I have been a big fan of Kel Snake's Puzzle Boxes. They are amazing. A bit ago, he posted a blog on a simple Geopositioning Puzzle Box along with enough pictures and comments to build one.
I had to make a try and after all it did not seem to difficult. (WRONG!) I made the box out of some 1/2" pine and went to work on it. It turns out to be not so easy and I ended up working on it for way too long. But, it was a good challenge for me. The box works so that you can open it by holding the box in a certain position so that the notch in the wheel lines up with the small screw inside the box. The wheel also has a hole drilled in one side and filled with lead or solder. The wheel must turn freely on the dowel that holds it and the dimension of all the parts need to work together. The box was finished with orange shellac and all the parts waxed.
Not a pretty box but an interesting one. I hope that Kel Snake posts some more simple boxes with different mechanisms.
These type of boxes (and puzzles in general) are good tests for skill building. The only lack I see is some kind of prize inside for the successful (maybe a shiner penny?)
Splinter, the projects here seem to have that effect on a few. Kenny posted that toothpick holder a month or so back, Been thinking about giving one of those a try. And yes, there are those boxes too.
Woah, that is one awesome puzzle box! Ya, it can be tricky, finding measurements is so important and tricky right? ….but so much fun when your done. Fantastic, I will be sure to post another mechanism type for ya!
I do not have problems with making parts to tight tolerances. In this case, it was trying to figure out what tolerances were needed. The weighted wheel inside was an interesting problem with the notch and getting it to spin easily.
I am looking at Lasers but do not have the budget to get a Laser like LBD has.
