Don't listen to him.  His electricty flows in the wrong direction anyway, being on the southern hemisphere.  Oh, but hey I was curious.  In school were your globes upside down?  Really, I'm not trying to be funny, I am curious.

Very cool.  I think I saw the same guy on a TV commercial.  When I was young, I used to assemble Tacos somewhat like that and people would line up at the restraunt to see me fliging spatulas and scoops all over the place.  Of course, I made a terrible mess.

Ohms, initally I has some resistance to posting my current opinon on electricity in the workshop, but the flux of the matter is that I thougt it prudent to relay the information. 

I think the quality of shop electricity is also a big concern.  Know the source of your electric power.  I have found current flowing from coal power plants to be somewhat dirty while current from hydroelectic dams to be a bit watered down.  Neither alone is good for constant use on power equipment which is why it is prudent to switch back and forth between the two sources (thus alternating current).  The hydro power source will leave a bit of moisture in you electric wires, but the soot from the coal plant will dry this up.  In response, the hydro power if used frequently enough will wash out any excess carbon buildup inside the wires.

Most of us do not have to worry about such, but don't be fooled.  To save on money, your power company will sometimes choose power from only one source and not even tell you about it.  It is always wise to check from time to time that your shop electricity is fluctuating properly.

Of course the only way to ensure 100% that the electricity used in your equipment is both dry and clean is to run everything from a battery.  ("DC" current stands for Dry-Clean, it is right there in the name.)   

Frank,

I am impressed by your work and also by the fact that you don't always use burr tools to make them.  I suppose that burr tools will not allow rotational or diagonal movements anyway, so it really is restrictive.  It is nice to see someone else also out there designing things with just the power of the mind and a jovial sense of playing with shapes and having fun.

Off the subject -- Chris, you should hook up with Stephen Chin or Dave Cooper who also reside in Austrailia..

Ahh, Welcome to the forum.  Feel free to toss any ideas my way.  I love mechanical concepts that appear impossible.

In my experience, every puzzle design appears more intimidating to re-make than it really is, so anyone new to makeing them should not be put off.  As far as designing new ones, you do have the burr-tools program, don't you.  If not, one of these fine fellows will provide you with a download link.  I think most of the really cool puzzles recently have been designed with this, or similar, software programs.   

Ha!!!! Peter and I win. 

Peter, I guess with the conversion rate, if you "hang ten" in Canada, you are really "hanging twelve and a half". 

OK, I'm a bit seasoned in this and if half of them are international and based upon the size of the boxes I would have to guess that the total is $880.

You would have had more entries it you would have opened it up to us professionals.   

The third one on the left has the wrong zip code.

Yeah, been there done that, got the T-shirt.  Better you than me.

Yeah, My tablesaw motor does not stick out like that.  It is all enclosed, but it would be a nice addition for tables that do.

Actually, that was very informative.  I will now take a look at the teeth on my blades before I choose it for a project.  Before, I would only choose based upon the number of teeth and the bulk of the material.

I don't know who it is, but I sent the internal parts to a No. 8 puzzle to someone in Canada a bit more than a year ago.  An engineer if I am not mistaken, but the name does escape me.  For that person, I finally found the knob for the puzzle that I did not include with the internal parts.  If you are that person (or if you know of a puzzle collector in Canada who is also an engineer), then get ahold of me so I can get the missing part to you.

Also, I have started fixing the last of the No. 8 puzzles and should have a few ready to put in the next auction.  I know a lot of people have been waiting for these.  Sorry it took me so long to get around to finishing them, but they were requiring a lot of attention to the mechanics to make perfect.  Yeah, I am a few years late, but better late than never.