A Trio of "Keychain Puzzles".

Since the 1940s, many companies around the world have created small three dimensional plastic puzzles known as "keychain puzzles". These puzzles usually consisted of around six puzzle pieces, and when correctly assembled, created a keychain figurine. In this tutorial, I've reproduced three of my favorite keychain puzzles from my youth; the dog, the giraffe (ok, maybe my wife's favorite as well, sigh) and the elephant. And if you wish to customize these puzzles I've also included the Autodesk Fusion 360 CAD files for each.

Each step of this tutorial contains the puzzle pieces for each of the three puzzles. SPOILER ALERT: Along with the puzzle pieces is a video showing how the puzzle pieces are assembled, so if you wish to figure out how each puzzle is assembled on your own, don't watch the videos!

The puzzle pieces are small, require no support, and print fairly quickly, making them a great introduction to 3D printing with the result being a three dimensional keychain puzzle to boot!. I printed all my puzzle pieces at .1mm layer height with 20% infill. After printing I used jewelers files and Micro Mesh sanding strips along with plenty of patience to remove the build plate "ooze" (sometimes referred to as "elephant foot") from each piece. Depending on your slicer, printer, printer settings and the colors you chose, you may need more or less filing and sanding. You will want the pieces to fit snuggly, so "sneak in" on the filing and sanding.

I hope you enjoy them!

As usual I probably forgot a file or two or who knows what else, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask as I do make plenty of mistakes.

Designed using Autodesk Fusion 360, sliced using Ultimaker Cura 4.6.1, and 3D printed in PLA on an Ultimaker 3 Extended and an Ultimaker S5.

Step 1: The Dog.

Prior to puzzle assembly of the dog, I pressed "Head.stl" onto "Neck.stl".

Step 2: The Giraffe.

Step 3: The Elephant.

Prior to puzzle assembly of the elephant, I pressed "Head.stl" onto "Neck.stl".