Haleslock 3

The Haleslock 3 designed by Shane Hales and exchanged by Peter Hajek during IPP37 in Paris, 2017. Very challenging!

http://mechanical-puzzles.com/haleslock-3/

Haleslock 2

Update 24 October 2017 - Dear Reader, please check out my new puzzle blog and e-store at http://mechanical-puzzles.com

This is my 400th post! How time has flown by. And what better puzzle to write about than one coming from a really talented puzzle designer, Shane Hales from the UK. 

Shane started designing puzzles several years ago and I have had the good fortune to receive as gifts two of his very limited edition puzzles, first The Circle and later Turn The Plug. His puzzles are limited edition either because he produces only several of a particular design or he gifts them to friends. Until recently, Shane did not sell any but only gifted his puzzles to the lucky few. I am one of them lucky ones who got a Haleslock 2 as a Christmas present!

Recently Shane has progressed to producing puzzle locks. His works are not designed from ground up, example, in the style of Rainer Popp, meaning to say, he designs and produces a puzzle that looks like a lock, Instead, he goes the Dan Feldman way, where he uses existing commercial padlocks on the market and modifies them into a puzzle/trick lock. Shane's locks, the Haleslock 1 and Haleslock 2 were made available for a charity auction and sale respectively on his puzzle site but unfortunately for puzzlers, his Haleslock 2 are all sold out.

So coming back to the Haleslock 2...what is it like as a puzzle? Well, as I have alluded to, it is a typical looking padlock from a brand called Squire. The lock comes with two keys (one without any teeth as can be seen from the photo) and attached by a rather long chain to the shackle. The object of course is to un-shackle the lock.

I had read Allard Walker's blog post on how he had solved the Haleslock 2 and commented that it was "not extremely complex or complicated". For me personally, this couldn't have been further from the truth! I had solved Shane's previous puzzles, The Circle and Turn The Plug without too much frustration and without help, but for some (strange) reason, I could not solve the Haleslock 2 even after multiple sessions of playing over a number of days. Something was eluding me to the point I decided to ask Shane for not one, but two clues before I managed to figure out the first move...and the Hales Lock has four moves to free the shackle.

After the first move was done, everything else became easy and I released the shackle without a cinch. For me, the solution for the Haleslock 2 was totally unexpected. The "trick" (no pun intended) of the Haleslock 2 is IMHO a really a good one not easy to discover. With hindsight, I realized that I had missed something right at the beginning that I shouldn't have. Overall a great trick lock with an original and different idea/concept. Good work Shane!

Turn The Plug

Name
Turn The Plug

Designer
Shane Hales

Manufacturer & Availability
Hand-crafted by Shane Hales.

Type & Classification
Trick/Puzzle Lock

Dimensions
This a large and heavy puzzle measuring 14.5cm x 5.8cm x 10.2cm (inclusive of the base).

Materials & Construction
The block where the door lock is attached to is made from both Oak and Walnut. The lock itself looks to be the type of lock you will typically find on an office door. Affixed to the side is an ordinary looking key. Both lock and key comes from ERA, a manufacturer of door locks and components. Overall construction fit and finish is very good.

Overview
This is an "Interval Puzzle" from Shane. On Shane's puzzle site this is what he says:

"Smaller simpler puzzle designs.

I have decided to create some simpler puzzle designs while i'm working on my next project. Something easier for me to make, and also keeping everybody else's excitement alive!  Anyone that knows me knows i love locks! 
So i have created my Interval puzzles"

Turn The Plug is also my second puzzle from Shane, the first being The Circle, a great puzzle I reviewed just over two years ago on this blog.  

Shane does not sell these Interval Puzzles nor any of his "main" project puzzles, the latter which he makes just four copies at time; preferring to gift them to other close puzzler friends. The only exception was his very popular Hales Lock #1 which sold out within days of launch. 

The object of Turn The Plug is to "move the black dot on the back from "locked to "Open". Nope, you can't try to turn the knob with the black dot with you fingers, it won't work. The puzzle comes with a key that is attached to the side of the wooden block. So as not to create any spoilers here, nothing more about this key shall be mentioned. Also, no force or banging whatsoever is needed

It is obvious the lock has a part to play in the solving. This is one of those puzzles you can't say too little nor too much without giving anything away. Suffice to say, the solution has a few tricks up its sleeve and I got no where for a while, before discovering how to move the black dot to "Open"

Difficulty
For an experienced puzzler, I won't say its very difficult, but as mentioned, certainly a tad tricky and like all puzzles of this nature, some experimentation here and there is required before one gets the A-ha moment. For novices, well, that's another story.

Summary

An very nice design concept; with Shane using commercially available products and parts to fabricate into a great working puzzle. 

The Circle

Name
The Circle

Designer
Shane Hales, United Kingdom

Manufacturer
Shane Hales. Shane made only 4 copies. Mine is #003. #001 and #002 went to puzzle bloggers Kevin Sadler and Allard Walker respectively while the last one was kept by Shane himself. 

Type & Classification
Sequential movement; take-apart

Dimensions
9.2cm (diameter) x 6.5cm (Height).

Materials & Construction
The puzzle is made from Oak while the the square "knob" at the top is Ebony.

The Circle has a handmade (as in hand-tooled) Etsy-ish kind of look as opposed to the precision machine-cut Eric Fuller or Pelikan manufactured puzzles. This does not mean lower quality, in fact quite the contrary; as Shane had deliberately made the two dovetails with a looser fit so that the puzzle can be (slightly) more easily solved. As to why this was done, well, you can read more from Allard's and Kevin's write-ups about the Circle. 

Overview

I got to know Shane just over a year ago in February 2013. He is a reader of my blog and also a friend of Kevin's. The two gents had been talking about my BIC#1 which I had released in late 2012 (and Kevin had been amongst the first to try out my humble first production puzzle design). 

Anyhow, Shane got in touch with me about buying a copy of my BIC#1 and in the course of email exchanges, that's where I learnt that he was also in the midst of designing his first puzzle "The Block", which he later produced only a few copies. Over the course of the year we continued to keep in touch via email and last year, he acquired my special edition copper BIC#2, one of only 4 copies which I had produced.

Limited Edition #003/4

Several weeks ago, Shane asked me if I would like to receive from him as a gift the #003 copy of the Circle. Of course I would! I was elated. Not only was I getting one of only 4 copies made, but as a gift as well. A true gift giver, he even refused to accept my offer to pay for shipping from the UK to Singapore. Thank you very much Shane!

About 10 days later, a large box duly arrived at my home. When I first took the puzzle out and examined it, I could hear quite a bit of rattling inside the puzzle. If I had not read Allard's review, I would have assumed the puzzle had been damaged during shipment. It did sound like there were broken bits inside (as if a whole bunch of parts and screws had come apart).

The object of course was to separate the Circle into two halves. My experience with take apart dovetails were limited to Wil Strijbos's aluminium dovetails and the Wunder Puzzle. While challenging in their own way, these did not take very long for me to solve. All within minutes rather than hours. Kevin had commented he took a really long time and Allard took about half an hour. Considering both of them are hardcore puzzlers, I knew the Circle would probably take me no less than the time required by Allard, at the very best.

What was puzzling were the rattling noises! I couldn't figure out how the dovetails were kept together when there was all this ruckus going on inside (well I mean, loose parts can't possibly keep two halves interlocked tightly together, right?)

Anyway for the next two nights, I spent a couple of hours each playing with the Circle, pushing and tugging at the two halves here and there, and even shaking the puzzle (gently) tho' the instructions did say no force was required! No luck at all.

Thereafter I had to stop for about 5 days as I went on a family vacation. I brought the Circle with me but didn't spend any time it. I wasn't too keen to take it out of my suitcase just in case my 3.5 year old son wanted to have a bash at it :-)...he may just end up bashing it (and here there is no possibility of a replacement from Shane). When I got back from my holiday, I decided to dedicate some time to the Circle. With full focus and concentration, I embarked on the Circle again.

I continued with my investigative trial/error and random approach towards the puzzle. The 2 dovetail halves are locked together by 3 mechanisms, 1 primary and 2 secondary. The secondary mechanisms were easily discovered early on during play and these are the more common (and usual) methods deployed to keep two parts of a puzzle together. I knew they could not be the ones keeping the Circle together.

Anyway, I continue with what I was doing and after a fair amount of time, all of a sudden the two dovetails came apart a bit. Not the least solved yet... but here I had a partial view of the insides and immediately knew what was causing the rattling. More importantly, I now had an idea of how the puzzle worked and what I needed to do. I had stumbled upon and solved the first stage. But the puzzle was only about a fifth open. As I continued my (correct) approach, eventually my theory proved right and the two dovetails slid apart nicely.

First off, the internal mechanism keeping the dovetails together is not technically that complicated. In fact the mechanism/trick is rather simple, tho' unusual. The way Shane has employed the use of if is (in my opinion) very clever, and of course totally unexpected. The solution is not difficult to execute once you know it, just that it does take time to complete the steps, quite a number I might add. A gentle hand is required throughout. 

Reassembly involves the steps in reverse order, a bit of gentle twisting and everything is back to its original state.

The Circle even came with its own plastic display stand

Difficulty Level

As one cannot see (but only hear) what is going on inside the Circle, it is very difficult at the beginning, but with some persistence (and without the use of force), the first stage can eventually be reached. Once here, if you can understand the principle of how the puzzle works (yes, there are some physics involved), the next few stages which open the puzzle is very manageable.

Summary
The Circle is by far the most challenging (and hardest) dovetail interlocking puzzle I have come across so far. Marvellous use of an unusual and interesting mechanism/trick, which requires a bit of patience and effort to solve. A really great puzzle and both Allard and Kevin have asked a very reluctant Shane to enter the Circle for the IPP34 Puzzle Design Competition; I fully agree and concur!