Building a dial combination lock

This week I spent a few hours working out, then building, a combination lock for a safe door in another Escape Room Diorama. In miniature of course (paperclip for scale) - just wondering if I can make this any smaller…!

Any tips, ideas, suggestions welcomed!

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Thinner materials would be an instant win, 1/16“ acrylic is still pretty strong, 1/16” delrin would be even stronger (I think).

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The square-cube law is going to bite pretty quickly. I remember many years ago someone tried to build a 1/25-scale Ferarri sedan but found much that had to be redesigned as the materials like the leather seats (that was actually leather) was still several scale inches thick, and the metal body thicker than armor as all forces (like picking it up) were cubed. This made a lot of measurements not work out. It was still amazing!

Apparently, pre-internet history has some gaps and I could not find the reference but I found this…

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I’m trying to keep to wood where possible, but good shout re Acrylic - it will halve the depth thickness! Next project print! I think I have some 2mm at home.

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They make plywood that thin, and even thinner. You can even buy it at local hobby stores.

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I just checked and I have 1/16" and 1/64", from my local HobbyTown but they sell it all over, online, and not only local hobby stores but also art supply like Dick Blicks.

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Many thanks! I am in the UK, but have some 2mm birch ply for this exact project, so I will test it out!

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:+1:

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Depending on how much abuse this thing would take, I might cut templates out of paper, and then scribe them onto steel/aluminum/brass plate, and then cut the plate with a traditional saw.

Strong and thin.

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