Introduction: WobbleBox Puzzle Box (trick Box)

By Technisch Speelgoed
About: I'm a social-worker, working with 12 - 23 year-olds. I used to be a printer. In 2018 I opened a small makerspace (www.imdib.nl) in my house, where I have lasercutters, 3d-printers, Arduino's, Mindstorms and ot…

After some tries and mistakes, I came up with this puzzle box.

You will need to tilt the box in different angles (wobble it) to open it.

If you have a lasercutter at your disposal, this will be an easy build.

Step 1: You Will Need

Materials:

  • 4 mm wood or some other cuttable material
  • M8 bolt and nut
  • Wood glue

Tools:

  • Lasercutter
  • Brush or cloth
  • Clamps

Step 2: Laser Cutting

Cut both files out of 4 mm thick wood.

Gravit Designer is the free software I used to draw the box.

I added both the Gravit Designer files and the SVG files. So you can go direct to the laser cutter at your local makerspace or use the original designs to change the labyrinth, the dimensions or the designs on the box.

Attachments

Step 3: Sort the Parts

With all this parts it seemed a good idea to sort all the parts before I start adding glue.

Step 4: Glue the Drawer

  • Start with the piece with the hole in it without a dragon on it.
  • Add the side without text to this piece.
  • Glue both pieces in the bottom piece of the drawer.
  • Glue the other side, with the text to the drawer.
  • Glue the front piece on with the half lid glued on top.

Only after you glued the half lid on top, the construction will have some stability.

Step 5: Add the Lock

  • Put the M8 bolt through the hole in the holed piece with the dragon.
  • Put the pendulum on the bolt.
  • Glue the part with the pendulum on the drawer.
  • Keep the pendulum on the outside while the glue is drying.
  • Use a brush or cloth to remove excessive glue.
  • Clamp the box while drying.
  • Screw the nut on the inside on the bolt.
  • Swing the pendulum inside.
  • Glue the small lit on top of the pendulum part.

If you want to sand, lacquer of wax the drawer, then this is the moment. Once the box is finished, the drawer can't be removed any more.

Step 6: Building the Outside

The outside is easy with just putting the four walls together.

It has to be square so I put the drawer into the outside to make sure.

Put clamps on and remove the drawer to be sure that you don't glue the drawer in.

Step 7: Add the Labyrinth

Well labyrinth might not be the best word for it, but It is the best word I have for it.

The slits in this part will determine the angles you will need to hold the box to open it.

  • Put glue on the labyrint.
  • Lay the labyrint glue up on top of the side of the drawer with the pendulum in the slit.
  • Slide the drawer with the labyrinth in the cover. Try to keep the glue on the labyrinth as much as possible.
  • Clamp the labyrinth to the cover.

The drawer can't be removed anymore once the labyrinth is glued in.

Step 8: Wobble the Box

Now your box is finished, you will need to angle it in the right angle to open it.

As soon as you have it open a little, you can peek inside and make a guess about the meganism. This way it isn't really hard to open this puzzle box.

Have fun with it!