This tricky opening box is my original design. This is a simple puzzle box. I applied the mechanic of my “Tricky opening bottle” to this box. On both side of the box there are 5 wooden sliding key. Each key has two position and can move until the borders of the box. For opening this box, you must find the correct position of each key. This is mostly a wooden combination lock mechanism. After opening the box you can remove all keys and you can arrange your own configuration by changing their order. If your friend have the same box, he can’t open yours.
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- Left and right hand keys
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- Box cover detail
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- Box body structure
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- Open box (keys removed
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- Alternative method for making keys
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- Box and ten keys
You can see inside of the box from this photo. There are total ten keys, box and box cover. When you change the key configuration, you must memorize it for opening your box later. For this reason you must know front and back side of the puzzle. But I don’t put any mark or ornament on the box. Instead of this for making the box I used a kind of olive wood. This wood has a rich texture and it’s easy to memorize the front side of the box. I draw an other variant with hidden keys. This variation has a fixed key configuration. A project for next weeks.You can apply this mechanic to a coin bank with a funny coin send mechanism The overall dimensions of this box is about 70x82x150 mm.
If you like make your own puzzle box, you can download from here free PDF file (0.5 MB on secure server box.com) or you can see step by step instructions from instructables.com
DIY Puzzles 