Nutty Bolt No.2

Back over here I wrote about Stephen Miller’s Nutty Bolt No.1…

Nutty Bolt No.2 arrived just in time for MPP XXXiii so several folks managed to get their puzzling paws on a copy in Shrewsbury – sadly(!) I was on a boat in the Mediterranean at the time so I had to wait a little while for the Royal Mail to deliver mine after I’d made it back to Brum…

The rather compact, extremely dense package duly arrived and I have to say that Steve’s delivered on his promises - #2 looks pretty darn similar to #1 – same size bolt, same name plate on the bolt head (‘cept this one says #2 instead of #1!) – even the nuts and washers look the same and they're in the same place – the only difference between them is the name plate and the two dimples in the shaft instead of the single dimple on #1… can you see a pattern emerging there?

Puzzle-wise – this one’s totally different to #1 – and it shouldn’t yield to random fiddling at all – there’s enough in there to make sure that you’ll be locking yourself up some of the time if you’re just randomly playing around…

For puzzlers with good memories and some wider experience, you’ll recognise the locking mechanism from a couple of other puzzles, including another bolt from quite a while back…

I like it as a puzzle and think that it’s going to make a great little set of puzzles… glad to have the beginnings of a nice little set of matching bolts courtesy of Pyro Puzzles.

A pair o’ bolts…

This week, dear reader I bring you news of a pair of bolts that arrived at Puzzling Times HQ recently. 

The first is a large, handsome brass beast to add to my little selection of Gillen bolts – Gillen Bolt #2 came courtesy of a friend wishing to unburden himself of a few of his puzzles – it would have been really rude not to help him slim down his collection a little. 

Bolt #2 looks and feels like the others in the series – it’s a big chunky brass thing that looks ostensibly like a heavy duty bolt… only a lot prettier! The only thing distinguishing it at first glance from the others is the number 2 stamped on its base. 

From the couple of others I already have (and the one or two I’ve played with at James’ place) I know that they increase in difficulty as the numbers increase… so given this is number 2 in the series, I’m not expecting it to be super complicated…

…and in some respects it isn’t – it uses a pair of tricks to keep the nut attached to the shaft of the bolt… and in spite of its relatively lowly number, it will keep an unwitting puzzlist at bay for quite a while. 

Having seen some of the later bolts in the series, I had a bit of an inkling as to what was up so it didn’t take all that long to have the nut off and confirm my suspicions… and drive a heap of respect to Marcel, not only for the design (it ensures that you cannot get it anywhere near solved by luck alone – this puzzle has TEETH!) but also the implementation, where there are a few extra little mechanical features just to make sure that everything works smoothly every time…

That’s Gillen Bolts 1,2,5 and 6 in there now… there a few more to get yet though…

I’ve dubbed the second bolt in today’s little bloglet the Morris Bolt (#1?) – I first saw a picture of this puzzle on FaceBook where it seemed that my mate Ali had designed a new puzzle in the shape of a bolt … at that point Oli had seen it and pronounced it good and the lads were saying that they hadn’t seen any other bolt puzzle like it out there… which really raised my interest levels – as if they needed that at all!

A quick note to Ali and my interest (nay, lust!) had been noted and a short while later one appeared in the post – with Ali resisting all attempts at payment. (Mental note – I owe the man a favour!) 

 

This is a rather large medium carbon steel bolt (according to Google and the markings on it) that stands 10cm tall – it’s a serious piece of hardware!

It has a suitably serious nut attached rather solidly to its shaft – with some sort of a grub screw holding it in place and presumably stopping it from rotating…

Finding this bolt’s secrets involve some wonderful little discoveries – including a genuine moment of sheer wonder when you ask yourself how the heck he did that in there…

One of Ali’s mates helped him out with some of the machining and apparently he wasn’t quite satisfied with them – all I can say is that he really should be – the work on these things is fantastic – the secret-y bits are very secret-y – you aren’t going to stumble across anything by accident on these puzzles… and you are guaranteed a “How the heck?!” moment when you solve it… absolutely brilliant Ali!

Thanks mate!

Rocky Chiaro’s One-Wa-Sure

At the Saturday Puzzle Party at IPP32 I was delighted to find folks like Rocky Chiaro displaying their wares and chatting to anyone who wanted to talk about their puzzles. Rocky is an absolute gent and a superb craftsman. I’d seen pretty much a full set of his bolts courtesy of Ali at one of our MPPs, but Rocky had pretty much everything that he made out on display for anyone to either have a bash at or to take off his hands (all at very reasonable prices). 

I was idly fiddling with the odd bolt while chatting to him and he passed over a copy of One-Wa-Sure and said that this was the one that most puzzle-guys enjoyed most … and with a recommendation like that, I had to buy a copy!

One-Wa-Sure is a little over two inches long and consists of a brass bolt with two nuts on it and a brass washer trapped between the nuts – oh, and a pin through the bolt trapping everything. 

At first glance it looks like this is an innocent brass bolt, with some nuts and a washer as described, but as you begin to play around with it you realise that couldn’t be further from the truth! Some bits move and interact in some very strange ways and it’s worth exploring where some of that strangeness leads you… 

There is so much cleverness precision-engineered into that innocuous-looking little bolt that it is truly staggering – everything(!) is there for a reason – nothing arrived by chance. The tolerances are simply phenomenal though and this little puzzle doesn’t give up its secrets without a fight … but get it just right and it yields elegantly, allowing you to remove the nuts and the washer. 

The quality of this little puzzle is tremendous and knowing that it’s been made by an old-school craftsman puts it into the “truly special” category.