Thread: Puzzle Box

I'm in great suspense

Nicely done.

OK spill the beans, how is it done?

The reason being that I am considering a puzzle box for a young child, and the mechanism is something that is (pardon the pun) puzzling.

Too hard for my feeble brain to see how this works.

I think cava has summed up our expectations succinctly.

If you look closely at the middle pic, you will see a small groove in the top lh corner and a groove in the bottom right top edge and probably a groove hidden by the lid in a top edge of the rear side. By twisting the lid it rotates in an elliptical ark and pivots on a sliding fit panel under the lid and exposes 3 different colored locations on the pivot panel. The grooves are most likely dovetail in section and the pins that move in the grooves are the male fit of the dovetail with an enlarged hole somewhere along the grooves to allow the lid to be lifted off.

Just my 2 cents worth.....

I like it!

The triangles slide against each other in the lid frame. Slide the top triangle to the left to unlock.

I like the way this has come out. Really cool.

Very clever Ruddy... And YES I like it... Cheers, Peter

After Franklin's post I had another look, I was wrong....again....

Obviously the triangles do slide as they are all in different positions between the lid being open and being closed. When the triangles move they must lock into the little notches in the corners that Ray referred to.But how the colour changes in the middle I have no idea.
Then again I could be completely wrong as I am only guessing.

The colour changes by uncovering a different part of the lid on which the triangles are sliding. So one is painted blue and the other part red.

So the triangles are doing three things when they move.

One: Moving

Two: Unlocking from corner locks (See box three picture)

Three: Uncovering different area on top panel

The picture clearly shows that the top cannot be rotated until the box is unlocked as the skirt would stop any rotation.

I would still like to see a picture of the bottom of the lid as that is where the worky bits are.

My guess is an off centre locking cam is rotated by moving the triangles that withdraws the lock pins. As the cam rotates it exposes a different colour to the centre view. Working out the cam shape and pivot point would be the trick.

Great box! Looks to me that each triangular panel slides. Note the change in where each triangle meets the edge of the box. At least one triangle probaly can shift outwards sideways to allow each other panel in turn to be slid to its new position. With the triangles in their new positions a different part of the underlying lid is revealed - a section coloured red rather than blue.

Love to see how it works and what the release mechanism is. Tricky, tricky, tricky - and very interesting!

Brian

Thanks everyone for your comments and interest in this project. Out of respect to the original designer of this concept I am not going to post on here intricate details of how the lid works however let me say that Bob Wilsons post is the one that is almost correct. Please bear in mind that this is not my design. A picture of the underside of the lid would only reveal a plain base that covers all the workings.
The final result is delightfully simple yet for many people they need a little time to learn how to open the box. Making the total box with its compelling high degree of accuracy meant that I went through a number of prototypes and thought bubbles to understand the necessary build design as all the sliding pieces must interlock. I am lining the box with a purple pigskin suede that will allow it to be used as a jewelry box.

If anyone is genuinely interested in making one these please feel free to PM me and I can assist with some details on the proviso that you agree to keep it out of the Public Domain. I can also save you valuable brain cells (that I lost) by not having to go down the wrong design path!