Cardboard Record Player Puzzle Box

It is not exactly wise to make a puzzle box with cardboard. People will resort to rather violent methods while solving them, such as stepping on them, dropping them from apartment balconies, or even burning them with a blowtorch. I speak from experience.

However, the nice part about making a puzzle box with cardboard is that even if it is destroyed, you do not lose an expensive block of mahogany wood, having to helplessly watch it burn in the remaining embers of your home.

Nevertheless, I would advise using the strongest of the strongest of glues in the glue kingdom if you plan to have your friends/family solve it. Let's get to it, shall we?

• Corrugated cardboard
• Wooden skewers
• The strongest of the strongest of glues in the glue kingdom
• Cardstock paper
• Marker
• Duct tape

Start out by cutting out the pieces of a box. The final product (with the lid on) will measure 14 cm in length, 10 cm in length, and 6.2 cm in height. Remember that this includes the thickness of the cardboard. The cardboard I used was 2mm thick, but if that's not the case for you, your dimensions may be a little different.

Do NOT glue the whole box together yet. The joints of the box allow you to assemble it to make sure everything lines up. Gluing everything together now will make some of the steps later harder. At most, you can glue the bottom piece to the back side and one adjacent side.

Lid Base: The lid base will measure 13.6 x 9.6 cm. It is one layer.

Disk: The disk has a diameter of 9 cm, and there are two 5 cm diameter cardboard circles below it to give it stability and height. The center of the disk is 5.5 cm from the left and 4.8 cm from the top. I put duct tape on and around the edges of the disk to make it black, and glue a 3 cm diameter piece of white cardstock to the top.

Cut a small area out of the disk, as shown above. You don't have to do this, but it makes it easier to know when the puzzle box is locked or unlocked.

Needle: The needle pivot point is 1.5 cm from the top and right. The needle piece is double-layered and has two 2 cm diameter cardboard circles below it to give it height. Glue a small cardboard piece to the end of the needle (like the one in the image) so that it can rest atop the disk. The dimensions of the needle aren't that important as long as is can be pivoted onto the disk.

NOTE: The 2 holes made in the cardboard should go all the way through with a wooden skewer because the pivot points will correspond with the locks.

The disk and needle each correspond to a lock, and they need to be unlocked chronologically. The needle pivot point corresponds to the left lock, which prevents the disk from spinning around. Once the needle is moved, the disk can move freely around. The disk corresponds to a slider crank mechanism, in which the lock is to be slid out of a slot in the side of the box (images will be shown later).

Inside the box, there will be ledges for the lid to rest on. Cut out the following pieces:

• Two 4.2 x 13.6 cm pieces of cardboard
• Two 4.2 x 9.2 cm pieces of cardboard

You can glue the ledges to their corresponding pieces right now, but you can also wait until the end to make sure everything fits.

Now, it is time to make an area piece E from the previous step slots into. This is one of the locks. I cut out three 4 x 2 cm cardboard pieces, and cut the slot .3 cm below the ledge, as shown in the second image. Then, glue all the layers together and onto the ledge centered. You can do more than three layers if you want it to be more secure. After this, it is okay to start gluing some sides of the box together. Do NOT glue the front side on yet.

This is one of the side pieces from the first step. This is where the dial, the slider, and the speaker will go (the speaker serves no function, it is only for decoration). Attach a 4 cm skewer to the dial. For the slider, follow the dimensions in the diagram and double-layer it. Then, cut out a .5 x 1.5 piece of cardboard that slots into the gap in the slider, and glue that together.

For the speaker, I cut out a grid of holes into a piece and cardstock and lined the back with duct tape. Then, I made some markings for the dial and slider with a sharpie.

Stick the dial in the hole, put the slider into the slot, and flip everything over.

For this step, it might be helpful to watch the video at the top to see how everything moves around. Start by gluing on the side's corresponding ledge piece, and make sure to redefine the cuts and holes so that everything goes through.

Dial: The dial corresponds to a pin that must be pulled out to "unlock" the lid. The dial is able to rotate 180 degrees. Glue the .7 x .2 cm piece 1.5 cm away from the end of the pin as shown above. That way, the pin can only be pulled out when turned to a certain degree. I didn't put dimensions for that piece, since the creator can decide what angle the dial must be turned to for it to be pulled out.

Note: The pin cannot be pulled out completely. If you follow the dimensions, it will be pulled out just enough for it to leave the lock. In that case, be careful when gluing everything together, do it in the right order.

Slider: Attach the end of the slider as shown in the diagram. Make sure the slider is stable but able to move freely.

For this step, it might be helpful to watch the video at the top to see how everything moves around. This is essentially 2 locks in one. One for the pin, and one for the slider. This whole piece will be attached to the lid, meaning that the lid can only be pulled up if the dial's pin is pulled out and the slider is in the right place. I didn't put many dimensions above, since the creator gets to choose where the slider needs to be for the lid to be pulled up (as long as there is room for the pin's hole, anything should work).

This piece is to be placed at the corner of the lid, make sure to leave a .2 cm margin for the ledges.

This is both the most fun and frustrating step. At this point, most of everything should be glued together, except for the front side. It is easier to make adjustments when the front side hasn't been glued on yet. So, check everything, make sure that all the locks line up together, and glue on the front side when it all looks good.

Are your locks not working? Check these things:

• is the slot big enough or not placed in the correct place?
• Is the latch/slider wobbly?
• Is the lid on correctly?
• Are the ledges even and level?
• Is the front and back of a lock corresponding?
• WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Assuming that all the locks are working, it's time to attach the hinged lid. The hinges are pretty straightforward, but I ran into some problems with their strength. Even with superglue, they were still easy to break. In the end, I found gluing the pieces first, then securing them with a thread made them much stronger.

Congrats! You're pretty much done. At this point, I just lined the inside of the box to make it prettier and stuff. I also added an extra leg to the lid so that you can't shimmy it off.

Anyway, thanks for sticking around, and I hope you had fun! Please share what you think and ways to improve the design in the comments!