Something I want to learn to do…

The Turner’s Cube: Classic machinist’s exercise

The Turner’s Cube: Classic machinist’s exercise

This lovely object is more than just an interesting gewgaw: It’s called a “turner’s cube”–so named, I think, because it is a challenge for one who turns on a lathe rather than eponymously–and according to Bob Warfield, “[i]n the old days, novice machinist’s [sic] were handed one and told to work out how to make one of their own.” Bob’s got a cool page describing his efforts to make one manually and then using a CNC mill, with some bonus commentary on this thread by CNC Zone member widgitmaster, who made the cube pictured above, using the jig pictured above, on a big engine lathe. Beautiful!

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Twisting puzzles designed, built by my 15-year-old neighbor

Twisting puzzles designed, built by my 15-year-old neighbor

Bumped into one of my new neighbors at the mailbox last week, and when I mentioned that I work for MAKE, she mentioned that her teenage son builds puzzles. Mechanical puzzles. Complicated ones. Turns out, he doesn’t just build them–he designs original configurations and sells them online. He’s got a following.

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