Oskar Puzzles offers mechanical puzzles and objects that can only exist thanks to 3D printing technologies. All designed by M. Oskar van Deventer. Since 1978, he has been creating hundreds of mechanical puzzles, making him one of the world's most prolific designers. Several of his innovative designs are commercially available, including Oskar's Cube, a metal maze cube that is completely hollow inside.
Order 3D-printed do-it-yourself puzzle kits from Shapeways at this page (and check with Oskar about screws and stickers), or contact Oskar directly if you want to buy a fully dyed, assembled and stickered puzzle.
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Cooksey Maze is a maze concept invented by an Englishman named "Mr. Richard Cooksey" in the 1970's. An evolved metal+plastic version with springs and pins was prototyped by Pentangle, but it was never taken in production. Oskar has been trying to locate Cooksey for quite some time, as the original "Cooksey Cilinder" has been an inspiration for many of Oskar's puzzle designs. This is a modified version of the original Cooksey Cylinder with a much simplified mechanism.
Earn a free Cooksey Maze if you can bring Oskar in contact with the original inventor of this maze concept. We know nothing more than his name, the fact that he is an Englishman, and that he already was an adult in the 1970's. Also the people who operated Pentangle in the 1970's do not have more identifying information.
Please order a 3D-printed do-it-yourself puzzle kit from Shapeways at this page (check with Oskar about the nylon wire), or contact Oskar directly if you are interested in obtaining a fully colored, stickered and assembled sample of this puzzle.
Total Eclipse is a spherical cage with two rings inside. The object is to get the two rings out. That is difficult, as each of the rings is solving a maze.
The name of the puzzle refers to the total eclipse of the sun in 1999, which was visible in Europe. The puzzle was developed earlier that year.
This is the sixth puzzle out of a series of six. It is a tribute to the Cooksey Maze by Richard Cooksey. See http://www.shapeways.com/model/113356/cooksey_maze.html --- This specific puzzle has a ring two different rectangular pins at an angle of 22.5 degrees, and a matching maze cylinder. It is very confusing to solve, as you have to check both pins simultaneously.
This is the first puzzle out of a series of six. It is a tribute to the Cooksey Maze by Richard Cooksey. See http://www.shapeways.com/model/113356/cooksey_maze.html --- This specific puzzle has a ring two identical square pins, and a matching maze cylinder. It is very confusing to solve, as you have to check both pins simultaneously.
This is the second puzzle out of a series of six. It is a tribute to the Cooksey Maze by Richard Cooksey. See http://www.shapeways.com/model/113356/cooksey_maze.html --- This specific puzzle has a ring two identical square pins at an angle of 45 degrees, and a matching maze cylinder. It is very confusing to solve, as you have to check both pins simultaneously.
This is the third puzzle out of a series of six. It is a tribute to the Cooksey Maze by Richard Cooksey. See http://www.shapeways.com/model/113356/cooksey_maze.html --- This specific puzzle has a ring two identical square pins at an angle of 22.5 degrees, and a matching maze cylinder. It is very confusing to solve, as you have to check both pins simultaneously.
This is the fourth puzzle out of a series of six. It is a tribute to the Cooksey Maze by Richard Cooksey. See http://www.shapeways.com/model/113356/cooksey_maze.html --- This specific puzzle has a ring two different rectangular pins oriented horizontally and vertically, and a matching maze cylinder. It is very confusing to solve, as you have to check both pins simultaneously.
This is the fifth puzzle out of a series of six. It is a tribute to the Cooksey Maze by Richard Cooksey. See http://www.shapeways.com/model/113356/cooksey_maze.html --- This specific puzzle has a ring two different rectangular pins at an angle of 45 degrees, and a matching maze cylinder. It is very confusing to solve, as you have to check both pins simultaneously.
Simplicity is the brilliant design of sliding-piece guru Jimmy Stephens from Atlanta. Using a computer search and a genetic algorithm, he discovered the hardest sliding piece puzzle there is on a 4x4 grid. Even though the puzzle has only four pieces, many people have tried and failed to solve this seemingly simple puzzle.
You can play an on-line version of this puzzle at Jimmy's website, but if you want to baffle your friends, nothing beats an original 3D-printed Shapeways sample.
Connectivityis a mechanical puzzle maze. The object is to move the five rings from the base of the puzzle to the top. There is a catch: the rings have to be turned upside down on their way up. This is a reduced-size version of the Connectivity puzzle statute in the garden of the Dutch research institute TNO. Please contact Oskar if you are interested in obtaining a full-size version of this sculpture.
WimTvane is an object that moves in the wind, being unstable in all directions. It is dedicated to my father, Wim T van Deventer, who turned 70 in may 2009. Notice that you will have to paint the model yourself, if you buy it.
Markus Mystery box is a solution to Markus Goetz' challenge: "can you make a solid mechanism with three axes in a plane going through the origin, in which each axes end is solidly coupled to an opposite axes end".
If you have guessed the solution of this puzzle, then PLEASE be so kind NOT to post it. This will give other the opportunity to think out of the box as well. Thank you.
Please contact Oskar directly if you are interested in obtaining a dyed set.
Spiral Burr is a six-piece burr of interlocking spirals. Next to sliding and rotation, spiraling is the third fundamental way of turning pieces in an interlocking puzzle. The spirals are notched. The object is putting the puzzle back together after turning it apart.
PlaySpirals is a construction toy, which can be used to build three-dimensional structures. PlaySpirals are a specially designed corkscrew-type of spirals. Two PlaySpirals can be put through each other at a straight 90-degrees angle. A third PlaySpiral can then be put through the first two. The full set has 28 spirals, the largest number that fitted with a single Shapeways model.
Spiral Cup is a so-called "greedy cup" puzzle. If you try to drink too fast or without thinking, then you will spill the drink over yourself. The challenge is first to fill the cup and then to drink it empty, both without spilling.
Cold Fusion is a six-piece burr, but not a classic one. The pieces are helical and the puzzle is taken apart and put together by pushing the pieces in a helical motion.
Moby Maze is a mechanical maze based on a Mobius Strip. Half of the maze is at one side, the other half is, well, at the same side. The object is to remove the ring. It was originally prototyped by George Miller of PuzzlePalace.com.
Candy Wrapper is a six-piece burr with spiral parts. The six pieces intersect each other at two placed at a 90-degrees angle. Because of the looks of the puzzle, George Miller coined it "Candy Wrapper". The seventh part is a little ball, which is the candy that is hidden in the wrapper.
Tanacube Too is a put-together cube puzzle with tangram-shaped faces. It was Oskar's answer of a challenge by George Miller and Peter Rasmussen. Size: 60x60x60 mm, same as a Rubik's Cube.
Nugget is a take-apart puzzle. The object is to remove the gold nugget from its cage. However, the nugget fits only through one of the holes and in only one orientation.
Nugget is based on a rhomic isocahedron, which has 120 isometric orientations. The frame has 6 holes. And out of those 720 combinations, there is only one where the nugget fits through the hole.
Snake Ball is a mechanical maze. The object is to separate the two rings. The complexity from this puzzle is that one ring has a little pin that slides in the grooves of the other ring and vice verse. So you will have to solve two mazes simultaneous. The puzzle also has another surprise. When you are at the point that you think you have finally solved the puzzle, you will discover that you are only halfway.
Snake Ball was originally 3D-printed by George Miller, and sold at his Puzzle Palace website. However, with his shop closed down and demand for this puzzle continuing, the puzzle is now for sale here.
Note that the 3D-printed version comes in a uniform color, not the bicolor version on the photo. Please contact Oskar directly if you are interested in obtaining an assembled and bi-colored sample of this puzzle.
A solid 3mm metal rod can slide (almost) effortlessly through the block. How can that be?
The mechanism for this puzzle is related to the ancient Heron's Horse, where the magician slices a sword through the neck of a horse state without the head falling off. However, whereas Heron's mechanism (see page 109) uses rotors, Oskar's mechanism features meshing gears. The result is a less friction and a smoother cut.
Dancing Spirals is a mathematical sculpture of two interlocking spirals that continuously mesh while both rotating clockwise. It was inspired by the work of Jaques Maurel.
Hyperboloid Burr is a six-piece burr six-piece burr, made of six identical hyperboloid pieces. It was designed with the help of Naoaki Takashima. The wooden version was made as a limited (sold-out) edition for Naoaki Takashima by the Kanagawa Toy Company in Odawara. While working on the wooden pieces, the manager of Kanagawa Toy found an unexpected 7-piece solution.
The Shapeways version has the same shape as the wooden, and it has seven pieces, so you can try both challenges.
Gardner Ball is a tribute to Martin Gardner. This tribute has the name "Gardner" tessellated around a sphere. The tessellation was designed by Scott Kim, and Oskar 3D-ified it. This math-art object was commissioned by Tom Rodgers. Samples were handed out at the Gathering for Gardner (G4G10) at Atlanta, end March 2012.
Spiral Burr 90x90x90 mm is a scaled-up version of the PuzzleMaster version.
It is a six-piece burr of interlocking spirals. Next to sliding and rotation, spiraling is the third fundamental way of turning pieces in an interlocking puzzle. The spirals are notched. The object is putting the puzzle back together after turning it apart.
Switched Maze is a mechanical maze. The object is to roll the metal ball from "Start" to "Goal". The ball is impeded by gates at several points in the maze. By rolling the ball against the levers, gates can be opened and closed.
This maze is related to Robert Abbott's Sliding Door Maze and Eldon Vaughn's Amaze. The rules of Abbott's puzzle is electronically enforced by the software implementation. The rules of Vaughn's maze is psychologically enforced by the game rule that says not to lift the stylus from the board. The switched Maze is fully
mechanically enforced. That is, you cannot cheat without taking the puzzle apart or removing the transparent cover.
Switched Maze implements logical one-way gates, logical crossings and a Chinese-Rings type of passing
point. Most likely, one could build a Turing Machine using the Switched Maze concept.
Double Variomatic has two pairs identical gears with a varying gear ratio. When turning, at first the top square turns 90 degrees together with the bottom square. But then they start to diverge, with one square turning 90 degrees and the other 180 degrees. This local 1:2 gearing ratio is achieved by cascading two 1:sqrt(2) gear sections. Actually, that is not entirely true.The gearing ratio is continuously varying, and the 1:sqrt(2) ratio is only an average. Similarly, overall gearing ratio is 1:1 at average. After one full turn, both squares are back to start.