20 Impossible 3D Printed Puzzle Boxes That Will Break Your Brain
3D printed puzzle boxes are more diverse than you might think! See how 3D printing has inspired puzzling innovation and how to make your own.
As a genre, puzzle boxes are unique and fun. They present the challenge of a puzzle with the added bonus of housing a secret compartment. They’re traditionally made out of wood, and quite often, they take a fair bit of work to produce. However, the world of puzzle making is changing, and it’s not limited to traditional manufacturing methods anymore.
With the help of 3D printing, makers have been able to create a variety of different puzzles and share them. With so many available options, you’re bound to find one that you just have to print – or that will make a perfect gift.
In this list, we’ll look at some awesome 3D printed puzzle boxes that you can print for yourself. Some are simple to print and assemble, while others are pretty involved projects that will take some time and resources. That said, all of the makes in our list are definitely an option to sharpen your puzzle-solving skills.
And if you find a puzzle box that’s just right for you (or that you want to print as a gift), but your setup isn’t precise enough or you want a special material to give your puzzle box some class, don’t panic! With Craftcloud, you can find a professional manufacturer to do all the hard work for you (except solving the puzzles).
Classic
These puzzle boxes have a more traditional aesthetic and are entirely made of 3D printed parts. These may look simple, but it may take some time for you to figure out how to solve and open them up.
Gift Box
Gifts are always a pleasure to open, so why not up the fun? With this box, you can twist and transform the gift opening into a funny moment. The person receiving the present will have some work to do to get the prize! This box opens only after the 14 screws of the print are disassembled.
All components are 3D printed, including the thumb screws. The design features a print-in-place hinge mechanism, so make sure to tune your printer to get tight tolerances. The original files were designed to be printed with PLA but some users have also tested it with PETG to great success.
- Who designed it? Zurlingo3D
- How printable/popular is it? Over 4,600 makers have printed this puzzling gift box, giving this design a 4.6-star evaluation!
- Where to find it? MakerWorld
Cube
If you need an easy-to-print and easy-to-solve puzzle, here’s the right model for you. If your kids ask you to print something fun for them, they’ll love this design. The puzzle is composed of three identical pieces only that slide together to create a perfect cube, so by printing it with three colors, the cube will pop!
The designer has left a 0.3-mm tolerance to allow smooth movements. The model doesn’t require supports since your machine should be able to print without problems with the 22-mm bridge.
- Who designed it? WildRoseBuild
- How printable/popular is it? Over 5,000 makers have downloaded this model and 69 have shown off their cubes by sharing a make.
- Where to find it? Printables
From Hell
Prefer the challenge instead of the decor? This puzzle is for you. With sliding parts and a maze, this puzzle can be opened in as little as 19 or as many as 354 moves. Although it lacks an intricate style, you have the opportunity to decorate and make it your own.
The maker used supports and a raft, and while the print requires some sanding, it doesn’t need any glue to stay together.
- Who designed it? Florglad
- How printable/popular is it? This box has over 2,100 downloads on Printables and over 3,000 downloads on Thingiverse, with a total of 16 makes. With this simple design, we bet you can print it, but can you solve it?
- Where to find it? Printables, Thingiverse
Butterfly
This butterfly box is a fun and complex puzzle that you can only unlock if you can find the key and the keyhole, both of which are hidden. The box has butterflies all around – hence its name – and it features many secret moving components and compartments that are useful for finding the solution. To assemble the 15-part box and solve it, you can follow the designer’s tutorials linked on the project page.
The designer listed that they didn’t use supports or a raft to print the pieces, but they didn’t provide any further printing instructions. However, one recorded maker listed that they used a layer height of 0.2 mm with a 10% infill density.
- Who designed it? 3DPrintingWorld
- How printable/popular is it? This butterfly box has 293 recorded makes, 43 remixes, as well as over 289,000 downloads! As so many people have successfully printed this box, you’ll be able to make it, too!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Yosegi
This Yosegi Puzzle Box draws inspiration from the traditional Yosegi Kaizu, which is decorated with many patterns and designs, giving the box an appealing look. However, this puzzle box is not just a pretty face. It has many moving parts in various shapes and sizes, making it a complex puzzle to solve.
The designer has modified and updated the different parts of this box, and there are a total of five updated versions. In the latest one, “simplified” versions of the outer parts, which have challenging patterns, were added.
The designer recommends printing the entire box in ABS, as some of the parts are thin and fragile. A layer height of 0.01 mm is also recommended in order to display all the minute details.
- Who designed it? Prototype
- How printable/popular is it? Printables reports over 1,700 downloads and 14 makes.
- Where to find it? Printables
Themes & More
The puzzle boxes in this category all have a specific theme, including steampunk and space exploration. The thematically functional and aesthetic parts definitely give these puzzles plenty of character!
Sea Anemone
This is a stellar design, and not just because it’ll be perfectly hidden in plain sight while people stare at it anyway. It will puzzle even the most of curious of minds, as you can see above.
The designer included an easy-to-follow animation on how the lock works, as well as two printing profiles depending on whether you’re going for a single color or multicolor (AMS) setup. Dazzling makes show how different color gradients provide great effects to the anemone.
This is a perfect gift for anyone who’s watched Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. You know, “Just keep swimming.”
- Who designed it? RD.XL
- How printable/popular is it? This model has been downloaded over 320 times and has around 135 makes. The silk and multicolor filaments are definitely great options for the anemone if you’re adding this design to your mantelpiece!
- Where to find it? MakerWorld
Lunar Lighthouse
Lighthouses are fascinating. They are typically perched on cliffs and illuminate the dark sea at night. You can often see fridge magnets and small furniture designed in the shape of a lighthouse, so why not a lighthouse puzzle? For this beautiful design, you’ll need some additional hardware, including magnets, bolts, and metal pins.
Since the model is divided into multiple pieces, you don’t need a machine capable of multicolor printing to get such a result. You can choose whatever color combination you like the most; if want a realistic result, prepare your red and white filament. You won’t need any supports for this model, but if you have bed adhesion issues, make sure to add a brim in your slicer.
Will you be able to discover the secret of this lighthouse puzzle box? If you can’t wrap your mind around it, don’t worry, the designer has uploaded a video explaining the solution.
- Who designed it? 3DPrinty
- How printable/popular is it? Around 500 people have downloaded this beautiful puzzle, and 16 of them have shared their prints.
- Where to find it? Printables, Thangs
The Launch
Do aliens exist? If so, what do they look like? These questions remain unanswered. However, with this puzzle box, you’ll set out on a mission to find the missing alien hiding somewhere inside the box. If you can solve it, you’ll come face-to-face with an extraterrestrial life form!
This NASA-themed box comes equipped with a rocket, a few buttons, dials, and other various parts. Only the correct sequence of moves will reveal the alien’s location.
The designer recommends printing the puzzle parts with a layer height of 0.2 mm and 15% infill. Apart from this, like the designer, you can print the box in different colors, making it more vibrant. The box part named “Part B” can be a bit tricky to print, so you might have to play around with the settings. But once it’s all ready, you can easily assemble the puzzle box by following the instruction video.
- Who designed it? LeisureLuke
- How printable/popular is it? Thingiverse reports this NASA-themed puzzle box has 25 makes and 1 remix.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory
Mystery Combination
The next model on our list is also an awesome combination steampunk puzzle box. Once you know the solution, it’s not that hard to get into it, but it’s fun to figure out for the first time. It’s a remix of lovidovi’s escape room puzzle box, and all you have to do to get into it is solve the riddle and turn the dials accordingly.
Once you’re done printing this (which is easy enough), you’ll need to use some tape and glue to calibrate the lock mechanism.
- Who designed it? craeen
- How printable/popular is it? This design has over 18,000 downloads, and 15 makes and 2 remixes have been shared.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
The Heist
Embrace your inner bank robber and put this puzzle box to the test! This highly secure puzzle makes you feel like you’re about to break into a vault and steal some valuable treasures. A total of 23 pieces make up this box, and you can print all of them in PLA or PETG without any issues. Your goal is to steal the gold and flee, but opening this box will require some serious skill.
For a successful print, the maker suggests printing the box with a 0.2-mm layer height and 20% infill. In addition, this puzzle box has an improved remix that’s more durable and sturdy than the original. It also allows you to add rubber bands to the springs to make them last longer. So you can either try the original puzzle or print the remix and test your luck!
- Who designed it? LeisureLuke
- How printable/popular is it? This popular box has 51 makes and a remix combined from both sites.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse, Printables
Viking
This is a design that’ll really pay off if you have some wood filament that you can use, as many of the shared makes show. Of course, other color combinations work great as well, with the detailed design on the lid offering a great opportunity to test your printer and get amazing results.
The creator of this concentric combination puzzle box had been looking for a specific type of puzzle box, so they decided to make their own – which many in the community are grateful for. Clear instructions are included, not just on assembly, but also on how to create the unique combination. This might be a slightly bigger time investment than other more straightforward designs on this list, but we definitely thinks it’s worth it!
- Who designed it? NeveroddoreveN
- How printable/popular is it? With over 1,400 downloads and over 550 makes, this intricate and dazzling design has clearly found its following!
- Where to find it? MakerWorld
Fictional Favorites
These puzzle boxes draw some inspiration from various fictional worlds, including movies, video games, and books. A few of the references they draw upon are quite famous, and you’re sure to recognize some. These puzzles are going to be fun as well as challenging!
Brick Block
If you’re a fan of Super Mario Bros., you’re probably familiar with this puzzle box from the Mushroom Kingdom. You may have broken into these blocks countless times while scoring points and powering up Mario, but this time brute force won’t work!
To solve this puzzle and open the box, you have to move and position certain bricks on the block in a sequence. Once you’ve cracked it open, you can store anything inside, including coins like this make. For a successful print, use a layer height of 0.2 mm and a 15% infill.
After printing all the parts, it’s quite easy to assemble the block. All you need are some bolts, a few cylinder magnets, and your 3D printed parts.
- Who designed it? 3d-printy
- How printable/popular is it? This Super Mario Bros. brick block is a very popular puzzle box on Printables and Thingiverse, with a total of 107 makes on both sites.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse, Printables
TARDIS
Doctor Who fans will love this next puzzle box. The TARDIS is the iconic time machine from this series, and you can see mugs and T-shirts everywhere featuring it. It’s also a sentient machine that can talk telepathically with its passengers and translate alien languages directly into their minds. Making the Doctor travel from the start to the end of the universe, this machine has become a symbol of limitless exploration and adventure!
The creator opted for a print-in-place mechanism that makes the puzzle ready to be solved as soon as taken off the build plate. For that reason, to make the puzzle work, your printer needs to have a clearance of 0.5 mm maximum. Furthermore, the cooling system needs to be able to cleanly print 45-degree overhangs and the retraction settings should be tuned to avoid stringing.
- Who designed it? 3DPrinty
- How printable/popular is it? Over 1,100 people wanted to time travel by downloading this model, and 20 of them shared their makes.
- Where to find it? Printables, Thangs
Cthulhu
This puzzle is brought to you by the same maker who created the earlier steampunk puzzle, and this one is Cthulhu-themed. This box will have you navigating a unique maze with two sliding parts.
The creator makes designs with few supports required, and this one is noted for easy assembly. In fact, they provide a PDF to help you assemble your puzzle, and there’s even a video on how to solve it.
- Who designed it? juanrs
- How printable/popular is it? This box has over 7,300 downloads on MyMiniFactory and over 16,000 downloads from Thingiverse. Between both sites, 17 users have shared their prints.
- Where to find it? MyMiniFactory, Thingiverse
Treasure Chest
This treasure chest puzzle was inspired by The Legend of Zelda series, but you can’t open it by simply pulling the lid. The chest, which is composed of 20 parts, unlocks to reveal the contents and the hidden Triforce. Overall, the puzzle is well-documented on the project page, including links to the solution.
According to the designer, who has updated the model a few times, the “core” 3D printed part for this puzzle doesn’t require supports. While no other printing tips are provided by the designer, one maker lists that they used a 0.1-mm layer height and a 25% infill density.
- Who designed it? 3d-printy
- How printable/popular is it? This puzzle box inspired by The Legend of Zelda has 38 recorded makes and 5 remixes combined from both sites.
- Where to find it? Thingiverse, Printables
Outside the Box
These unique puzzles were created by thinking outside the box, as each has a very distinct design and a unique solution. Although printing and building these creative puzzles will be fairly easy, solving them will present a challenge.
Spin
This may be an easier puzzle to solve than others on the list, yet it’s well worth your attention. And because it’s such an aesthetically pleasing design – with many color combinations possible to customize it to the receiver’s taste – you won’t go wrong.
The designer included a version that is juts the decorative box, in case you want to keep matters simpler. But seeing as how this is a list on puzzle boxes, should you want to opt for its main intended use, you’ll find clear instructions broken down in steps with photos to make it even easier.
- Who designed it? Vexanix
- How printable/popular is it? Over 670 downloads and more than 230 makes, plus many comments from happy makers, show that these designs have found plenty homes!
- Where to find it? MakerWorld
Russian Doll Maze
This next puzzle is a unique, maze-like version of the classic Russian doll set in which small dolls are stacked into bigger ones. However, instead of dolls, this puzzle uses six cylindrical structures with mazes on the sides that make it challenging to unlock the next structure in the set. At the core of the set lies an empty space where you can put a prize.
As you might expect by this design’s structure, some users have found it hard to make the maze pieces line up and fit with the notches on the internal sides of the cylindrical structures. For this reason, we suggest tuning your printer’s dimensional accuracy so that you print with good tolerances. One successful maker stated that they used a 0.2-mm layer height with a 15% infill density to print the pieces in PLA.
- Who designed it? RevK
- How printable/popular is it? This set of maze puzzles has more than 200 recorded makes, 20 remixes, and over 183,000 downloads! So many people have printed this puzzle and you can as well!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Nails
Remixed from a similar puzzle, this box uses nails to lock up anything stored inside. While the box, in its final form, looks like a container that you can simply lift the lid off of, it isn’t as easy to unlock. To prime the puzzle and lock the box, you simply have to attach the lid to the box and shake it around a bit to get the nails to lock into place.
The box requires five 3D printed parts and seven 50-mm nails for assembly. According to the maker, you’ll also need to glue the two lid pieces together. You can print the pieces using the same settings as the designer, including a 0.3-mm layer height, a 20% infill density, and no supports.
- Who designed it? Bingoprints
- How printable/popular is it? The nail puzzle box has over 710 downloads and 6 makes.
- Where to find it? Printables
Numerical Cryptex
This cryptex, though not exactly a box, still allows you to store something inside. The cryptex is made up of 15 3D printable parts (some printed multiple times) and only opens when the right six-digit numerical combination has been set using the rotatable mechanism. Once opened, you can change the correct combination to whatever code you want.
One maker posted a great print of the puzzle box and listed a few of the settings used. These include printing in PLA with a 0.2-mm layer height and a 20% infill density, with supports activated.
- Who designed it? alexberkowitz
- How printable/popular is it? This numerical cryptex puzzle has 32 recorded makes, 9 remixes, and over 19,000 downloads!
- Where to find it? Thingiverse
Electronic
This magnificent project will have you looking for keys, figuring out passcodes, and tracking down locations like a puzzle treasure hunt! The maker decided to create this box as an exciting way to give Christmas gifts.
The box itself has three compartments, with each one on a different side. The main compartment is bigger than the others. You’ll also need a six-digit code to open each one and to be in a certain location as it uses GPS.
As a bit more added fun (or frustration), the main compartment will only open when two keys are inserted and turned. The keys can be hidden in the side compartments or elsewhere.
It’s not only exciting to open but also to make. You’ll probably need to invest some time and money into this (it’s hard to tell exactly how much). The design includes a full list of materials, tools, and Arduino components that you’ll need for the inputs and the locking mechanism. Don’t worry, the Instructables tutorial also provides all the necessary codes.
Check out the inner workings of this design:
- Who designed it? esseff3d
- How printable/popular is it? This impressive puzzle box has over 10,600 views. Based on the comments, several people have successfully built their own!
- Where to find it? Instructables
License: The text of "20 Impossible 3D Printed Puzzle Boxes That Will Break Your Brain" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.