Star of David

Interlocking puzzle by Stewart Coffin (STC #37)

Assemble the six pieces into each of three symmetric polyhedral shapes. (One of the images shows Coffin's illustration of the three solution assemblies.)

Star of David follows the same essential shape as Coffin's earlier design Triumph Companion; but whereas Triumph Companion is built from three identical mirror-image pairs, the six pieces of Star of David are all dissimilar. This makes the assembly far less obvious, and Star of David is a considerably more difficult and confusing puzzle.

Coffin wrote: "For whatever help it may be, I will point out the following: Although the pieces may appear to differ from one another in a rather random and haphazard manner, they actually necessarily follow a very definite geometrical plan in every detail .... Interestingly, every piece has to be exactly the shape that it is in order for this puzzle to function as it does, and it was no small task discovering this unique design."

Coffin also wrote that "Because of the difficulty of solutions ... unlike most of my puzzles it came with explicit assembly instructions." Out of fairness, I have included a copy of Coffin's assembly instructions here (coffin.star-of-david.assembly-instructions.pdf) - but in my opinion, if you've solved and are familiar with Triumph Companion or Coffin's other related designs, then this is not that difficult of a puzzle.

True to form, Coffin followed up several years later with a new design, Star of David Improved, which is similar in concept but with simpler pieces. I'm not sure I'd agree with Coffin's designation "improved" (though it's definitely "simpler"): both designs have their charm! Coffin enthusiasts will surely want to print them both.

Printing Instructions

Print one copy of coffin.star-of-david.pieces.stl. That's it! This is a nice easy print, with no supports or joints needed.

The Printable Puzzle Project

The Printable Puzzle Project aims to make available high-quality open-source models of many puzzle designs. All of our models are posted with the generous permission of their designers and are licensed for non-commercial use only. Anyone may print copies for their own personal use, but selling or otherwise monetizing them is not permitted, and puzzle designers retain all rights as copyright holders of their work.

Our puzzles are modeled using the open-source puzzlecad library. The .scad file is included with this model in case you want to modify any of its design parameters; more information on how to do this can be found in the PPP Puzzle Modeling tutorial.

About the Designer

Stewart Coffin has been called "the most outstanding designer and maker of interlocking puzzles that the world has ever seen". He is credited with over four hundred designs, has pioneered numerous ingenious puzzle forms, and has written extensively about puzzle design and craftsmanship. More information on Coffin, along with many other printable models of his designs, can be found on the Stewart Coffin Puzzles overview page.

Happy puzzling!