Never Mind the Ball Locks Here's The Gob Stopper Burr Puzzle The puzzles have been tumble-finished

The puzzles have been tumble-finished to remove sharp edges and come in their natural unfinished form

A 3D printed version is also available

These things have real heft

which made it a fascinating design space to explore

Never Mind the Ball Locks Here's The Gob Stopper Burr Puzzle The puzzles have been tumble-finishedWe particularly like this puzzle, it not only looks fantastic it is an engineering challenge in its own right. To make these unique turned puzzle balls : We take a Missionary puzzle from the Joy of Hex set. The next job is to assemble the hex puzzle. The puzzle is placed in a lathe, in the correct orientation. There's only one. Machine the puzzle into a ball and hope that the puzzle stays assembled (see point above). Carefully dismantle the ball