How to Make a Custom Puzzle

Getting a custom puzzle made is yet another unique service CNCROi.com offers, of course, it can be made out of any material at any size, shape and quantity. When I went to my family’s cottage a while back, there was a chipmunk that liked peanuts, so I took a few pictures and decided to convert one of those into a laser engraved and cut custom chipmunk puzzle.

Ever since I cut out a large puzzle interlocking project a while back, I’ve been wanting to go back and make a real puzzle like I had when I was a kid so that’s what we’ll make today!

We’ll start with 1/8th or 3 mm thick hardboard MDF, it’s a bit stronger than typical MDF with a harder surface and works pretty well for engraving and cutting projects we do here in the shop, from custom cake toppers to signage backing (when needed).

We’ll start-off with laser cutting out the backing of the custom puzzle followed by the frame it will fit into. I could have cut out the puzzle at the same time as the frame but for optimal film positioning, it was best do things this way.

Now that the custom puzzle part that was cut out from the frame is placed properly in the bed for filming, it was time to begin the engraving using our Austrian wide-format industrial CNC laser.

Due to the fact that CNCROi.com can make custom puzzles on-demand using any material in any shape or size, you are given incredible flexibility when it comes to custom puzzle pieces and overall shape.

For instance, if you want the entire puzzle to be in the shape of your corporate logo or to celebrate a person’s anniversary with little custom cut pieces inside forming the message, we can do that!

Due to our unique approach, we can also make a thousand identically engraved puzzles with completely different puzzle pieces or make a thousand custom puzzles sharing different images but same puzzle pieces. It’s totally up to you!

What this means is that we can even customize each puzzle with unique alphanumerics produce on-demand, so if you had something you wanted to market as a limited quantity available for higher price points, we can make them each with a unique puzzle piece, or part of the overall puzzle, incorporating that X of Y custom puzzles.

I took a picture of the screenshot that I made my custom puzzle from, the image above has been optimized for the laser, the red marks represent the secondary pattern I’m using the laser to etch more detail into the custom puzzle after the initial engraving pass.

The purpose of a secondary pass is to add additional details to the puzzle that’s lost when MDF is engraved. MDF is great for many applications but it tends to engrave flat, hence going over it to make it darker in specific areas.

This custom puzzle is coming along nicely, you can see the laser vaporizing the image permanently into the board and very little smoke is settling on the puzzle itself simply because we have a very powerful extraction system hooked-up to our laser.

CNC laser engraving and cutting is a completely contactless process, meaning the machine never actually touches what’s on the production bed. As such, a board doesn’t need to be held down like it would in our industrial CNC router or other equipment we have in the shop.

You can now clearly define the chipmunk in the custom puzzle and the nut its eating in the photograph above. This custom puzzle can have as many or as few pieces as you wish, cut into any shape or size.

So, if you wanted the chipmunk itself to be a puzzle piece followed by the traditional pieces all around it, we could have absolutely done that, CNCROi.com‘s puzzles are limitless when it comes to options but keep in mind, there is a direct relationship between budget and how custom you want the final piece to be.

We have full custom design facilities in the shop, so if you aren’t a graphic designer, we can take that work off your hands on do it on your behalf. We are also process agnostic, so if you wanted us to make a stamp the size of this puzzle which you use an ink pad to create the puzzle piece, we can do that.

We could have also made this puzzle in any material, acrylic, laminate, stainless steel, anodized aluminium, literally anything your application or desire wishes to be done.

Now that the initial engraving pass by our laser is done on this custom puzzle, it’s time to add some dark details to make it pop a little more.

Afterwards, the puzzle itself is cut out. Notice how I kept my logo all together to prevent it being also cut out from this custom puzzle.

Cutting a custom puzzle produces lots of smoke, even if this is only 1/8th or 3 mm thick hardboard MDF but it isn’t a hazard, it’s quickly taken care of.

Now that our custom chipmunk puzzle is cut out, it’s time to review the work done!

I’d typically mask this or use a material that’s easily sanded but in this case, as a demo, I like showing customers more the idea behind what’s possible and then make something top of the line after some testing.

You can see that the cutting pass introduced smoke around all the edges, some of our customers like and actually request this while others don’t. It’s completely up to you. It’s now time to finish-up this custom puzzle starting with the laser cut frame CNCROi.com cut out earlier.

In this case, the process of putting the custom puzzle together is incredibly easy, just glue the frame to the backing and once dry, stick the custom puzzle inside!

Now you can see how 3 pieces came into two, the backing is important because I want to put this into my sample briefcase I show to customers, hence making it relatively small yet strong enough to stay in one piece.

The custom chipmunk puzzle is now complete, the pieces aren’t glued-in, I like to show customers that it’s a REAL CUSTOM PUZZLE so they can take out the pieces and see the quality of the cut.

Making this custom puzzle out of other material such as acrylic or stainless steel would produce a nicer finish but also dramatically increase the price point of this custom puzzle. Materials, the more exotic, the slower the process generally and higher the production costs.

Let’s look at this custom puzzle a little closer so that you can see how much detail has gone into this and the quality of the finish.

The smoke stains are easily resolved if the client wanted MDF, just put a masking on it. You can see how the secondary engraving has not only darkened the MDF but also engraved deeper into it. This is why this adds a lot more depth to an otherwise flat custom puzzle.

The nice thing about MDF is how consistent a material it is, so engraving is all the same depth and very consistent in look and feel.

This overall custom puzzle was a great success, to add additional contrast, paint could have been applied to the surface so that you have an additional color to work with, making this out of custom laminate is also a great way to make the puzzle pop.

Are you looking for a custom puzzle as gifts at your next birthday, corporate event or just to drive something nuts? Contact CNCROi.com right now!