Heart-Shaped Puzzle Box.pdf

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Heart-Shaped Puzzle Box
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MAKING THE BOX
First things first, you must have a good long look at the
working drawings andsee howthe box works. Ofcourse,
like allsuch boxes, it's prettyeasy whenyou know how.
Toopen the box, swivel the lid to the right to reveal the
coin slot and the top of the dovetail key. Then, at the
same time, slide and swivel the coin slot face of the box
down and around torevealthe inside compartment.
Whenyou have studiedthe design, draw outthe heart
shape. Make a tracing. Pencil press transfer the traced
lines through to the layers of wood that go to make up
the box. You need sixlayersinall: four at 1/4"thick and
two at 1 1/8". Fret the shapes out on the scroll saw, so
thatthey are all slightly oversize—meaningthat the lineof
cut
hen I was a kid, an old woman left me a small
woodenbox inherwill. The funny thingwas that,
although it appeared to be just an ordinary empty box
with a small division to one side, when I shook it, it
rattled. After variously pushing, pressing and sliding the
sides and baseofthe box, I discoveredthatithad a secret
compartment! It was very exciting. When I pressed down
on oneside ofthe bottominside ofthe box, I wasableto
slide up one side of the little division to reveal a secret
space. As for the rattling noise, it was a solid gold half
sovereign!
This project draws itsinspiration fromthat old wooden
box. Ithas all the same elements: a secret area, a sliding
lid, and a part that swivels open.
Roseand Copyright ©2004
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Roseand Copyright ©2004
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is about 1/8 " to the waste side of the drawn line. While
you are at it, cut out the inside-box area.
Glue the two 1 1/8" layers together and use a gouge
topare the inside of thebox to a clean finish. Next, use
a fine saw and chisel to pare a channel from top to
bottom of the box (at top-middle, where the two cheeks
meet). Now, pencil label the four 1/4"-thick cutouts:
"top," "second down," "third down" and "bottom." Then
glue the "bottom"to the box.
Glue the rod of wood in the channel and cut the
dovetail shape. This done, take the "third down" layer
and cut the two slots and the dovetail location notch.
When youare happywith the fit, take the"seconddown"
layer, set the scroll saw cuttingtable at anangle, and run
thewood through thesaw to cut the miter across the top-
left cheek.
When you have made all the component parts, then
comes the not-so-easy part of putting the box together.
The bestprocedure is tofirst fix the slotted layer and the
bottom halfofthe mitered layerwith a swivel screw. Then
glue the two halves of the mitered layer together. Finish
by gluing thelop layer to cover up the swivel screw.
Certainly it sounds complicated but, in fact, you will
have it workedout in much less time than it lakes to tell.
Finally, you rub it down with the graded sandpapers and
seal with Danish oil.
STEP-BY-STEP STAGES
SPECIAL TIP
The secret of getting this box right has to do with the
standardof the finishing andfitting.All thesurfaces must
be rubbed down to a super-smooth finish, especially the
mating faces that are to be glued and the laces that are
to slide over each other. As to the final gluing, the best
procedure is to start off using double-sided sticky tape,
and then use the glue for real when you know how it all
goes together. 1 saythisbecause it is theeasiest thing in
the world to make a complete mess-up by gluing the
wrong two parts together. Be warned!
1 Detail showing how the square rod fitsinthechannel
so that the dovetail at the top locates in the slotted
layer. The procedure is tofirstglue andfit the rod, then
cut the dovetail.
Roseand Copyright ©2004
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2 The miter cuton
the second layer
needs to be angled
so that it looks
toward the bottom
of the heart. Be
mindful thatthe finer
the saw used to
make the cut, the
better the fit.
3 See how the top-left partof themitered layer needs
to be glued tothe slotted layer, so that thetopmost part
of the miter hangs clear of the dovetail.
5 In my design, the slotted layer is able to swing to
the left or right. If you want to make the box more
of a puzzle, a good modificationwould be tobuild ina
little"stop" peg so that thelayer could only be swung to
the left.
4Thepivot slot on the third layerneeds tobe
adjustedso that the layer can be slid downand
thenswungover—so that the "cheeks" at the top
ofthe heart just
clear thedovetail.
Roseand Copyright ©2004
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PROTOTYPES
A prototype is a full-size working model that is made prior
to theproject.The idea is touse inexpensive materials to
work out all the problems before you start using your
precious materials.
As you can imagine, thisheart-shaped box didn'tdrop
from the sky perfect and ready-made—no way! In fact, it
was ratherdifficult to sortout. Although the variousviews
and cross sections looked fine on paper, I just couldn't
figure out how the three layers that make the top of the
box fit great together. In the end, after a deal of swearing
and messing about, 1 decided that the best way was to
make a full-size prototype fromthree pieces of 1/4"-thick
hardboard.
The working procedure wentas follows:First I cut out
the three heart shapes and pencil labelled them "1," "2"
and "3." Then I drew the heart shape out on the bench.
Next, I took cutout number 3 and played around on the
drawn-out heart with variousplacings oftheswivel point
and the sliding slot.
The main difficulty I found was positioning the miter
in such a way that there was enough room for the "cheeks"
of theheart to slide open.
When I had established the precise position of the
swivel point and the length of the slot, I then tried out
board number 2 and fixed the position of the miter slot.
And, of course, when it cametomaking the box for real,
Ihad thehardboard cutoutsto use as templates.
And just in case you are thinking that you are so skilled
that youcangostraight inand make the toy, the tableor
whatever, without making a working model, yes, you
might well be lucky once or even twice. But sooner or
lateryou are going tomake a mistake withone or all parts
getting incorrectly cut and/orglued.
Forexample: I once designed themost beautifulchair.
It looked wonderful on paper; the drawn elevations were
a work of art! But when it was built, it was unstable, it
was grossly uncomfortable, and it started to pull apart.
Another time, 1 made a moving toy that looked good on
paper, but when 1 made it fullsize, the friction between
the wheels andthe floor wasso greatthat it simply didn't
work.
All this is tosay that theonly sure wayofknowing that
a design is going to work is to make a full-size working
model.
TWEAKING THE DESIGN
When you are fixing the swivel point and the slot, make sure that
the slot is long enough for the cheeks to clear the underside of the
dovetail.
6 Because I had quite a lot of trouble cutting out the
center of the box—first with the drills and then with a
gouge I think the next lime around 1 will redesign the
dovetail post so thatit cuts right through the wall of the
box. Then 1 can more easily clear the inside-boxwasteon
my fine-bladed band saw.
Roseand Copyright ©2004
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