How on earth do I open this?

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SimonC
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How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Mon Jun 22, 2015 5:43 pm

good evening all, I made my first attempt at a puzzle box today. I saw a chap on YouTube describing the technique and had to try it out. it is aeons away from peter's masterpieces but it was great fun to make. it has a nifty knack to open it, can anyone guess before I post a pic tomorrow?
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Richard Kaufman
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by Richard Kaufman » Mon Jun 22, 2015 6:51 pm

It's so pretty that it doesn't need to be opened.

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by PeterW » Mon Jun 22, 2015 7:20 pm

That is awesome Simon!!! Great job! I'm familiar with the YouTube channel you saw this on, I'm amazed you made such a nice copy by just watching the video, fantastic!

You might also like Bruce Viney's website, he has several designs on it, here's the link, check out his galleries

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bruce.viney/index.html

For those interested in trying there hand at building there own puzzle box without having to cut any parts check out these two sites with pre cut versions of Bruce Viney's puzzle box designs that you can glue up and finish yourself.

http://www.bhpenlaser.com/PuzzleBox/index.html

https://www.myerscrafts.com/puzzle-box-kits.html

Can't wait to see your puzzle box opening video Simon, great job again!!!

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by Rob Rand » Tue Jun 23, 2015 10:09 am

I believe you have to pull out one of the corners.

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SimonC
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:53 pm

Good guess rob, I added a few extra details to it today

here's how it works....
http://youtu.be/b4QywKgDT6c

thanks for the links Pete, they're brilliant :)

I've no plans to make these, just a bit of fun :)
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Rob Rand
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by Rob Rand » Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:10 pm

Nice way to open it Simon! So I was totally wrong :)

I used to make these secret boxes as a kid, with Bambino...

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by PeterW » Tue Jun 23, 2015 7:29 pm

Love the extra detailing, and the stand is brilliant!!! Did you laser cut the materials, and is it wood or plastic? Great job all around!

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SimonC
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Wed Jun 24, 2015 1:38 am

all of the parts I drew up using CAD and laser cut them out in 6mm ply. it's got a nice chunky feel to it. I'm going to make a 2nd version with a few tweaks, I also like the idea of having an internal box attached to the lid so when you pull it off it's like the core of a reactor (nerd alert!)
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by PeterW » Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:01 am

The inner core idea sounds great. I think it's cool that your making puzzle boxes with laser beams :D I look forward to seeing what you create!

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:33 am

thanks peter, it's just a stress relieving project, but it's certainly been fun. today I'm making one with a little more accuracy and no wood stain, just wax. I'm using them as teaching aids to get the kids thinking laterally/logically/creatively. I'll post a pic tonight of what I come up with, I'm about half way there :)
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by David DeTenyo » Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:51 am

Nicely done Simon. The solution reminds me a lot of a puzzle I have: http://www.eureka-puzzle.eu/eureka/inde ... gory_id=61 (it's basically the same). Took me forever to find out how to open it :)

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Wed Jun 24, 2015 2:37 pm

Here is MK 2. I decided to keep it in bare wood, and focus on tweaking any slight inaccuracies in my first attempt. I'm really happy with the final outcome, but I have a problem now.. what do I put in it?!! well I've decided to put... another puzzle box, in fact my aim is to fit two more inside. There's a quote from Winston Churchill
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Ok he was talking about Russia but that was a long time ago, I'm talking about puzzles!
Any suggestions for a good puzzle box to go inside this one? ideally it would have a different style of opening, be possible to laser cut and fit in the space of a 65mm cube. (and fit a smaller box inside!)
Any suggestions would be much appreciated :)
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by Richard Kaufman » Wed Jun 24, 2015 3:59 pm

I think that inside the second puzzle box you should put a beautiful wooden version of Color Vision. It's a great trick, and there are many ways to do it without the box ever going out of sight.

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by Rob Rand » Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:21 pm

How about This Japanese puzzle box?
WP_20150625_00_18_24_Pro.jpg
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by PeterW » Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:00 pm

Wow that is awesome!!! Simon you have a great design sense, I really like the extra detailing and the overall look of your puzzle box!!! What is the outside size of your puzzle box?

There's several options for a puzzle box that would fit inside, years ago I modified one of Bruce Viney's design into a cube shape and it could be laser cut as all the pieces are various rectangles. The puzzle box is pretty straight forward to solve but it does take 10 moves to open. There's a bit of a glue up process and you would need to adjust the measurements to make it the correct size to fit inside your puzzle box. I think if you made it from 1/8" ply it could work and you could work from the outside dimension and leave the excess space on the inside. Here's the page that shows my version that I made out of 1/4" wood, but it's overall size is too big to fit inside your cube that's why I suggest 1/8" ply. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bruce.vine ... 0Plans.pdf. The plans on that page are in what Bruce calls "T" plans where "T" represents the thickness of the stock your using. The overall look of the box is a lot plainer than your current creation, so you may want to dress it up. I did some scoring on mine to help hide the sliding panels, and I'm assuming you could do something similar.

But don't feel you have to use that design Bruce has a couple free plans for puzzle boxes on his second page of his gallery. Have a look there and see if there's something that catches your eye!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bruce.viney/gallery.html

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Thu Jun 25, 2015 3:16 am

Those plans are brilliant thanks peter, I love the T plan idea as I work in mm not inches. I will have a stab at that today.
That's a lovely looking box Rob, is it tricky to open?
My box is 101mm cubed and the space I can fit a second box into is 55x66x66mm so I will go for a 55mm cube.
here goes...!
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Thu Jun 25, 2015 6:25 pm

Thanks Peter for those plans, I made three versions today, one in 3mm ply (too small) one in 6mm MDF (too big) and in the end cut some pine into 5mm strips and used that (just right). It's a bit tight in some of the movements but it'll wear in (plus I don't really want it to be easy to open). I will engrave the same question mark on each side I think and polish the outside. I'm considering embedding a magnet in the lid section and putting a steel shim on the underside of the first box's lid so as you take it off it is attached and you can just pluck it off.
So now I have set myself a challenge. I wanted three nesting puzzle boxes. Two are made but the space in the second one is 12mm x 12mm x 33xx. After some more head scratching I've decided that tomorrow I am going to make the world's smallest cryptex! I have it all,planned out, I only need to laser cut the outside rings, I have a plan for the innards. Unfortunately my tube of gold dust in the pic is too long but that gives you an idea of the amount of space I'll have to put the treasure in, I need to find me some diamonds!
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by PeterW » Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:42 pm

Wow Simon your amazing! I can't believe you created that design so quickly!!! The cryptex sounds cool! It will be very cool to see a cryptex made so small! I look forward to seeing the finished result!

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by BillD » Fri Jun 26, 2015 8:49 am

Hi Simon, another great project and I can't wait to see your world's smallest cryptex.

For interest check out Thomas Pohle's Da Vinci Box....link below.

https://www.thomaspohle.com/allmagic/cl ... vinci-box/

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Fri Jun 26, 2015 3:55 pm

I saw that trick it looks wicked. I managed to make my cryptex today, it measures 33mm across and 12mm diameter. got a wee bit of eyestrain and I stuck my fingers together a couple of times but it works! I know how I'd make a second one differently to make it smoother but I've grown rather attached to this one. i filmed a clip but I'll have to upload in the morning as I'm off for a rare pint (armed with my magic man bag) here's a preview pic...
have a brilliant Friday night everyone!
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by PeterW » Fri Jun 26, 2015 11:05 pm

Ha ha It's tiny!!! That's hilarious, almost the Russian stacking doll version in puzzle box form! Great job Simon!!!

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by BluBob » Sat Jun 27, 2015 12:50 am

SimonC wrote:Here is MK 2. I decided to keep it in bare wood, and focus on tweaking any slight inaccuracies in my first attempt. I'm really happy with the final outcome, but I have a problem now.. what do I put in it?!! well I've decided to put... another puzzle box, in fact my aim is to fit two more inside. There's a quote from Winston Churchill
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Ok he was talking about Russia but that was a long time ago, I'm talking about puzzles!
Any suggestions for a good puzzle box to go inside this one? ideally it would have a different style of opening, be possible to laser cut and fit in the space of a 65mm cube. (and fit a smaller box inside!)
Any suggestions would be much appreciated :)
Brilliant Simon,

Inside box ideas

1) Die Box (divination)
2) Prediction Box (like Mikame Nest Of Boxes, which is bottom fed)
3) Prediction Box 2nd contains one pivoted side for feeding billet, ball, etc.
4) In/Out Box (like Gozinta, ParaBox)

I also like the Color Vision idea which was suggested ...
and now, on with the show ...

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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by David DeTenyo » Sat Jun 27, 2015 3:17 am

Great piece of work Simon! Can't wait for the final result. I really, really like the cryptex idea!

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SimonC
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by SimonC » Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:43 am

here's the clip
http://youtu.be/TpYHL0M3VRY

I'm going to make a slightly larger cryptex on Monday and try laser etching the letters on :)
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Re: How on earth do I open this?

Post by Pete1805 » Sat Jun 27, 2015 3:55 pm

Just brilliant Simon :D

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