Launching Juno's New Puzzle

(We have started selling Juno's new puzzle "Windmill Burr #2" on our website.)

Hi! I would like to ask you a question first.
Can you guess what these cubes are for?

These cubes are not puzzles, these are a part of Juno's new puzzle.

His new puzzle is "Windmill Burr #2." The reason that there is "#2" at the end is because he designed "Windmill Burr" which was released by Mr Puzzle as a Limited Edition in 2010 (It's out of stock now). Well, I think that there may have been some room for better consideration naming puzzles, anyway he decided to call it Windmill Burr #2.

The method of deciding this name was very simple but it's not so simple to solve. Windmill Burr #2 is composed of 12 pieces and a cube. It may be complicated to solve therefore we will supply the solution by Burr Tools (computer program for interlocking burr puzzle) file format.

The puzzle size is just a good size to hold with the hands and I think you can enjoy playing it comfortably.

Windmill Burr #2 is made from four kinds of timber. The part which stands out the most is the windmill part, and two timbers are used here; Zebrano and Bubinga (See the picture below).
 The inside structure is made from Queensland Maple, and the cube is made from Victorian Ash.

Juno used Silver Ash for Reza 6-8. Silver Ash and Victorian Ash sound like the same kind of timber, don't you think? Actually, these two are not from the same family. Silver Ash and Victorian Ash both have the word "Ash" in the names but they are different species of European Ash as well. It's complicated, isn't it?

There's one more complicated thing. Queensland Maple is used for the burr pieces. Well, I think you have already noticed, yes Queensland Maple is not Maple, it's from the family of Rutaceae. I don't know why some Australian timber names have similar names to foreign timber.
Oops, this blog is not for plant lovers, let's finish talking botany here.

Juno and I hope that puzzle lovers will enjoy Windmill Burr #2.

Yukari

Making Miniature Furniture

Today's blog is a sequel to the last blog I wrote on 16th January. I made a miniature wooden chair last time, with plywood. It looked good but I wanted to make it with real timber.

I asked Juno and got some American Walnut which was good texture. I drew a chair in real size using a software ViaCAD and reduced it into 1/6 scale. I put a printing of the drawing onto the board and cut it using an electric scroll saw.

Then, I sanded the edge of the cutouts neatly. Putting every part in the correct position is difficult and I paid close attention to do the right work. I know this is just a hobby but I was doing it very seriously.

Juno gave me an idea to hold small timber with sticky tape. I don't know if it is a common way to do it, but this was a really good idea and worked well.

The first chair's backrests were glued on the frames of the chair, this time I caught backrests in the frames. This procedure is awkward and took time but looks better than the first one.

Luckily, we have lots of small clamps, they were just a good size to hold my miniature chair.
I took almost a day to complete the chair. Here it is, this is my second wooden chair of 1/6 scale. The tote bag on the chair is also 1/6 scale.

The next day that I made an American Walnut chair, I made a miniature outdoor bench because there were narrow pieces of offcut timber. I was going to cut the timber by the electric scroll saw as I did before, but Juno suggested that I use a CNC router. He imported the DXF data and cut the bench frames. It took about 20 to 25 minutes. It's easy and noisy.

After cutting the frames, as I did the day before, I sanded and made sure the size of each frames. Then, routed the edge of narrow timber, these timber would be the seats and the backrests.

The next step was the last step, putting the narrow timber onto the frames and then, I was finished.

I really enjoyed making miniature furniture. I would like to make 1/12 scale miniature next time.

Yukari

The Effective Utilization of Timber Offcuts of Puzzles

In our workplace, there are plenty of timber offcuts. Silver Ash, Queensland Maple, Zebrano, Jarrah, each of these timbers is beautiful and I haven't wanted to waste them. I have been thinking what I am able to do with them and one idea came up in my mind. I love miniatures but haven't made any miniatures with wood. All right, let's make miniature furniture using those cutoffs!

I like chairs, I don't know why, I just like them. Therefore, I have decided to make one.
I asked Juno that if there were suitable timber cutoffs, then I would draw a chair by a software ViaCAD as Juno always does when he makes puzzles. It's very convenient software. I printed out the drawing and put it onto the board and cut it by an electric scroll saw. This electric scroll saw is my treasure, it's called "General." I heard this model is the same as "Excalibur," which is sold in the U.S. and Canada.

The size of the chair I made is 1/6 scale. I was at a loss at first to decide between 1/6 scale or 1/12 scale. 1/12 scale is the worldwide standard size of dollhouses but I thought it's small and difficult to make, then I chose 1/6 scale. Anyway, this time is a trial. I was going to make a prototype and am going to see how it will be, therefore I used plywood.

As you see in the picture below, there are some holes. If I compare plywood to a ham sandwich, some parts have no hum! (see the red circle in the picture)

I was a little disappointed but the prototype looked good.
 (Later, Juno fixed the hole! Thanks.)

I'm going to change the size and design a little bit and am going to make miniature chairs with real timber. I will show you when I have finished making them.

Yukari