The Quickest and Easiest Way to Make Neat 3D Puzzles

In a world full of amazing entertainment options, jigsaw puzzles still sell in the billions every year. Clearly, people really enjoy solving those puzzles. But what if you could bring that fun into the third dimension? Instructables user the_real_harvey came up with a very quick and easy method for making 3D puzzles that I really like.

Here’s the idea: grab a bunch of LEGO bricks and build a cube. Then laser-engrave pictures onto the faces of the cube. Disassemble those pieces and give them to a friend to put back together in the right order to recreate the images. It is the same principle as jigsaw puzzle, but with a bonus axis thrown in!

And as another bonus, the completed puzzle will be easy to display, since the LEGO bricks stay locked together. You don’t have to use special coatings or mats to preserve the solution, like you would with a jigsaw puzzle.

The only tricky part of this is the laser engraving. How you go about that will depend on the type of laser you have. With some laser and brick color combinations, you may be able to engrave the plastic directly and get a nice image. Otherwise, you can do what the_real_harvey did and start by coating the assembled bricks with acrylic spray paint. That worked for a CO2 laser (an xTool P2S) and it should work for just about any other type of laser, too.

I love this idea, because it is so easy to achieve and seems like it would be perfect for personalized gifts.