Staircase Puzzle Fidget Puck

thingiverse

The fun of this print lies in its appearance, which suggests it should easily fall apart in your hand. However, it is surprisingly difficult, if not impossible, to disassemble due to the way it's held together with keys/tabs/knobs resembling a jigsaw puzzle. Many people picked it up assuming it was a puzzle, and I spent considerable time making it possible to take apart. Unfortunately, the ease or impossibility of disassembling it greatly depends on the quality of the print. I designed this in Openscad but did not mark it as customizable because its ability to be disassembled heavily relies on how the settings interact with each other. I've included the source file so people can see how I achieved this and possibly work towards making it customizable. The name "Puck" was chosen because it reminded me of a hockey puck from Canada, where I'm from. While it might not last long in an actual game, I doubt that very much. I used the word "Staircase" to describe its shape as my family often referred to it in this manner. Initially, I considered calling it a "Penrose Staircase," inspired by its infinite steps when one stair is dropped and meshes with another. However, since technically the Penrose staircase is an optical illusion, I decided against using that name. The inspiration for this print came from a YouTube video of a cast metal puzzle. While my creation resembles a fidget puck that sometimes appears as a staircase, it's made of plastic and thus presents different challenges than the original cast metal puzzle. I didn't recreate either the shape of the actual hockey puck or the cast metal puzzle. I created this entirely on my own without referencing Hanayama puzzles, which I didn't have access to for measurement purposes. You can find the video by searching "Hanayama Cast Spiral Puzzle," but be warned: the solution is revealed in that video. The solution to my print shares some similarities with the Hanayama puzzle's solution. However, your printer may produce multiple possible solutions or none at all due to variations in print quality. If you're able to successfully print one and solve it, please leave a comment so I can learn from your experience.