I’m sure many of you are familiar with the different box generators that the internet has to offer. I’ve been wanting to make a new keychain display, that’s essentially a box, rather than my previous one which was just a standing display. I’ve seen a couple of cool ones going in and out of the FB group, so I thought I’d try my hand at making one.
I wanted to make box making second nature, so instead of using a generator, I took it on in illustrator. Couple of lessons upfront would have saved me time, such as not having my attention divided by watching a show and designing. Also, I threw it into Fusion 360, but couldn’t quite remember how it all worked, so I gave up on it. Both of those things would have saved me a couple of sheets of materials if done correctly. On the bright side, the original lid I cut out worked perfectly as the base, so shout-out to repurposed waste!
Anyway, it all worked out in the end, and I was able to make this cool lazy Susan style keychain holder. The hardware for it is surprisingly cheap on Amazon!
After jumping through the hurdles for that, I also wanted to make a little holder for my inks. When I got into puzzle making and owning my own photo printer, I found that refilling my own inks is far more cost effective than buying replacements, but the bottles just kind of hang out in the way. Making the box for these was far easier than the keychain Susan was, but only because of what I learned while making it.
I made my Eeveelution Kickstarter boxes from nothing in Illustrator as a challenge. Kerfed at .006", finger tabs at .125" for thickness, etc. It’s a great way to practice. Then I still used MakerCase.com to double check my work.
I’m curious what hardware you used to get the spinning part so I’m going to have to look around now! And as I said in your other thread I absolutely LOVE THIS.
Wow, you did a great job on that! If you are taking that to shows, it’s particularly nice to have it do double duty as a storage area—space can be at a premium when doing shows.
@evansd2 I did actually go to Amazon right after posting and found that exact set, haha. And a bigger 8" one that seems interesting! Could make a big rotating display for dragon tails …
