Side Lock by Andrew Crowell

This puzzle is quite charming, very nicely printed by Andrew, definitely a must have if you like burr puzzles with a lock twist to it!

Be sure to visit Andrew Crowell’s Etsy shop arcWood Puzzles to see his 3D prints that are available!

Here’s Andrew’s Description:

“The Side Lock 3D printed puzzle requires 19 moves to free the first piece and 26 moves overall.  The frame is printed in a marble PLA and the pieces and shackle have been printed in brilliant Silk PLA varieties.  

The puzzle does not require any rotations to solve.  

However, if you care to know how I arrived at this design and want to understand why there is a small protrusion inside the frame (visible in the photo of the disassembled puzzle), read on.  A friend who tested a previous iteration of the design for me found an early rotational shortcut that I completely missed during my testing.  In that previous iteration, all of the pieces could be rotated out after only 3-4 moves.  It was very frustrating to discover this and took quite a bit of trial and error to finally come up with a new design that does not allow for that early rotational exit.  This final design now includes a small protrusion in one part of the frame.  This protrusion enforces the level 19 solution and removes the early rotational exit.  Additionally, it will help reduce the number of possible assemblies you would have to consider for reassembly of the puzzle.  Only 1 of 55 possible assemblies is solvable.”