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[Johan Heyns]

It is starting to become winter here now and when the temperature goes below 10?C I go into hibernation.  At least I will have some firewood then.  I can just see that some wood is going to end up in the fire.  I will be permanently incapacitated if I live in a place where it actually snow like you guys.

[Kerry Verne]

Not many of us are crazy enough to live in a place that snows so much you need a 4x4 shopping cart to get through the grocery aisles. It's getting to be summer here, so some of us get 37c (98f) weather with 99% humidity in the shop.

[RKB]

Nice work Johan!

But I never liked that Orion very much... too much air and too little wood. In my humble opinion, a version with one type of the sticks elongated (so that they make triangles) looks much more appealing.

Of course this one needs some more precise measurements since the disctances between the notches do matter.

[Robert Yarger]

It seems like a puzzle like that should be called "huge ball of spiders mating".  However, the picture has suddenly given me a very unique idea for a future puzzlebox.  Thanks for posting it.

[Canuck]

 a version with one type of the sticks elongated (so that they make triangles) looks much more appealing.

Is this an actual design or just a sketch   I really like it

[Scott Peterson]

Johan,

  Some of us work through the winter months with making puzzles.  Not sure if you stop out of personal preferance or if you run into problems with colder temperatures...  In the winter, I do all the cutting, etc. in an unheated garage in the Seattle area.  The temperature in winter here is usually between 0-5 deg C, but can get down to -5 C sometimes.  

  These temps are too cold for glue - so I glue the pieces in the house.  I use Titebond for the puzzles - which is just another PVA glue (polyvinyl acetate), or "yellow glue."  If you can get some of the material information for the glues, they will usually specify a "chalk temperature" - which is a lower bound temp for the glue, below which a white chalky residue is left around the glue joint.  This is a sign of a weak glue joint, due to the low temp.

  For applying the thinned lacquer - I still do this out in the garage because of the strong smell.  I use an electric coffee cup warmer to keep the thinned lacquer solution warmer.  Anyway - there are ways to work in colder temps...

Ry - cool modification to the Orion!  I can't wait to see what comes out of Robert's shop next!

[Canuck]

Yeah Robert can't wait either   No doubt another 'masterpiece' and impossible to copy

[RKB]

Is this an actual design or just a sketch   I really like it

What do you mean?

Of course it can be assembled the same way as the orginal Orion. This is just a very minor adaptation, so small that I wouldn't dare to call it another design.

[Johan Heyns]

No, it's probably personal preference.  My mind just seems to come to a standstill in winter.

It looks like these postings will bring forth another Stickman masterpiece. 

I try to make visually appealing pieces which is why I started with the Orion since I've been looking at it for a few years now.  Next one is Either Casseiopeia(60 blocks) or Capricorn(120 blocks.  Have anyone made one of these yet?

[RKB]

I'm pretty sure Jan Naert made all of these... using somewhat oversized sticks and ended up with very huge structures.

Note that Cassiopeia can also be extended like that Orion above, although the result is not that spectacular. Making those sticks still longer results in another 'meeting point' of them, but then the sturcture is extremely big, too big. But a secondary rings of pentagons can be added that way.
I'll see if I can make a sketch of that.

[Johan Heyns]

According to my drawing I made Caprocorn standard with 150mm long blocks will be 470mm in diameter, which starts to get a bit oversized.  I think that is the stick are too short it will be very difficult to assemble.  I like the extended Orion. 

Might just gice it a go since I gave the one that I made over the weekend to a guy who gave me a lot of Oak that he would have thrown away.  Now I don't have to feel guilty when he gives me more wood since he makes kitchen cuboards etc and throw quit usefull and large pieces away.

[RKB]

Here's a quick impression of what such an extended Cassiopeia could look like.

[Johan Heyns]

Thanks Ronald,  will give it some thought and make a drawing in order to understand it better.

[Kerry Verne]

What do you guys use for modeling? I've been playing with Google Sketchup, and it seems to be coming up a little short.

[RKB]

What do you guys use for modeling? I've been playing with Google Sketchup, and it seems to be coming up a little short.

All the pictures I've shown thus far originated in SketchUp (version 5 - pro) and were post edited in Corel PhotoPaint. The attached picture is made the very same way.

I must say that I'm using some really great Ruby plug-ins... But I fear the free version can't use these (?).

Nevertheless, SketchUp is really a fantastic instrument. Not only to share designs, but also for designing itself.