Tangled Washer Puzzle

Ask your friends to solve this puzzle for fun. If they solved it the then you must be a genius because your friends are.

A. Materials in this project does not cause a thing. It is made from items you can find in hardware store or while walking down the street. They are the following; See picture

• PVC sheet (3x50x75 mm) if it not available use old credit or ATM card
• 2mm diameter string 230 mm long (I used the string from and old ear plugs)
• 2mm diameter string 115 mm long
• rubber washer with 10 mm hole (I used a washer from a tex screw. The one they used to fix roofing panels

B. Tools required are the following,

• Multi tool (Plier, Knife)
• Hack saw
• Drill

• Make 5 holes on the PVC sheet as shown on the picture. Since I don't have a drill, I used a knife. The diameter of the holes should be just a little bit bigger than the three diameter of strings. That is, three strings should pass though the hole with ease. The hole in the center is optional it is just a decoy.
• Arrange string and washer as shown in figure 1.
• Insert strings diagonally to the corresponding holes of the PVC sheet. See figure 2.
• Flip the puzzle and joint the ends of the longer string with a knot. See figure 3.
• Tie a not on each end of the shorter string to fix it to the puzzle. See figure 4.

• Pinch the string (the longer one) in the middle of the puzzle and pull it out to extend it.
• Insert these loop to the hole where the shorter string is located. This is the reason why the hole should accommodate three strings
• Once the loop of the longer string is out, pass the knot of the shorter string through the loop.
• Pull the loop out again to release the tangled washer.