brim. I have a Creality glass bed which held the parts securely in place while printing). I used eSun PLA at 218C and a 65C bed. I think the flexability of the PLA+ aiding in assembling this model because it does get pretty tight and the pieces have a little more flex than regular PLA. It is probably a good idea to print a couple of the short pieces to test that the pieces fit into the channels properly. (This uses the originals scaled to 33.33%) I didn't do this but should have as that might have saved me from having to filing. Regardless, the model as is can be assembled if you don't mind a little filing of every piece to open the channels (assuming your printer performance is similar to mine). I also printed a 9 piece model here at 35% scale and 50% scale here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26569 and the parts came right off the bed and assembled with no filing at all. I think the tolerance of the 9 piece was better for me. That 9 piece design has an OpenSCAD file that produces exactly what I printed (but scaled). I have not compared the tolerances of the two designs but the 9 piece had improved tolerance for me I think. Have fun! Print Settings Printer Brand: Creality Printer: Ender 3 Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: .28 Infill: 38 Filament: PolyMaker PETG Category: Puzzles