First project: Puzzle Cube

This is the rules and requirements for the project. I don't really know what to call it. Link to pdf.

1. What is our problem?

Client:
Fine Office Furniture, Inc.
Target Customer:
Ages: High school aged
Designer:
Raina (this is on the internet I'm not writing my full name)
Problem:
Our client, Fine Office Furniture Incorporated, is a local furniture manufacturing company. It currently throws away tens of thousands of 1/2" wooden cubes. The material is expensive and the loss the company suffers is great.
Design Statement:
Fine Office Furniture, Inc. wants to reuse the leftover cubes. It is to be used as raw material for desk toys. Our goal as designers is to design, build, test, document, and present a 3d puzzle made from the excess material. The puzzle must be challenging but still solvable for high school students.
Criteria:
The puzzle needs to be made up of 27 blocks (think a 3x3 grid as a cube, including the always invisible middle segment).
The puzzle must contain 5 pieces.
Each piece may be made up of 4 to 6 blocks.
Constraints:
No two parts can be the same.
At least some parts should interlock.
No straight pieces.

2. Create/Design concepts

Part Designs

Some of my potential part designs (Contains parts with 3-6 pieces). Some designs are crossed out or have different symbols near them to signify their usage.

2 potential cube designs

I chose the top design because it held together much stronger and had a more fun (and memorable) assembly process.

3. Develop a solution

Isometric Solution

Color coded.

Multi-View Pieces

Color coded.

Part 1 (CAD)

CAD model of Part 1.

Part 2 (CAD)

CAD model of Part 2.

Part 3 (CAD)

CAD model of Part 3.

Part 4 (CAD)

CAD model of Part 4.

Part 5 (CAD)

CAD model of Part 3.

Exploded View (CAD)

CAD model of the full solution, exploded.

4. Construct & Test Prototype

First part of cube construction.

This is the first piece in the construction of the cube.

Second part of cube construction.

This is the second piece in the construction of the cube.

Third part of cube construction.

This is the third piece in the construction of the cube.

Fourth part of cube construction.

This is the fourth piece in the construction of the cube.

Fifth part of cube construction.

This is the fifth and final piece in the construction of the cube.

Fully deconstructed cube.

This is all the pieces required to make the cube laid out for easy viewing.

Fully constructed cube.

This is the cube, fully constructed in CAD. New addition to the portfolio because I forgot to add it yesterday.

Full copy of orthographic drawings

I kind of forgot to put this into the portfolio earlier, and to keep it balanced I put it here.

Testing Data & Feedback

Data placed in spreadsheet. Charts & Graphs to accompany. (Click the image for more info)

5. Evaluate Solution

Reflection

This cube project was very fun an a great practice for both CAD and web design. I learned a lot about HTML and CSS, whilst also practicing my CAD skills. I learned how to use Inventor presentations and assemblies which was pretty cool. The solution wasn't too difficult, it took most people only a few minutes to find it. The design of each part was prety fun to do as I could just open a new Inventor file and build it in like 20 seconds.

Data Analysis

Overall most people were able to solve the puzzle pretty quickly, it wasn't too hard and had a few parts that could be considered challenging. It took on average 2.25 hints for each person. On average it took 221.25 seconds to solve the puzzle, and with clues incorporated, it took 288.75 (or on the chart, it took 288.8) seconds.