HOURGLASS PUZZLE SOLUTION

Today we're going through he step by step solution to the Hanayama Hourglass puzzle.
To get more puzzles like the Hourglass puzzle, check out the Puzzle Master website; www.puzzlemaster.ca/?a=816591
The hourglass is one of the most recent puzzles from Hanayama, it was released in 2018 and, so far, is the hardest puzzle I've ever done. It's sits on the throne as number one Hanayama puzzle in terms of difficulty (in my opinion).
So to get the hourglass disassembled takes a few tricky moves. When you're solving this for the first time, even when you know the moves, they're hard to do so don't be discouraged if what you're trying to do doesn't happen first time, or even the 10th time. It's tough.
Putting it back together is even harder in my opinion because there are so many permutations of positions so when you're following along with the video, you MUST make sure each piece is in the right orientation when you're reconnecting them.
I hope you enjoy the video and find it useful for solving the hourglass puzzle yourself. Let me know what you think of the hourglass and how you get on with this Hourglass puzzle solution.
Timestamps-
0:00 - Intro
0:47 - Disassembly
7:32 - Assembly
14:29 - Tips & Tricks

[@GBadkarma]

Nothing in the point I’m at matches any of this, “oh god what have I done.”

[@starcke9071]

I had to just mess around with it for about an hour and a half. Once I got the first 2 separations I kinda got the algorithm to get it all apart. I'm just here to get it back together. Thanks!

[@Kember138]

Thank you. I have a few puzzles that had me mine boggled. You helped me and I appreciate it. Awesome

[@OfficialFireuter]

I watched others video about this hourglass until i found it was force,now my hourglass is totally broken, luckily i watched your video, i successfully solved the puzzle ,nice work!

[@hing22]

Thanks for this solution, I managed to reassemble this puzzle.

[@PsiPhiDan]

I'm amazed that you were able to make this video, HOWEVER... I'm even more amazed that someone designed this in such a way that it WORKS! Such a complex solve and somehow there's no easy/quick solution - it appears it was engineered and designed PERFECTLY. Unbelievable.

[@RossDM]

I agree... How someone designs this is almost incomprehensible.

[@randalwade2605]

I went to many videos and yours was the only one to actually help thank you I was starting to get so fusterated and I’ll definitely come back if there’s another one I get stuck on

[@RossDM]

Awesome! Glad I could help

[@sfequestrian6754]

Thanks for the video! I managed to get the hourglass shape undone, then handed it to my dad. He figured it out in 30 minutes without looking anything up, I was shocked 😂

[@RossDM]

Wow, that's impressive!

[@sfequestrian6754]

His background in engineering may help, but I still have no clue how he did it

[@lesterkok8819]

Yr dad is a genius them, but i very much doubt u are sharing with us the whole story. :-)

[@adamedwards3921]

Thank you for you simple explanation in the tutorial I solved this on my own , but I couldn't put it back together i watched 2 other videos before yours and their explanation was co.i ated and their references were horrible. I watched your video to put back together 1 time and it worked great 👍, it was driving me nuts that I couldn't get it back together . I know I cheated 50 % , but this was my 1st puzzle ever so I think I did ok . Now I'm addicted to cast puzzles anytime I find one in stores and they aren't crazy expensive i buy them . Anyways great content brother and thanks again !

[@RossDM]

That's great to hear, glad this helped! If this is the first one you've done, the rest should be a breeze, this is the hardest one by a mile in my opinion.

[@bubber4444]

Great job! I was able to follow through the video easily and successfully took it apart and put it back together. I didn't even notice any music.

[@RossDM]

Thanks Wayne! Glad the video helped, this is an extremely hard puzzle.

[@user-ml8th1ck7o]

@@RossDM hfksjdhsf

[@lesterkok8819]

Hi Ross, your above tutorial is appreciated though i regret to say i had to consult some other in order to solve the puzzle. FWIW, i did experiment with yr opening method using the "solid pieces", but i did also try using the "gap pieces" to open, and the latter worked out to be so much easier n quicker.

[@psychopathicmark8114]

Thank you ! I got the puzzle apart after about 4 hours, and after 3 days of struggling finally had to look up how to put it back together 😭. Your video was VERY helpful.

[@RossDM]

Nice work on getting it apart, this one is very tough! Glad I could help a bit in reassembling

[@matheussboldrimsoares5856]

this puzzle is a monster. but i didnt have to look for the solution to disassemble it. FOR THE FIRST TIME!

[@valaha]

Thanks for solution. This was lot better than other solution videos. Anyway, from there 13:30 it killed me... I needed redo that part like 10 times... Somehow mine were stucked so badly (around here 13:56). Anyway, Hourglass puzzle is my first hanayama puzzle, and i regret it. Already jumped into deep water... >.> Tooooooo hard for beginners wtf.

[@RossDM]

Thanks! Yeah, it's very easy for them to get stuck at that point. Haha for your first Hanayama, yes, 100% you've jumped in at the deep end. The good news is that they're all a breeze compared to this one!

[@SandpiperN121PP]

Thank You for the awesome video! I got it apart after a bit of a struggle... and this really helped me understand just why and how it works! Looking forward to the next video!

[@RossDM]

Nice work!

[@johnfournier6242]

Hello Ross--ordered this one today--my question is what happens if you screw up one of the moves?? how would you ever figure out how to return it to the proper step--great videos--love the nutcase puzzle!!!

[@RossDM]

Same as any other puzzle really, you try and get back on the right track. When solving for the first time though, you just don't know what the right track is. Good luck with this one!

[@wademiller8716]

Thanks!

[@galatajoe]

Hello Ross thank’s for these new beautiful explanation but: between 10:10 and 10:12, this is the opposite ? The picture shows a clockwise system… without any comment. I do as I see but I didn’t understand … So helpful yet !!🤓

[@Fusion10k]

Solved it and came here to see how you did it. Was shocked that I solved it completely different :) My solution was to put the solid pieces in the gap at the same time. It does take more steps though. Never even had the chain position :P

[@RossDM]

That sounds interesting... do you have a video of it?

[@Fusion10k]

@@RossDM Here you go: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqqof4ujqL6mo7s My djanky ass video :P

[@RossDM]

@@Fusion10k Haha very good. Lots of moves, like you say, but you're very familiar with the puzzle. You must have spent a long time on it. Great work, well done.

[@Fusion10k]

@@RossDM Guess I wasn't that familiar, if I missed the easier solution :) But it took me 3 weeks of on/off solving. Was stuck on the "square" position for a long time.

[@Zgbluearmy]

Couldn't put it back together and I thought I never will... You explanations and detailed video help ed me a lot. Really great vid. Like & subscribe from me. Keep up good work. Sorry on my english

[@RossDM]

Thanks Edin. I'm glad it helped!

[@ethanbaker6757]

What do you do when a piece is flipped dackwords

[@PeterBevington]

Reassembly : at 10:10 & 10:11, the chain order changes at a cut in the video Oh at the cut the chain is flipped 180 degrees horizontally

[@personguy4078]

Thank you

[@RossDM]

Glad I could help :)

[@pokerfacemonks]

Well, um... ha ha! That is definitely not how I took it apart! It’s to complicated to explain here but, it involved sliding the end of the hourglass piece from one side to the other on the middle part of the other pieces. I questioned it. If it was the right way or not and apparently it was not from watching this video. Yes. This was the hardest puzzle I have tackled before! Cudos to JinHoo Ahn for the Design! I will not watch the putting back together part. As I see I took it apart wrong. I do see how you took it apart with all the twists, etc. I will eventually figure out the right order of putting it back together myself without the (cheating) part I used to take it apart. Thanks for the video!

[@RossDM]

Wow, that's interesting, I didn't realise there was another way of doing it... Yep, this is the hardest one I've done too, incredibly difficult. Good luck on the reassembly!

[@johnfournier6242]

my son started to try this and then gave it to my wife--she got it to the square then watched your video and got it to the chain--that is when i got up and told her to stop!!!! let me figure it out hahaha --i got it only from your video--great job --excellent video--no to put it back together

[@RossDM]

A team effort, nice work! Good luck on the reassembly!

[@johnfournier6242]

@@RossDM just reassembled it--took hours--last piece just would not slide in--it finally popped in with a little push--great video--had to slow it down

[@RossDM]

@@johnfournier6242 Nice work, glad the video helped.

[@HotShot-gh5sv]

@RossDM - Puzzle Solving Please help. I am stuck at the square on the re assembly. One of my pieces is around the wrong way (the solid piece at the side is around the wrong loop of the gap piece at the bottom)

[@HotShot-gh5sv]

One of the pieces is also in the wrong orientation. (Back to back directly not back flat to back horns like the video shows)

[@HotShot-gh5sv]

I tried to take it apart and retry and now I've gotten into a worse situation. Two solid pieces are going through the one loop of the gap piece although. Nothing is in the other loop of the gap piece now

[@RossDM]

@@HotShot-gh5sv Hi Connor, I've been in this situation before and it's awful. Unfortunately, I can't describe a way out of it move by move because I don't know it. All I can say is to keep working towards getting it separated again. It's more realistic to get back to the chain position than it is to get to a correct square orientation. It'll be very tough and take some luck combined with figuring out things but that's all I can say I'm afraid. Good luck! Let me know how it goes...

[@HotShot-gh5sv]

@@RossDM darn. Am I able to send you any pictures of my situation for you to try and advise me? I've been trying to get it undone for a while now. And I've messed it up more. Now the piece that was causing the issue before is twisted... That's kind of the best way I can describe how that looks 😂

[@HotShot-gh5sv]

I am convinced I am in an impossible predicament now. There are no longer any moving pieces. Even with force no pieces come out of one another. Thank you for all your help. You are an amazing KZbinr and an one of the best puzzle solvers and creators on the platform. Thank for for being so friendly and answering all your comments too. Please keep doing what you're doing as you were one of the ones to get me and many others into puzzel solving ! 😁. Unfortunately, due to my own idiocy I am going to have to buy another hourglass and try and not break this one by performing incorrect moves after each other lol🤦😂

[@jonathanmoore5709]

One Of My Hourglass Pieces Is Flipped Around So When I'm In The Square Position Like You At 4:10 There Both In The Same Direction Where yours Are Opposite Each Other So When I Get To The Part At 4:44 Yours Has One Slot Piece And One Solid Piece Where Both My Hourglass Pieces At The Bottom Have The Slot Side Up. And What I Mean By Slot Is Like The Hourglass Piece Closest To The Gap Opening At 4:44 In The Video The Piece That Has A Slot In The Top.

[@RossDM]

Have you taken it apart before? I can't think of any way of it being like that unless it's been reassembled the wrong way round? I may be wrong

[@jonathanmoore5709]

@@RossDM I Finally Got It Back Apart And Back To The Original Position I Found Out What I Did Wrong I Forgot To Flip Over One Of The Hourglass Pieces During Reassembly Like At 8:25 And Sense I Forgot I Had Both Hourglass Pieces In the Same Direction Which Was my Problem On Why Both Slots Or Spikes Were At The Bottom Pointing up But I Got it Now After Being Stuck For Over 2 Weeks And Now That I Know What I Did Wrong I Will Know Not To Make The Mistake Again You Should Never Make the Same Mistake Twice.

[@RossDM]

@@jonathanmoore5709 Brilliant! Well figured out

[@afrocowboyninjawizard7578]

Hey can I get some help I have the puzzle where one of the gap pieces and both of the solid pieces are on the bottom and the other gap piece on the top. help

[@RossDM]

In the chain position or close to the original position?

[@afrocowboyninjawizard7578]

@@RossDM close to the original

[@RossDM]

@@afrocowboyninjawizard7578 It's going to be tough to help to be honest. Have you disassembled it before? If you haven't, I'd guess it's related to doing the first couple of moves the wrong way? If you have disassembled it before, there may have been a wrong move earlier in the reassembly. This might not help that much but it's tough to know the fixes from every position. Good luck.

[@peopyt]

I got it reassembled to the hourglass shape but the two and two pieces are on the wrong height but correctly opposite of each other so the small move, the first push you do to start the whole puzzle, is not possible. Have you ever gotten there before?

[@RossDM]

I don't think I have got there before. I don't know which specific place you need to get back to to correct it either. You may be better off trying to fully disassemble it and start the reassembly again, unless you can figure out where the mistake was in the middle. Good luck!

[@peopyt]

@@RossDM I got out to the triangle shape from the state eventually after fideling a bit hehe

[@peopyt]

Now it is really stuck in a state I'm not getting out of... Both the hanayama and hourglass pieces are together correctly flat side but turned upside down so the horns and the flat side are switched...

[@peopyt]

Update: it suddenly slided out to each side like it does from the starting position after the first click

[@robertmiller341]

I would have never taken this approach. I decided to give this to my cousins husband who finds many puzzles very easy. Even follow the step by step instructions I had trouble. At one point during reassembly I thought ok I got the idea I can do this and got it completely wrong and had to take it apart again. I still have to box so it's going back in the box and is going to a gift for someone who I think will solve it with out cheating like I did. My favorite puzzle so far has been ENIGMA took be about 3 days of fiddling with it off and on.

[@RossDM]

This one is incredibly hard, everything needs to be perfect. I remember struggling with the reassembly first time round... getting the orientation right to put it back to the square was tough. Good luck to your family member!

[@Pingvinuz]

I was at the last step when you pull em up but did something wrong and tried to fix it and go worse and kept trying to fix it now i ended with both gapped parts hanging with fronts touching from both the nonhorned part of the solid ones. Any idea how to solve from this?

[@RossDM]

I'd have to sit down with my Hourglass and try figure out what position you're in. I won't be able to do that for a good few days. Did you manage to solve it anyway?

[@Pingvinuz]

@@RossDM i have not manage in anyway to get out it yet

[@RossDM]

@@Pingvinuz Keep going, you'll manage it eventually.

[@Pingvinuz]

@@RossDM i have now manged to get back to 13:34 (or 13:00 which ever is easiest to see how i mean) but my two gapped parts are touching frornts instead of backs any idea how to swap them?

[@RossDM]

@@Pingvinuz I'm not 100% sure but you may have to go back to the square position and double check the positions there.

[@avexlee5949]

Trying to solve this puzzle last couple days and it’s way too hard feels much harder than any other hanayama puzzles I solved even much harder than vortex, engnima , quartet equa etc. very confusing puzzle to looking for directions to forward and backwards to separate it? I m given up to solve it ! Amazing how you can separate it in two hrs !

[@RossDM]

I agree, this is way harder than any other Hanayama. The 2 hours isn't total time, there's plenty of breaks in there and it's usually when back from a break that I make progress. Fresh thinking.

[@avexlee5949]

@@RossDM puzzle guy also told me this is his hardest hanayama puzzle too his top 3 are hourglass then Vortex then rotor and I saw him solve other brands of puzzles from KZbin some other puzzles from Mr Puzzle are just as hard ! Those wooden box ones look even harder

[@superh2028]

at 3:00 my solid pieces are on the inside and my gapped pieces are on the outside. how do I fix this?

[@RossDM]

You have to go back to the start and then separate them from that starting position the opposite way. Does that make sense?

[@superh2028]

@@RossDM yes, but I'll just have to figure out how to do that.. haha. so thank you!

[@RossDM]

@@superh2028 If you look at the very last move of putting it back together, it won't be that exact move but it'll be pretty much the same move.

[@MakeMeKing7767]

4:49 stuck at this position but the solid pieces and the non-solid pieces are flipped. Help?

[@RossDM]

If I understand where you are correctly, you need to go back a step. If you go back to the 4:20 square position and make sure you've got the same orientation and you then have the gap piece coming through the solid piece. I hope this helps. Let me know how you get on.

[@MakeMeKing7767]

@@RossDM The pieces get stuck and won't allow me to go back to the square piece. Now I'm stuck where the two sets of pieces are together but interlocked (similarly to how a chain is linked)

[@RossDM]

​@@MakeMeKing7767 Ok... There's definitely a way back to the square position. You're going to have to figure out which piece went through which and reverse the two moves you did to get to that point. It's usually a push together then a flip around or a flip around then a pull through (sorry it's hard to describe).

[@miloszivkovic6256]

This puzzle would be awesome without one way blockers

[@anthonycharlier1416]

Seems mine is broke or very stuck. I can't go back either :( is it possible?

[@RossDM]

It is possible, but extremely difficult to solve and easy to get stuck.

[@jorgep.2921]

I need a tutorial on the tutorial

[@enderethan6842]

4:58 just got me like something is stuck with something

[@RossDM]

I'm not sure what you mean?

[@24Kewldude]

@@RossDM at that point it doesnt wanna move as freely as yours did to get to the next step. theres something blocking it from moving that way

[@RossDM]

@@24Kewldude Have you got the triangle position but can't get the solid piece through the gap?

[@MagicPeaceLove]

10:08 You have a cut and the whole chain is reoriented without comment. Very confusing. Otherwise, excellent video.

[@RossDM]

Ah yeah, I flipped it around. Oops. I may redo this one in the future, there's a few little bits I can improve.

[@OnlyAtomic]

i got it stuck and it is not able to get the 4 peices by its self

[@RossDM]

All I can say is you need to undo what you did to get it in that position. If you got it in to that position, you should be able to get it out

[@yggdrasil7942]

The video is brilliant , as well as the description but the music is a turn off. I couldn't carry on with the video. Sorry mate.

[@RossDM]

Thanks for the feedback James. Is it too loud or just distracting?

[@yggdrasil7942]

@@RossDM When I'm concentrating, I don't listen to music. I would of muted the music but then I wouldn't of heard you haha. Probably tone it down a tad. Both Chris Ramsey or Mr puzzle don't have music in their vids.

[@RossDM]

@@yggdrasil7942 Noted. Will have a play around over the next few weeks. Cheers.

[@damianlarocca4359]

Fantastic video and explanation. But I have to agree, maybe make the music a tad quieter? Brain is already cooking trying to follow this haha the music gets in the way lol

[@noahnaugler7611]

And now you can actually turn this piece... My piece: * doesn't turn * * Confused crying * Edit: so turns out I've somehow managed to turn the solid pieces around the wrong way

[@RossDM]

I hear this a lot, about the pieces being the wrong way around, and I'm not 100% sure how it happens or how to get it back. I THINK it's to do with the way you start the first move and the orientation. Try going back to the start and resetting. Good luck! This is the hardest Hanayama by a country mile

[@zekesmith2482]

@@RossDM it happened to me and now I don’t know how I got it there so now I’m stuck :(

[@supere13]

This doesn’t work if I already messed it up. There are NO videos on what to do if I messed up.

[@RossDM]

That's one of the difficult parts about making solution videos. It's impossible to make a video from every possible position because there'd be an almost infinite amount of videos required. Your best bet is try and get to a position you see on the video and join the solution from that point. I hope that helps! Good luck

[@billystone169]

I solved it but I did it a different way

[@RossDM]

How?

[@billystone169]

@@RossDM idk

[@kittydestroyer9030]

I softlocked this puzzle lol

[@RossDM]

have you managed to sort it?

[@kittydestroyer9030]

@@RossDM no its like stuck xd

[@RossDM]

@@kittydestroyer9030 Oh dear... I always say that if it got into that position it can be gotten out of that position... easier said than done though. Good luck!

[@haileymeasheaw6925]

So horrible at puzzles got this for Christmas was messing with it to take it apart didn't get far want to fix it back together I got the closed pieces inside of the open ones please help 😂

[@RossDM]

Did you manage to get it back?

[@certified_boylover_]

11:00 mine wont fall down

[@RossDM]

Try align it a bit more specifically and it should drop through

[@lucashenninghoppe8254]

mine broke at 10:30 and now i just what to breke it more

[@RossDM]

Something snapped when twisting? I don't blame you for wanting to break it more

[@klilichan6160]

太恐怖了

[@RossDM]

Yep, it's pretty horrible!

[@JaceB99]

Can’t get past the square..

[@RossDM]

Assembling or reassembling?

[@nelsonraley]

Oh wait this isn’t Tunic

[@dr.shmext0374]

I think I broke mine

[@RossDM]

Oh dear...