Puzzle Cube Project

Alexandra DeGroot
Introduction to Engineering and Design
December 1st, 2015

Overview:
The Puzzle cube project was an individual project. The purpose of this project is to find
multiple ways to solve a problem. Then, picking the way that works best for what theyre
trying to achieve. I had to design a 3 by 3 by 3
puzzle cube with five puzzle pieces for the Fine
Office Furniture, Inc for high scholars. One
puzzle pieces had to have four to six blocks
total, and the whole cube has 27 cubes. The
furniture company wanted to reuse inch
hardwood cubes because they were throwing
away tens of thousands of them. I had four
weeks to draw the pieces on paper, dimension
the puzzle pieces, draw pieces on Autodesk
Inventor 2016, and to glue blocks together to
make the pieces that would make the cube.

Materials List:
The materials used in this project were Autodesk
Inventor 2016, 3/4 inch blocks, glue, sandpaper, isometric paper, graph paper, pencils,
colored pencils, and markers.

Procedure:
First, I started with brainstorming isometric view ideas of different puzzles pieces. The
pieces had to be four to six blocks with five pieces total. The numbers next to the
individual piece design are how many blocks the piece is.

Then, I started putting the ideas together to

start making the 3 by 3 by 3 cubes out of
five puzzle pieces.

Once two ideas were formed, each piece

was colored a different color. There are two
red, yellow, and green because they are part
of two different cubes, so one green is part
of one cube and the other green is part of
the other cube. Then, the full cube are the
pieces put together to make the cube. The
colors show which piece would be seen in
that view.

After two ideas were formed and each piece

in one puzzle had a different color, the
individual pieces had to be dimensioned. The
first one was dimensioned wrong. Instead of
using the dimension of the block, it was
dimensioned by how many blocks.

This is the correctly dimensioned puzzle pieces. One the top of the page are both cubes
views of which puzzle piece would be seen from top, middle, and bottom the cube.

Decision matrix decided which of the two cube

designs would be better design. The decision
matrices chose the first design. The design was
ranked on color coolness, difficulty of the puzzle, individual piece design coolness,
uniqueness, and likeness of the design. Both designs were ranked with one being the
lowest rank and five being the highest rank. One would be the lowest ranking and five
would be the highest ranking.

Design
1

Color
s

Difficult
y

piece
design
coolness

overall
coolness

uniquenes
s

Likeablenes
s

tota
l

21

Design
2

19

Concepts Covered:
Major concepts covered in this project are the design process, visualization skills,
creating isometric drawings on paper, and creating an object in Autodesk Inventor 2016.

Summary:
This project taught me how to visualize better, understand and use the design process,
and picking the better view to dimension then dimensioning the object. Some difficulties
I found tin this project were visualizing the right view to dimension. To overcome this
difficulty I used blocks and I planned everything out. To find the best way to dimension I
built the puzzle piece and rotated the piece until I found the best way to draw that piece.
My design of the cube could have been a little better. Have the cube piece being more
complex and harder to put the cube together. I also could have made my piece better. I
had to redo one of the pieces because it didnt fit properly. My drawing where one of the
better things I did. If I did this project again, I would start out making more complex
pieces. If I did that, it would make the cube more complex because I start with harder
designs. My project solved the problem. It had most of the things the furniture company
wanted, like a 3 by 3 by 3 cube made of inch blocks. The level of the puzzle wasnt a
high school level, so I couldve done that better too.