The difficulty of attaching small parts
Today was sunny and a little cold, and the air was very dry. Dry weather is good, but I want to avoid sudden changes, so I keep the puzzle boxes I’m working on inside a case while storing them.
Today I continued working on the 5-sun 36-steps boxes and the hexagonal boxes. In the evening, I went out for a short while. I finished attaching the internal parts of the 36-steps box first thing in the morning. Because there are many parts, my shoulders got a little stiff 🤣 But since it was early in the morning and I wasn’t tired yet, I managed to finish it. There are several things I need to be careful about when attaching these parts, and the most important one is making sure the parts do not come off. Inside the box, a small wooden piece moves back and forth between these parts, and when it hits them, even though it’s small, it gives a little impact. If the glue is not strong enough, the parts can come loose. Using a lot of glue sounds good, but the parts are so small that if I use even a little too much, the glue will squeeze out. This overflowed glue is very bad. When it dries, it becomes a solid lump like plastic, and its surface does not slide smoothly. It will block the movement of the small wooden piece that needs to move through that area.
I also have a bitter memory from the past. Attaching these parts can probably be done even by someone who is not a highly skilled craftsman, because the parts only need to be placed in the set positions. Almost 20 years ago, when I was younger and had more energy 😅, I used to make many more puzzle boxes at once. At that time, I needed help, so I asked some outside workers to attach these parts for me. However, they were afraid of the glue squeezing out, so they used only a small amount of glue when attaching the parts. The work looked very clean because no glue overflowed, but later it caused a serious problem. After the puzzle boxes were finished, delivered, and reached the customers, the parts began to come off after the mechanism was used several times. Since the puzzle boxes were already completed, there was no way to repair them. They all became defective products. I had asked the outside workers to use enough glue, but because they wanted to avoid glue spilling out, they gradually used less and less glue as they continued their work. So if even a little glue comes out, I must clean it off completely. But if I try too hard to avoid glue overflow, I end up using too little glue, and the parts may not be firmly attached.
So even now, when I attach these internal parts, I try to use enough glue so that a little bit comes out. Inside the mechanism, there are places where glue can overflow and places where it absolutely must not overflow. When the glue comes out in the places where it shouldn’t, I wipe it off. For the other places, I leave the glue overflow as it is, because having that extra glue makes the parts stronger and more secure. Since the inside cannot be seen from the outside, I leave it on purpose as reinforcement.
So from this, I think it’s clear that the best way is for one craftsman—who understands all the steps before and after—to complete every part of the process. If you don’t know how the current step will affect the later steps, you cannot truly understand how important the current work is.
In Japan, we will have a three-day weekend starting tomorrow, including the national holiday Labor Thanksgiving Day. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Today I continued working on the 5-sun 36-steps boxes and the hexagonal boxes. In the evening, I went out for a short while. I finished attaching the internal parts of the 36-steps box first thing in the morning. Because there are many parts, my shoulders got a little stiff 🤣 But since it was early in the morning and I wasn’t tired yet, I managed to finish it. There are several things I need to be careful about when attaching these parts, and the most important one is making sure the parts do not come off. Inside the box, a small wooden piece moves back and forth between these parts, and when it hits them, even though it’s small, it gives a little impact. If the glue is not strong enough, the parts can come loose. Using a lot of glue sounds good, but the parts are so small that if I use even a little too much, the glue will squeeze out. This overflowed glue is very bad. When it dries, it becomes a solid lump like plastic, and its surface does not slide smoothly. It will block the movement of the small wooden piece that needs to move through that area.
I also have a bitter memory from the past. Attaching these parts can probably be done even by someone who is not a highly skilled craftsman, because the parts only need to be placed in the set positions. Almost 20 years ago, when I was younger and had more energy 😅, I used to make many more puzzle boxes at once. At that time, I needed help, so I asked some outside workers to attach these parts for me. However, they were afraid of the glue squeezing out, so they used only a small amount of glue when attaching the parts. The work looked very clean because no glue overflowed, but later it caused a serious problem. After the puzzle boxes were finished, delivered, and reached the customers, the parts began to come off after the mechanism was used several times. Since the puzzle boxes were already completed, there was no way to repair them. They all became defective products. I had asked the outside workers to use enough glue, but because they wanted to avoid glue spilling out, they gradually used less and less glue as they continued their work. So if even a little glue comes out, I must clean it off completely. But if I try too hard to avoid glue overflow, I end up using too little glue, and the parts may not be firmly attached.
So even now, when I attach these internal parts, I try to use enough glue so that a little bit comes out. Inside the mechanism, there are places where glue can overflow and places where it absolutely must not overflow. When the glue comes out in the places where it shouldn’t, I wipe it off. For the other places, I leave the glue overflow as it is, because having that extra glue makes the parts stronger and more secure. Since the inside cannot be seen from the outside, I leave it on purpose as reinforcement.
So from this, I think it’s clear that the best way is for one craftsman—who understands all the steps before and after—to complete every part of the process. If you don’t know how the current step will affect the later steps, you cannot truly understand how important the current work is.
In Japan, we will have a three-day weekend starting tomorrow, including the national holiday Labor Thanksgiving Day. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!