Puzzle Box in Fusion 360

This is my entry for the game design contest. I am a 9th grader at Grinnell Senior High School in Iowa.

Hello,

This is a Puzzle box I modeled in Fusion 360. My goals for this project were to mainly use plywood, (because it's cheap, fast, and looks good) and to bring this model to a point where it could hypothetically be built. In this post I am going to explain my thought process, how I came upon this design, and how you can build it.

To build this you will need:

4x springs (Will need experimenting)

3mm Plywood

18mm metal rod (I got mine as a Jumprope weight)

5x 17x23x4 Bearings

Glue

A Butterfly drywall anchor

Plastic for a 3D Printer

3D Printer

Laser Cutter or CNC

When coming up with puzzles you must keep in mind most people will only want to play with your box for about 30 minutes. Keeping this in mind, I limited mine to two main steps. First, you must spin the box and then enter a 3-digit code. You will acquire this code by solving a simple number puzzle. When deciding on your puzzles, you must consider how you will make/use them to open the box. Looking at other people's puzzles is a great way to get inspiration.

The simpler the better. It is easy to get big ideas, but at the end of the day, it is better to have a reliable box. An example of this is the ring above. The part itself looks complex but is only as complex as necessary. Originally I was going to have a maze that you would guide a ball through by tipping the box side to side, but I had to scrap this idea because it would have been difficult to implement into a puzzle box.

A puzzle box can be daunting to make. I recommend starting with your puzzles first, then building a box around your biggest puzzle. Finally, fit the other puzzles into your box. You may waste some space, but it is much easier to begin.

This is a unique project and tons of fun. Now to explain my final design.

My first lock is a centrifugal lock. It uses two large weights and springs that release from catches when it is spun. Then before the weights fly back in at the end of the spin another spring pops the small box out. Inside the box, in lock number one, there will be a drywall anchor. Inserting the drywall anchor into a hole in the back of the box will allow you to remove a hatch. There you will find a combination lock. This combination lock works by only allowing the "core" to be removed if a "Lump" can pass through gates in the rings. Mounting the rings of lock number two was going to be difficult, but I was able to overcome this by attaching all of the rings to each other with bearings. This may be confusing, but above I have included pictures and the Fusion 360 file.

Thank you for taking time to read through my Instructables, and I hope this helped you!