Adams Cube Step by Step

Hello, my name is Alex and I am a sophomore attending Norwalk High School. Today I will be showing you how to make a Adams Cube puzzle. For this instructable I will be using Tinkercad, Inkscape, a 3d printer, a lasercutter, and some paper to make the backing of the cube.

For this step I would recommend using Tinkercad to make the parts. You will need 5 different parts and those 5 parts will make 6 different puzzles at a minimum.

All dimensions will be in LxWxH format and all parts will be above and colored to be easily distinguishable.
The first piece will just be a 15x15x10 cm cube. (simple enough so no picture)

The second piece will be 30x15x10cm (Green Triangle)

The third piece will be a bigger triangle that is 40x20x10cm (Black Triangle)

The next few steps will take a few lines and combining the pieces will be in the next step.

The fourth piece will be a combination of 2 triangles.

To make this easier try and have the triangles at right angles facing opposite directions

The smaller triangle will be 15x15x10cm. The larger triangle will be 30x30x10cm(Both posted above in blue)

The Fifth and final piece will be a combination of a square and a triangle.

The triangle will be 20x10x10cm and the square will be 20x20x10cm (above in red)

Now I will just show you how to combine the final two pieces you made.

The bigger and smaller triangle will be put next to each other with corners touching as shown above on the left.

The triangle will be put on top of the square as shown on the right.

Make sure to group them so they print correctly, also make sure to have them as close together as possible with as little intersecting as possible.

(Don't mind the holes those are the design that I made)

Now that you have the pieces built you are going to need to convert your puzzle pieces to a .stl file.

First you are going to wanna make the other 5 puzzles.

Once you have made all 6 you are going to group all the puzzles one by one so you have 6 separate solutions.

(Easy way to group is ctrl + G)

After you have grouped them you are gonna select them all and click the export button.

Then make sure that "Selected Shapes" is selected.

Then click ".svg" under "For Lasercutting".

Save the file somewhere you will remember for later.

Ok, now its time for the cube part.

Go to this website: https://en.makercase.com/#/

Click simple box

Set the Width, Height and Depth to 3.25in and make sure they are outside dimensions

Have the box set to closed

I would recommend setting the Edge Joints to finger and having the finger size set to around .67

Now download the file

Now you just send your files of one set of pieces off to your 3D printer

To do this you must separate your pieces from one of the puzzles so that they aren't touching at all.

Then highlight one of each piece and click export. (Refer above for selected pieces)

As you can see there is a little space in between each piece, make sure you do that otherwise the pieces will print and be stuck together.

Make sure you select "Selected Shapes" so you don't print the same thing 6 times

Select 3D print at the top

Finally click the kind of printer you have and set the pieces where you want and hit print.

(I'm sorry if this is not accurate as I do not have a 3D printer)

Next we will go through how to laser cut your pieces.

Now you are going to need to go into a software called Inkscape, and import the .svg for the puzzles and the box file that you made on makercase

(Refer to step 3 for box)

With the box file and the finished puzzle's file you want to import them to inkscape.

When you import them make sure they are .svg files

Once the files are imported you will want to center the puzzles in the center of the box file.

The above picture is what it should look like.

Make sure you highlight all of the pieces and trace them as a bitmap so the laser cutter can see the lines.

(If struggling with converting to a bitmap go to the next step then come back)

I would suggest making the line a form of red.

As you can see I have assassins creed logos, you can add your own logo to the sides but make sure to make them a different color of bitmap so you select to engrave the symbol.

Step 7 is how to make a custom logo.

Click on your logo

Click edit at the top of your screen

Click "Make a Bitmap copy"

Or highlight your image and use the command "Alt+B"

Then click and drag the bitmap and delete the original image so you don't get confused.

(The Bitmap will be the image that you drag away)

Find a transparent logo like the one shown above.

Go to this website: https://anyconv.com/png-to-stl-converter/

Select "Choose File" and upload your file to the website and click "Convert" and then download the file.

Import it to Inkscape

Make the image a bitmap and make it a different color than the box and puzzle.

Once everything is cut you will need a background.

To do this just find a image you want or some thick paper to support the pieces.

Once you have the background and print it you want make sure to cut out a piece that will fit on the side of the cube face.

Make sure to use a strong adhesive so it wont break like mine did.

See above picture for what the cube should look like.

The cube sides should snap together but may be a little difficult as you get closer to finishing it.

There is a lot of potential for these 5 pieces.

If you recall I mentioned that these will make 6 pieces at a MINIMUM

I was able to make 2 different puzzles and my teacher was able to make 8 different puzzles.

I challenge you to make your own puzzle and see how many people it takes to figure it out.

For a extra challenge add a time limit of 1 or 2 minutes.

I used my box as storage for my pieces and to make sure I can open it i didn't put the final side on fully.