Peep-show Box

Didn't we all love peep-show boxes when we were young?

Staring endlessly into a small box, feeling like you were in a completely different world.
A world shaped like a tiny jungle with all kinds of animals swinging on ropes, or maybe your favorite fairy-tale.

This intructable will guide you through the steps of making a peep-show box yourself. Off course there are a lot of variations on whats going on inside the box so this will just be a simple example, the possibilities are endless, let your imagination go wild.

The box made in this instructable will be laser cut featuring some 3D printed figurines inside the box, additionally there'll be a small compartment in the back of the box where the batteries and switch for some LED's will be stored.

#Fablab #StadslabRotterdam

Material list:

-Thin sheet of wood (6mm thick / 0,3-0,4m²)

-2 small hinge's

-String of LED lights, battery powered (http://www.amazon.com/Lilys-Battery-Operated-String-Lights/dp/B003VOXRCA)

Equipment:

-3D Printer

-Laser cutter

-Standard tools (hamer, screwdriver etc.)

-Glue / wood glue / glue gun

-Sandpaper

-Power drill

Step 1 in my process was making the box.

The box used in this instructable was laser-cut. There is a very easy website to make a laser cut case design called: www.makercase.com

The dimensions of my box are 300x200x100 mm (LxWxH), cut from a 6mm thick multiplex.

The second step in making the box was sanding the edges of the wood just a little bit. After that they were glued together (using Pattex wood glue)

Third step was attaching the lid and hinges. To do this I found out that using a glue gun was the easiest. You could probably use other types of glue, but due to the fact that the hot glue from the gun dries very fast I found this the easiest way.

Now that the box is ready, it's time for step 2!

In step two I'll be adding some LED's for light inside the box.

I found a perfect LED light string in a local store (Action, ±€1,50). They were perfect because they could be cut to a shorter size without breaking the electrical circuit and the batterie/switch compartment was quite small.

I cut another thin piece of wood (9x15cm) and placed it in the box as a cover for the battery compartment of the LED's. (see picture)

I glued the lid of the battery compartment to the box for extra stability, but you're still able to slide the batteries of and replace them if needed.

After that I glued the light string to the inside of the box with 2 dots of hot glue.

Step three is making some contents for the box.

I made some small, 3D printed, Angry Birds figurines. I used a website called www.thingiverse.com to find the 3D print scheme for the Angry Birds. (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27279)

For time saving reasons I reduced their size to 40% which makes them quite small, but if you got more time and a more accessible 3D-printer I would recommend to make them bigger.

The scheme used here produces two halves of the figurine, this makes them easier to print because they have a flat surface instead of a round one which would be harder to print. So you have to glue them together.

In this last step I drilled two holes in the box. It might be easier to do this in step 1 with the laser-cutter, but since i forgot that and I'm not that handy with a laser-cutter I found it easier to do it with a drill.

Ideas for improvement:

-I'd use the "finger" edge joints in makercase.com, I think those'll be more stable and easier to glue together.

-Laser cut the two wholes on the side instead of drilling them, laser cutting is just so much cooler than using an old-fashioned drill.

-Make the figurines a bit bigger.

-Off course if you really want to get creative you could paint the figurines, the inside of the box, outside of the box. Maybe add a lock for the lid, so nobody can open it.

*Last I would like to state that this was done for a school project. I had never seen a laser-cutter or 3D-printer before let alone use them! I found the whole experience very educating and I had a lot of fun making this project and using all the tools.*