CM Parametric Product Design Final Project Proposal: Truchet Tile Puzzle
3 min readMar 18, 2021
- Title: Truchet Tile Wood Puzzle
- Members: me, myself and I
- Project Summary: I would like to make a square wood puzzle with truchet tile puzzle pieces. Less of a puzzle and more of an activity, the truchet tiles would allow the user to create new and unique patterns with the puzzle (tiles) pieces and also serve as a unique piece of decor since I plan to make it beautiful too. The puzzle will sit in a custom wood tray for displaying the puzzle. I have not decided yet if I want to add a digital component, such as an ecommerce that allows the user to customize the tiles on their puzzle or simply give different variations. If I do make a digital component, then I could also develop and design a brand around the product too. I plan to actually make this puzzle with the help of the idea forge (and maybe some wood glue?), but I will also build a 3D model of it in CAD to show too. If I decide to add the digital component to the project and add variations then I will only do models of those variants, I will not actually make them out of wood. I think that the main challenges I will face with this is developing an accurate 3D model of the puzzle, and then actually fabricating the puzzle for real.
- Key Components: For this project I will need to use Rhino, Grasshopper, Illustrator and if I make the ecommerce site then I will build it using Figma and create mockups via photoshop. I want to reach high fidelity with a completed puzzle for the presentation of this project. Materials I will need are wood, I think I would like to do a combination of birch and walnut. Research I need to still do will be how to put the puzzle pieces and tray together.
- Milestones: I need to buy the wood, design the truchet tile pattern, and work with the laser cutting shop at the idea forge. Questions I have are related to how to actually physically make the puzzle, if wood glue is enough or if things will need to be nailed etc, this is where I mainly lack skill but I think if I can model the puzzle and the pieces for the tray I can have them each laser cut and then I can assemble. I also want to sand and stain the pieces to make them nice and smooth, so I will do some research on that too.
