I’m a puzzle box designer (Benno de Grote) and having my own laser cutter makes it a lot easier to make new puzzles. In the first week I had my glowforge I designed a UFO puzzle box which takes 49 steps to solve! I’m very exited to finally be able to make wood projects with a laser cutter at home.
I made a youtube video about the box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzPe1VBF1Ao&t=1s
I’m working an a building plan!
Wow, that is really cool!
Welcome to the community! There is a lot of great information here!
I was able to significantly reduce the noise like many others by adding an external fan. This is the one that I ended up getting. You can search the forum more opinions and alternates.
Thank you!
I’m looking forward to sharing more puzzle designs. I’m currently working on a puzzle box based on the newest XBOX design. The few post about puzzle boxes I saw here where very inspiring!
Wow, I wasn’t aware that it would be possible to reduce the noise! Thank you very much. I will do some research and get one.
Very cool design
Neat design!! Not sure I have the patience to go through 49 steps to open a box! 
This looks like a lot of fun!
Impressive
Oh my, @bennobaatsen! I’ve been staring at your puzzles on YouTube and despairing of reaching that level of excellence. Your work is amazing!
Thank you very much! Have you tried making puzzle boxes yourself?
The first box I made was around 15 years ago. I used a building plan from Bruce Viney for it. After making a few boxes designed by others, I stated designing them myself. These first boxes didn’t really work, and my dad helped a lot because I was really young.
If you just keep trying you’ll be able to make some amazing puzzles yourself!
cool puzzle! I remember my first puzzle box. It was so much fun! This one looks a lot cooler!
I LOVE the cow! And the rest of it too, so cool!
I’m working up to it… making puzzle boxes is actually why I bought my Glowforge, and your creations were a big part of that inspiration.
I’m a pen-and-paper puzzle designer, but I have zero experience in woodworking, mechanical engineering, or electronics, so my ambitions exceed my skills by a huge margin right now. Eventually, though, I plan to create a beast of a nesting puzzle box for a Los Angeles puzzle party I regularly attend. I’ve got the puzzles, the electronics, and most of the locking mechanisms figured out, but I’m still wrestling with some of the mechanical elements (damn those sticky gears!) and the overall structure.
One step at a time!
Wow! 49 steps! So it is impossible! Great! That is a neat piece of work! And I too like the cow. Especially the dots.
So awesome!
That sounds like an amazing puzzle box in the making. I like the idea of combining all sorts of mechanisms in one box. How big are you planning on making it, and how many steps? If I can be of any help, or if you want advise, you can always contact me!
I’ve always wanted to attend an puzzle party. However, most of them are far away from the Netherlands, and I’m a 24 year old student with a limited budget (especially after buying a glowforge ;). At least I have something to look forward to in the future.
Good luck with your puzzle box!
Thank you so much! I’ll definitely take you up on that.
I’m tentatively looking at an 8" cube with a sort of keypad on top. Most of the puzzles will involve entering codes into this keypad, so there will be more electronic puzzles than mechanical ones. For example, one puzzle plays short audio clips from five well-known songs. The lyrics in the song clip each contain a number, and when the players enter those numbers into the keypad, it unlocks the next challenge. There will probably be five to seven of these puzzles, depending on how long it takes my test solvers to complete. (The event is limited to an hour.) And there will be a meta-puzzle at the end with a big payoff.
I think it will wow the crowd, if I can make all these components work together.
Puzzle parties are wonderful. With the pandemic interfering with our usual gatherings, some puzzle constructors and solvers have been experimenting with online events via Zoom and Slack. There was a great event recently called Conline 2020 that was pulled together in a very short time, and it was tremendous fun. I hope to see more of those, and I hope you can attend one!
It looks fiendishly clever!
Hey, you might want to delete your email address out of your last post. This is a public forum, etc. Someone can always send you a private message by clicking on your profile.
Keep up the good work and enjoying your Glowforge!
