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Every year I've tried to make something for my nephew. This year I made him a tiny little SOMA cube puzzle and a box to hold it.
Kinda fun making the little tiny dovetail box to hold the cube. Got the box dimensions by cutting the four pieces a bit over long and then holding them up against the box to get the final width. A little scribing, a little sawing and a bit of shooting board work and bingo, a nice slip fit.
Bottom of the box is some home-made walnut ply done with three layers of veneer. That way it could just be glued on and I don't expect any issues.
Quarter is for scale.
Will it all fit in the box?
Well, at least the puzzle forms a cube!
Success, it fits!
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Soma cube puzzle was one of my favorite toys as a kid. I've thought about building one for the fun of it. I like the storage box idea, the original didn't have one.
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jppierson said:
Soma cube puzzle was one of my favorite toys as a kid. I've thought about building one for the fun of it. I like the storage box idea, the original didn't have one.
There are many variations on the SOMA cube. Some of which are much harder to solve because they have fewer possible solutions. I think the SOMA cube can be assembled 240 different ways if you count the three possible rotations for each solution.
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. -- G. Carlin
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Nifty!
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Very cool. I also had one of these as a kid and have thought about building a wood version. I have a question about the puzzle pieces. It looks like you glued them up out of individual square blocks. Did you have any issues with gluing the end grain? Did you reinforce the glue joints with anything (like dowels)?
Vince Ancona
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Very nice job, Rob!
Hail St. Roy, Full of Grace, The Schwarz is with thee.
Blessed art thou among woodworkers, and blessed is the fruit of thy saw, dovetails.
Holy St. Roy, Master of Chisels, pray for us sharpeners now, and at the hour of planing.
Amen.
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Vince said:
Very cool. I also had one of these as a kid and have thought about building a wood version. I have a question about the puzzle pieces. It looks like you glued them up out of individual square blocks. Did you have any issues with gluing the end grain? Did you reinforce the glue joints with anything (like dowels)?
Individual blocks.
So small and not structural so just PVA (for speed of build). Picked up blocks at random to orient them in the individual shapes. Butt joints/rub joints are plenty strong for this application. You could also use epoxy.
I made a little squaring jig that helps keep the blocks aligned.
The little walnut box on the other hand is assembled with hide glue including making the "plywood" for the bottom.
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. -- G. Carlin
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What is the size of each individual block?
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