|
| Chained Lock by Luke from Waier creations |
|
| Back view |
I was rather late to the party with this one. In fact, I am late with quite a lot of new toys! I really don't have much time for the Mechanical Puzzle Discord where many of the latest and greatest creations get announced as well as bought and sold. I wish I did have time but I seem to find myself working very long days and very long weeks (I seem to be half way through a month of 6-day weeks yet again. I am getting a bit too old to work that relentlessly).
The first thing I knew about this one was when Allard reviewed it on his site. As soon as I read the review I headed off to the website and managed to nab the last one there. The only one that was there at that time was the slightly more expensive all-metal version. It quickly winged it's way across the pond and arrived in PuzzleMad HQ - it arrived in October amidst a huge flurry of deliveries including a Pelikan arrival, a Tom Lensch arrival as well as an extravaganza from Tye's NothingYetDesigns. Needless to say, "she" was distinctly unimpressed as the arrivals tray in the kitchen was piled to overflowing. I promised to redistribute them elsewhere and immediately pocketed this one to play with straight away.
The aim here is to remove the key from the lock. This will require tools that are discovered along the way and quite a bit of thought© which might explain one of the reasons that I am only writing about it at the beginning of December.
Of course, you have to do the obvious and see whether the key will turn and...of course it won't! It would appear that this puzzle is stuck with the lock in the unlocked position - with this sort of lock the key is only removable when the lock is locked. Time to look for tools. Allard had found himself stuck after a few steps and needed a little hint from Ali. I began my play and removed the keyring with tiny hex key from the main key and then played with the knurled thumbwheel on the front. I began to accumulate bits and pieces to use on it. This was fun. The cat got interested in the hex key and I had to stop for a while for fear of losing pieces. Within about 30 minutes I had 5 separate items and then I got stuck. I suspect it was at the same place that Allard did.
I got stuck for a very long time. I created various tools using the items in my collection but none of them seemed to help. I had tried one particular move with a nice combination of pieces (something that I am sure I have used before on a different puzzle - hence the thought that I got stuck at the same move as Allard). I tried doing the crucial move but it never worked and I assumed that I had not found the correct tool. I was proper stuck and it went back into my tray to be picked up and fiddled with every few days. No progress between mid October and the middle of November.
At the last MPP, a couple of people had brought their copies along with them and a few other picked it up. I happened to be around when Shane was supervising a puzzler on it and I sidled over to "just watch that critical move" that I had been unable to perform for so long. I did say to Shane what I wanted to do and just as the other puzzler achieved it, he acknowledged that it could be done in one of two ways and my way should work. I quickly stopped looking so as not to spoil the remainder.
The day after that MPP, I had another go using both possible techniques and it was fused solid. There was no way that I was going to shift that piece. At least I knew what the correct next step was and had no qualms about using an external tool. Time for an Allen key! I tried my set and no go. My set that I had easy access to was Metric and of course being made in the US, everything is imperial measurements. It was time to go up to my second toolbox in the loft (Damn! it was freezing up there!) and retrieve my other set. A few seconds later, I found the correct size and had to use a considerable amount of force to undo the next piece of the puzzle. There was absolutely no way on earth I could have achieved that with the tools provided in the puzzle. That was a bit of a downer for me with this puzzle but I was determined to carry on and enjoy it. At this point there are even more pieces and they need to be combined to create yet another tool. This gets used to turn something and nothing happens. At least nothing happens until you realise how important gravity is - beyond keeping us on the planet and the planet in the solar system and the universe working correctly etc.
After that discovery, there was yet another tool and I got stuck. Yes, again! I am really not terribly bright. Looking at what was left at this point, I didn't have much left on the puzzle to play with and a LOT of pieces on the desk. After a day, it was time to email Shane. This was a bit like old times, me getting stuck on something and asking Shane for help. He's another one of those bloody geniuses - he hides it behind a very big gob but there's not much that's mechanical that he can't work out. He nudged me to look in a certain direction after I described one of my discoveries. At that point there was a wonderful Aha! moment and I freed the key:
 |
| Key removed - tools all hidden from view |
It no longer seems to be available for sale. Luke has moved onto his next creation which has also sold out in pre-order very very quickly (there will only be 100). I was working when the notification arrived and missed out, but hopefully I will get a chance to play with someone's copy at an MPP
