Cube-16 - Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #205)

Cube-16

Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #205)

Assemble the five pieces into a 4x4x4 cube.

This is an interlocking puzzle based on the same ideas as Coffin's earlier Patio Block. In Coffin's words: "It represents a conversion of Patio Block #82 from an eight-piece box-packing problem to a five piece interlocking cube."

This is one of Coffin's more obscure designs, often overlooked in favor of his better-known interlocking cube puzzles such as Convolution. If it doesn't quite rise to the level of genius of Coffin's greatest designs, this is nonetheless an excellent puzzle, fun but not too difficult, and well worth the effort to print.

Printing Instructions

Print either coffin.cube-16.stl or coffin.cube-16-smaller.stl. I prefer the larger version, but the smaller one will use around 40% less material.

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).

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: 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 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 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, along with many other printable models of his designs, can be found on the Stewart Coffin Puzzles overview page.

Happy puzzling!