Continuing to broaden my product range I have decided to start designing and manufacturing my own machined mechanical puzzles. Below is my first designed, prototyped and fully functioning puzzle. I am only starting to get the hang of designing more intricate puzzles that still maintain an ease of manufacturing. As you can imagine, most of the time, the harder a puzzle is to solve the tougher it is to machine(most of the time). As of this article I am trying to figure out what the best route is for me to offer this puzzle for sale. At this point I am leaning towards using Kickstarter to offer it. This will allow me to get the money up front for fixturing, tooling and material all while knowing a I have a customer base for the product to go to after it is machined.
My aim is to keep these puzzles affordable to most people. Therefore, you will not see any colorful anodizing on my aluminum puzzles. At most you will see some brass pieces mixed in with the aluminum pieces to add to the uniqueness of the puzzle.