Here you can download a plan for making a wire puzzle. The wire puzzle, as its very name suggests, is made from wire and consists of two or several interlocked parts.
The point of this toy lies in the assembling and disassembling of the interlocked parts. The oldest preserved examples of wire puzzles originate from the 17th century, but they became greatly popular at the beginning of the 20th century. Due to their simplicity and a large number of various types, wire puzzles have become an interesting and original gift idea over time. The wire puzzle, whose plan is offered here, is made up of 5 bent wire parts. The task of this wire puzzle is to take off Part 2 and to put it back in position, like shown on image below.
To create this puzzle, you can use 2 - 3mm thick steel wire. Copper wire is not recommended, nor any other non-ferrous metal, for the reason they get easily deformed causing the puzzle to be less durable. In general, wire puzzles should be made from wire 2 - 3mm thick. We have chosen the thickness of 2mm just to make the bending easier for you; when you gain the skills needed, you will start using thicker wire with no extra effort.
Wire puzzle - Solution
You can bend the wire in various ways, but prior to bending you should clean it well and then tighten it as much as possible to get it straightened out. The wire length required for each part is given in the drawings. For bending you can use tools such as pliers or a wire bender, you can make jigs or fixtures, you can bend around the pipe, around the edges of the objects, etc., the important thing is to get results as close to the drawings as possible.
We recommend that you print out the appearance of each part on paper, so you can compare the results of each phase during the work to this template.