Legend of Zelda Treasure chest with sound!

This instructable will show you how to build a Legend of Zelda Treasure chest that makes the iconic treasure chest sound when you open it.

Step 1: Materials

1/4" Pine plywood. You can use whatever type of wood you want, but pine looks nice and is relatively cheap.
You'll need enough wood to cut out the following pieces:

Two 5.5" x 10.5" pieces
One 8" x 10.5" base piece
Two 8.5 x 5.5" pieces
Five 2 7/16" x 11" slats
Also you will need two 6 sided half a decagon pieces. This sounds confusing but I've included a template to cut these pieces out. Print the template out and cut the pieces to be 8" wide at the base.

You'll also need:
Wood glue
Black poster board
A cheap mp3 player
Treasure chest opening mp3
Soldering iron
Solder and flux
Some small gauge wire (20 or 22 gauge will work)
SPDT lever switch from radio shack
Small audio amp. I used a cheap ipod speaker amp from the pharmacy.
Enough Black felt to line the inside of the chest, about eight 8 1/2" x 11" sheets.
150 black furniture nails.
Ruler
Long straight edge
A couple black sharpie markers.
Hot glue gun
Super glue
Minwax Red Oak woodstain
Brush to apply stain with
Pliers or wire cutters
A couple of hinges.
Furniture clamps
A means to cut your wood. (Radial arm saw, table saw, band saw, whatever saw you have access to)

Comments

[Yokankun]

Thank you for this! I 've just finished two of them :-) One like yours and a double in size. For the sound I've used a recordable sound chip at http://www.talkingproducts.com/ it's cheap (5£) small and works well.

[Achan20]

Couldn't you use one of those Hallmark "Record your own message" cards?

[pegasos]

It is awesome. I will make it on school. but you put the screws wrong. you have to place them on the wood. but it is awesome:$!!!

[aag2]

wow that's amazing, I wish I had the patience to make that

http://besttireserviceco.com/

[Numbuh1Nerd]

I have been planning on making a really life-like and effect-filled Pokeball, including sound fx. I remembered this from a while ago, and was wondering if you could help me. I need a system a lot like this one, but with two different sound fx and to fit into something about the size of a baseball without being too obstructive of the other features I need in there (LEDs, mirrors, an opening mech, etc.) Anyone with any ideas, please help me out!! Thanks!

[KevinAlien26]

I've always wanted my own Pokeball but i don't have the tools to make a good clean, "Oh My Goodness it's just how i imagined it" product. But, I will gladly help out with the idea process, what do u have so far? (Material you plan on using, size, etc)

[uberplatypus]

Is there any way to screw the thing together? I'm not the most technical minded (or patient) person around, so I would rather have an alternative to glue.

[ryanadanderson]

With NO idea what I'm doing, would an old cell phone be able to work? The concept is that the start up sound would be what plays though the speakers. I would just have to identify the file and switch it out. The tricky part would be making sure that the phone would turn off once the chest is shut again. Any thoughts on this?

[ctygrlstl]

Hey, I'm trying to build a 4x scale version, but I'm not sure on the measurements for the lid. I just multiplied all the other measurements by 4 (ex. 5.5in.x10.5in. became 22in.x42in.) but the lid numbers went wonky on me. What would the measurements be for the two lid sides (half a decagon) and the slats? Or am I completely on the wrong track with the 'everything times 4' idea?

[badideasrus]

sorry, radius is 4 not 8
i wish i could edits my posts....

[badideasrus]

this is simple enough. its a half circle. just multiply ur radius (8in) times 4, then divide the circle up useing a protractor (180/5=36 degrees) those are your points for the edges.

[badideasrus]

got something for you. new pic with all dimentions.

i suggest that u verify that everything fits before u cut anything....

[mulletking]

Could you post what brand of MP3 player you used, or recommend cheap ones that we can pull apart?

[mednasrallah]

I second this! I tried going to radioshack for a "cheap" one but all they had was 40$+ with like 8 gigs. Was wondering if there were something cheaper.

[blucolt]

I cheated. For mine I bougt a small pre-made treasure chest and then one of those recordable greeting cards. After I recorded the treasure chest sound (played on my phone), I cut out the whole apparatus and taped it into the treasure chest so the lid would pull the paper tab and make the sound play. Then I taped the reverse of a paper bag onto the roof and floor of the chest to hide the guts. I used it to store an ocarina i bought on ThinkGeek. Sweet!

[brupielink]

Hey, nice work! I am going to make it starting the day after tomorrow, but i'm european and we don't use inches here. (metric ftw)
I have converted almost every domension into millimeters, except this:
27/16
I have no idea how to convert that. Can someone help me?

[IRSisSIR]

i don't know if you have figured it out, but it is 42.8625 millimeters

[Robot Lover]

I made one for my friend for his birthday but have yet to give it to him. I used a recording module from radio shack instead of the MP3 player. I also made him an awesome card that resembles a dungeon map!

[mcsuperfly]

I decided to use a recording module as well, but how did you wire it to the spdt switch? I'm having some difficulty

[Robot Lover]

I wired it to the normally closed lead and common lead of the micro switch. Hope this helps!

[ishk441]

I have one question, what do you mean by 2 7/16" x 11"?
I'm totally doing this thanks man.

[soldeir 9]

two and seven sixteenths inches by eleven inches

[knguyen24]

If i have a play button with a combined play/pause button, do i need to solder 2 wires onto it or just one?

[triumphman]

My Grandpa made one of these Treasure Chest way back when I was a youngster! He surrounded an aquarium in wood and put a light in the lid and the air pump too! I He was an old Navy Man, and had so many cool skills. I wish he would have taught me some, but he passed on before I was old enough to learn! I keep telling myself to make one, now that I have the skills to do so, but keep putting it off! Too many crafts & hobbies! Maybe now I will try this! Thanks for sharing your expertise! Triumphman.

[jktechwriter]

Finished mine - thanks for sharing the project! My son has his 4th birthday party tomorrow and he's all into pirates... I went a bit darker with my colors and used gold pushpins instead of black carpet nails. Lined the inside with alligator-skin textured black felt... now all that's left is to go over the edges with a black Sharpie.

I hope he likes it.

[yokozuna]

It looks great, I'm guessing you did okay with your gift!

[jktechwriter]

He loved it!

[FFVIIBOY]

You are my hero

[dmartinez9]

I'm going to do it and I will put all my TLOZ games in there.

[brotherblades]

About how much total would this cost?

[mkawash]

Can you tell me the height of the sides of the lid? I am trying to make a bigger version of this and and not sure what the dementions I will need are. My base is going to be 24 x 20 and 16 inches high. Can you figure out the top for me? THANKS

[tinker234]

wow i just saw a thing about making a room cave zelda map anyone

[Difascio]

What is this, I don't even?

[tinker234]

oh on make .com there is make a room look like a cave and ithought with this i could well you know make a zelda map

[gmetzner]

I'd used for the painting used motor oil.

[Scott McCombie]

This is awesome. Im planing on making my own and I was wondering what is the MP3 player you used in yours?

[doickle]

Does the mp3 player have to have a separate "play" button where most mp3 players have a combined "play/pause" button for the system to work properly?

[Zachariah Cruse]

I don't think so. You just have to let the track play all the way through before you close it, otherwise it will just play where it left off when you open it. Since it's the only track on the mp3 player, it will play every time.

[jktechwriter]

I'm looking everywhere but I don't see the template to download for the decagon sides... thanks!

[Zachariah Cruse]

It's in the pictures... The third picture on step 1.

[jktechwriter]

Thanks! I can't believe I missed that... I was able to figure out the proper angles after cutting the pieces. My chest is almost done (gift for my son's pirate birthday party) - great instructable!

[rich-now.info]

Cool!
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[KovuKora]

Dude, you totally just rocked my world with this!

[Jedrokivich]

Beautiful! I should have made this in shop class instead of my stupid shelf.

[SpagoPizza]

Looks very authentic :-) Treasure chest

[Haliburt]

Glow-ing lights!
Glow-ing lights!

[Zachariah Cruse]

I knooow! I'm going to add some, and I'll update it when I do. I didn't have time to get them in before the contest and I really wanted this to be entered, so just check back in a week or two.

[Haliburt]

..... Still no lights? I really hope you're not gonna make me figure it out on my own. C'mon man, that would involve work.

[flamming arrow]

wow great project, it looks really cool, in fact i might do this myself one day.

[ncwrrn]

Hey
what MP3 Player did you use
cos id rather use that one, like you as it will be easier to follow

[ClockWorkMan]

thanks pkmnjunky7 for taking the time to answer my questions. and i'm sorry for asking so many of them. i can hadle makeing the chest. but i don't know about the electrictronics part that is why i asked thos question. i still got some questions that you haven'et answered yet.

[Zachariah Cruse]

Hey, sorry if I missed any of your questions. I thought I got em all though. If you want more help with the electronics you could send me a message on here and I might be able to draw up some more detailed diagrams.

[Gakki]

Since you're going to be covering the edges anyways I'd recomend going ahead and nailing everything together (some of those tiny black nails should work just fine), and don't trust that hinge to hotglue alone. It comes with screws, you should use them. All in all this is a pretty good Instructable.

[Zachariah Cruse]

The screws that came with it were wayyy to big. It wouldn't hurt to use some small wood screws with the hinges, but the chest lid weighs so little, I trust the hot glue on mine, but to each his own. As for using nails, you could, I was just worried about splitting the wood since it's so thin...

[tdingus]

Just happened to stumble upon this and I just wanted to let you know that this is amazing. I would totally buy one if you were selling them.

[Ayce]

I laughed soo much when I saw this video that is toooo cool.

[Gakki]

OH MY GODS YES!

[lord_bow]

Can you post a close up picture of the wiring for the SPDT and a recording module (or the MP3) that you used?

[ClockWorkMan]

Question i got Cat 5E 350 MHz PVC wire will this work instead of the 20,22 gage wire.

also i got Solder but not flux do you have to have flux or can i just use Solder?

also ya'll know any good places to flux and 20 or 22 gage wire cheaply?

[Zachariah Cruse]

Radio shack or ebay is where I usually get everything. As for your Cat5 wire, If it's like ethernet cable as I'm imagining, you should be able to cut it open to find that it contains 8 strands of smaller wire inside. You can cut these wires out of your cable and use them individually. That would probably be your best bet.

[ClockWorkMan]

your right about the ethernet cable. but what about my other question? i got Solder but not flux do you have to have flux or can i just use Solder?

[Zachariah Cruse]

Well here's the thing. Solder and flux are similar to paint and primer. You can paint a surface without using primer, but your results will be noticeably better if you use primer first. That being said, you can solder without flux, but your connections will be easier to do and stronger in the end if you use flux. If you absolutely can't get to flux, or would prefer to solder without, it's not really a big problem, it's just better to use it if you can.

[ClockWorkMan]

thanks for that tid bit of info. i went to my local Radio shack to see that if they have this switch they do but it not the size that you used. all they got is a sub-mini one it's real small. will that size still work or do i need to find a bigger switch? also can i use any type of wood i got plenty of ceder but no pine.

[Zachariah Cruse]

Yeah, the type of wood you use doesn't really matter. As long as you keep the dimensions the same it should work. Also, the smaller switch should work, as long as its a Normally Closed momentary switch you should be fine.

[ClockWorkMan]

it's the SPDT lever switch. the type you uesd but it's the small version. this size will work to?

I'm sorry for all the questions i ask and kinda asking the the same question again to. :P

[boltfox20]

I could imagine a burglar alarm made with that chest.

Burglar breaks into your house, wanders up to the bed rom to grab some jewelry. See s strange and somewhat large treasure chest. Curiosity gets the better of him and he opens the box. Suddenly loud sirens start going off, the doors and windows locks, and the police are immediately called. All because the burglar wanted to see what was so important to the owner that it would actually be put into a real treasure chest. ^_^

Great instructable. I wouldn't mind having one or two of those in my house. Not for burglars, mind you. ^_^;

[WurdBendur]

It's a funny scenario, though I guess having a burglar trapped inside your house could be worse than letting him get away.

[boltfox20]

Not really. If he is trapped inside your house he might break a few things, but you would know exactly who broke those things and would have him pay for the damages.

[willrandship]

I guess it depends on if they're violent. That's not always the case.

[willrandship]

Now add a big, powerful bar light to the inside, that glows yellow :P

[Icalasari]

Now this leaves doing the big chests :D

[ClockWorkMan]

Do you have to have a SPDT switch to make this work.

[Zachariah Cruse]

You can swap out the SPDT with a Normally Closed momentary switch. The switch I used actually does more functions than you need, I chose it because the lever on it is perfect for this applications.

[ClockWorkMan]

also can i use any sound affect. I got two gift cards with sound affects one plays a short version of the song "we are the champions"by the queens i think. and the other one is fireworks going off. i took one of this cards apart to get the the sound unit and notices that there's only a thin little plastic strip that's is pulled to make the sound affect play. can i rig it where when i open the chest it will play the sound affect that i have chosen?

[Zachariah Cruse]

I'm not sure if this is the exact model of greeting card you have, but it should help. This isn't my instructable, but the image here should help you figure out where to wire on your greeting card.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Circuit-Bending-Audio-Greeting-Cards/step2/Open-and-Test/

[ClockWorkMan]

this is the right card model. can i use the speaker from the card if i cant get ahold of anyother speaker?

[Zachariah Cruse]

You'll need to figure out how that plastic strip is triggering the play button, and then wire to those points... It's hard to help without seeing though.

[soundinnovation]

This is very cute and looks really simple to make! Bravo!

[metqa]

I was hoping sparkly lights would shine out from the treasure chest!

Haha, this is a great idea. I'd want to hear the sound for a Rupee since that's what you find most often in Windwaker! ( that's what I'm playing right now, could you guess?)

I love the look of the chest, I want to make one to keep my gold coins in. Do you think I could make this miniature?

[metqa]

oh I forgot to ask... Do you think it would be a good idea to secure the speakers and MP3 guts in the lid of the chest so that it will be out of the way in case you wanted to actually put something into the chest?

I'm afraid the speakers might get covered or eventually broken if there are any heavy contents in the box but nothing ever goes in the curved lid part except empty space.

[Zachariah Cruse]

If you're worried about the weight of your objects, you could cut a small wooden block to place in each of the 4 corners to support your false bottom. You could also make this bottom out of wood to keep it from bending beneath the weight of whatever you put inside. I plan on just using this chest for knicknacks and smaller stuff, so it's not a concern for me personally.

[justible]

Very slick project. Thanks for your work to share it.

With a hand plane or a table saw, you could add a slight chamfer to the boards that make up the lid, so they could then overlap (one board chamfered so its edge goes under the other chamfered edge). You'd need each board to be a little wider to allow for the chamfers, but the end result would be no gap between the lid boards for very little extra work.

The marker works *great* to simulate extra boards. You could maybe use a wood burner or a Dremel with a small straight-cutting bit to cut grooves, which would then stain much darker. Lots more work, I suppose, especially how well the marker works!

[Zachariah Cruse]

Yeah, I understand I could have constructed the chest better, but I was trying to keep it as simple as possible while still looking nice at the end result. I considered going the route you mentioned for the lid, as far as angling my cuts so that there would be no gap between each slat, but I feel like thats a difficult concept for a lot of people to grasp, especially if they are new to working with wood.

You're right about the marker vs. wood burner, I actually hadn't considered that, but it's a pretty great idea. I think I'm going to scale these plans up to make a full sized chest this summer, and when I do I'll be going all out on detailing, so I might do the wood burning when that time comes.

Thanks for the advice!

[blastoderm]

Might it be possible to replace an MP3 player with a recordable greeting card?

[Zachariah Cruse]

Definitely. I used the mp3 player just because the playback quality is higher, but I did consider something like that. You could also use a recordable module for a stuffed animal, or a recordable module like what they sell at radio shack. With either of these devices the wiring would be the same, You'd just need to locate the play button and wire it to your SPDT switch.

[Gwendolyn85]

Oh god please add that to the tutorial once you're done it'd add over 9000 levels of awesomeness to this already awesome treasure chest!

By the way EXCELLENT tutorial! the only thing I need to find is a way to cut the wood, but once that's out of the way it'll be great. Thank you for sharing!

[Miss Pixel]

I know that places like Home Depot will cut wood for you, you just have to buy the wood (and possibly pay a small fee for the cuts), they'll just need you to tell them the dimensions of each piece.

[AKDoug]

Most lumber shops in the US cut for free. (if you shop local, it is better for the economy)

[Gwendolyn85]

Thank you Ms. Pixel and AKDoug for the suggestions :D I was looking around here in my campus and I also found out we have a room full of wood tools, so I just need to find out if I can use it. I'll try to look for a lumber shop or Home Depot around here :D

[Gwendolyn85]

I have a question, how do you manage to keep the mp3 player on? wouldn't it turn off by itself after a while? Also the batteries, once you run out... I didn't read the whole thing yet (just read fast while browsing the images) so maybe it's mentioned and I just missed it ^^U

[Zachariah Cruse]

Well for my mp3 player, The play button actually turned it on. So to turn it on I just opened the chest... I kind of lucked out in that. If you're using an mp3 player or recordable module with a power switch, you could desolder the power switch and wire leads to it and pretty easily cut a hole in the bottom of the chest to mount, so that way the on off switch can be accessed underneath the chest. The wiring is going to differ slightly depending on what you're using to play back the sound.

[Gwendolyn85]

Thank you for sharing this great project! The only part I didn't understand very well though is the mp3 player part, but I only read it once very fast so I'll pay more attention to it (I'm a very visual person)

[Q-ro]

¿Is there a way to replace the mp3 player with something else (like that stuff from musical greeting card )? its just that a cheap mp3 player seems like a waste of money and space (1.9 GB unused).

By the way, Really neat instructable and concept, i love the idea, and cannot wait to build one of my own.

[Zachariah Cruse]

You could try the recordable modules that you can purchase at radio shack. They will hold a 10 second recording, also the recordable modules from places like Build a Bear Workshop. The playback quality wont be as high, but it's possibly cheaper, and the wiring should be the same.

[Q-ro]

Thanks, i wasn't sure about the name for that stuff, but some how seem to be the same, they cost around 10$ and its not the same sound quality ... still i will give it a try and let you know how it goes. :D .

[dinkin]

Interesting idea would be to put some sort of mechanism that would make the lid pop open with a kick.

[shadeofsound]

I second this notion.

[KyofuNoDaio]

Awesome, I need to make one of these.

[DevilDogPratt]

i NEED to try this! i might try with some extra wood floor boards that snap together that i have left over

[jessyratfink]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/homemade-treasure-chest-makes-zelda-noises

You're on the front page of Buzzfeed right now!

[Darkknarf]

NEED

[buddybran]

dah dah DAH DAH!!!

[GirlGeek79]

You have filled all my heart containers with joy! I NEED one of these!

[Skip]

You, Sir, Are a legend amongst men XD

[scraptopower]

This rocks! I hope you win :D

[pak327]

Thank you for your great sharing~

[aleceatsfood]

nice! good job

[phdearthworm]

Thats awesome!

[ATTILAtheHUNgry]

This is genius!

[splazem]

Very cool.

[capricorn]

Thumbs up mate. Would be great for a kid's room :D

Thank you for sharing