My great grandson is going to be an astrophysicist and is attending his first year of collage. I would love to find a puzzle that a scientist might find challenging.
1 Like
A jigsaw puzzle with only one tile, perhaps?
The generator comes from the folks who discovered the first aperiodic monotile. Before I found that, I reverse-engineered the shape to make a demo puzzle:
More recently, I turned a chunk of the pattern from their generator into Layered Paper Art and put it safely behind glass:
It took some dinking with the generator to get a usable PNG image (the SVG output seems broken), but that’s my kind of puzzle … 
4 Likes
Oh golly, that is so cool. I am thinking acrylic, my dad’s artwork, OMG. I am out thinking my life! Now I am off to Google free online puzzle generator.
If I could make a jigsaw puzzle using this image I think it is something my grandson would be interested. He still thinks I can learn something from him about his homework, but to me it is like learning another ten languages in my lifetime.
IMO, the best images for laser “engraving” have high contrast and no fiddly details. The galaxy image depends on subtle gradations and fine dots, so it probably won’t look as impressive in charred plywood.
That said, you could print a nicely colored and highly detailed image with an inkjet printer, laminate one side, stick the other side to some plywood, then cut away (*). Protective tape on both sides will minimize cleanup, although charred edges may be offputting.
Do the layout using those einstein tiles to get a very challenging puzzle.
(*) Diode lasers may have trouble making a clean cut through that much material; perhaps cut the wood and laminated sheet separately, then stick them together on each piece.
1 Like
I love this and going with it!
This I think I can do. I will probably be back with more questions. Thanks so much… 
I recently talked to a college prof (math of course) who inquired about cutting that shape for puzzles, even adding locking tabs/sockets to hold the pieces together. He even gave me the xy ciirdunates so I could draw it precisely. An interesting shape.