Finished dimensions are 9.75" L x 5" W x 5" T when closed. The small boxes are 4.5" square x 1.5" deep. Open it extends to 26" in length. Each box extends by a 1/2" over the one below when open to help with stability. It’s made from 1/8" (3mm) stock.
It’s based on a project on Thingiverse that was started but not completed. I’ve made the necessary corrections and additions to make it laser friendly and posted the files. I’ve also added it as a remix in Thingiverse.
A couple of additional thoughts - in walnut or cherry with brass screws or two-tone with contrasting box vs arm woods and this would make a cool jewelry box I think. Line the boxes with felt (I’ll add a felt cutting pattern in the Thingiverse remix but basically it’s just rectangles to fit) so you protect the jewelry. A clear acrylic version would also be handy as you could see the contents without opening it.
Finally a couple of other top treatments come to mind - a flat piece of stock with two box sized squares glued to the inside would let you just drop it into place and the additional squares on the bottom of the lid would keep it aligned with the boxes. Alternatively, two box sized flat stock pieces attached using small decorative hinges would allow opening one side or the other while leaving the other side’s top box covered.
One add I did but haven’t posted is to put a neodymium magnet embedded in the underside of the lid. My wife can just drop a needle or pair of small embroidery scissors on the top and it gets grabbed by the magnet and doesn’t get list. The magnets are more than strong enough to pull a needle halfway across the top.
(Can’t believe it’s been a year since I made that.)
Any tips on the dimensions necessary to make the swing arms work correctly? I want to use this design to make a box for this monstrosity of a game, and may need to adjust the dimensions quite a bit to get everything to fit the way I want it
If you go to the thingiverse page and look at the original box there is details on how the numbers were decided on
Cut/paste from site
Please note: There are micro-optimisations in the SVG!
Although originally intended for the holes of the hinges to be spaced 5cm (horizontally) and 4cm (vertically) apart, I didn’t want to use a non-natural number for the spacing of the holes on the hinges. (Pythagoras’ theorem with 4 and 5 calls for sqrt(41).)
I looked-up close-by Pythogorean triples and found a decent candidate: (39, 52, 65). That way, the holes on the hinge can be spaced exactly 65mm from one another.
But that’s also why the top and bottom drawers have their holes pushed 1mm closer to the center drawer (which has been left untouched), while the “outer” holes (relative to the center hole on each of the two sides of the cubes that form the two halves of the whole thing) have moved 1mm away from the center one.
The math worked out fine, but these considerations have to be taken into account when adapting or altering the design.
Thank you so much for sharing this file! I made my first one today. I have always loved the look of these and actually have a Sizzix die that makes a really small version.
I love your idea about making it as a jewelry box. I think I will be making many gifts from your file.
Martha
