UPDATE 7/2/2025:

I sent out an email last week asking folks to vote on how they want this project to move forward. I got some varied responses back, but an overall theme emerged which was that most folks want me to keep the original vision for the project even if it means a moderate increase in cost. Some folks wanted fancier woodworking but not enough folks thought it was worth the extra money.

So now instead of an estimated cost of $250-350 each, I've raised my cost estimate to the $400-600 range. I'm still planning to use a mixture of wood, metal, and 3D printed plastic pieces. Just like with the GITS, if a part is visible from the outside then it will be made from wood or metal, but the inner workings of it will be 3D printed plastic parts plus various metal hardware items for the mechanisms.

I've begun work on the mechanism design and prototyping now and have put in some orders for some of the hardware components that I'll need to have on hand to get a working prototype of the whole puzzle. Once I have that working prototype I'll send out some updated photos and CAD models that show how it will actually look with all of the final details figured out.