How to Make a Secret Spinning Dice Set

This project has been a long time coming. This is actually one of the projects that inspired us to start our YouTube channel as just about everyone has seen some sort of rendition of the centrifugal puzzle. However, we wanted to take it a step further by finding a way to add a useful purpose to the entire device. And in this case, it was adding 4 secret compartments.

Disclaimer: (this post contains affiliate links)

Materials

• Two Oak Board 1"x6"x12"
• We Used Our Old Barn Wood 3/4"x6"x8'
• 3/8" Plywood 2"x24"long
• Wood Glue
• 1 1/4" Brad Nails
• 1/4"x6" Steel Rod
• One 3" Handle
• One Lazy Susan Swivel 8"x8" (Ball bearing type)
• 1/2" Wood Screws

Tools

-Table Router: https://amzn.to/2skagI2

-Bandsaw: https://amzn.to/2LYI7z6

-Belt Sander: https://amzn.to/2SQUdNH

-Woodburning Kit: https://amzn.to/2LYCJfm

-1 Foot Quick Grip Clamps: https://amzn.to/2VO2W54

-Golden Oak Stain: https://amzn.to/2CbMTFb

-Chop Saw: https://amzn.to/2Ca5xNE"

-Nailer: https://amzn.to/2H4ZcJb

-Drill: https://amzn.to/2LZgxlz

-Wood Glue: https://amzn.to/2SJXzSj

-Countersunk Magnets: https://amzn.to/2C9GSZF

(Use the magnets if you want your drawers to stay closed)

-Combination Square: https://amzn.to/2VFLgbJ

-Bench Grinder: https://amzn.to/2VIxmpo

Dimensions

As you can see from the drawing above, the overall size of one of our X's sides, was 6" high by 12" long. The simpler the layout, the easier your project will be constructed. As for the individual box dimensions, these are merely going to fill each quadrant of the X. So just make your boxes cut to size for these.

The most basic component of this build ironically enough is the locking mechanism itself. The boards that house the locks are each about a foot long in length and have a 3" wide strip ripped off of them. These ripped strips are then marked in the middle where you can mark out the width of your corresponding X piece. Then cut along this marked out section and set them aside for now.

Before you get your bolts set up, you'll need to drill some straight holes into the four smaller pieces of your X. Don't make these too deep or too shallow as you need your bolts to be able to move in and out of these with ease.

For the bolts themselves, you'll want to choose rods that are smooth and won't bend under pressure. The length of these each need to be long enough so that when they slide out of their holes, they will only hit the other side of the X rather than falling out and getting lodged. Then insert your rods into your holes that you drilled earlier and glue all of your pieces back together.

Once your main pieces are done drying, you'll have to drill some holes beneath your notches on each piece. These holes will be where the bolts keep the device from opening. Putting some countersinks on the outside of your holes is very helpful for making sure that the bolts slide smoothly into their holes.

The housings for your drawers are pretty simple. All you need to do is find some 1/2" boards and cut them all to the length of half of your X. In our case, the walls were about 6" long. Then drill some pilot holes in the walls of your X so that you can then attach them with screws.

When you're making your drawer houses, it's important to keep in mind that you'll need to leave about 2 inches of space behind your false walls. If you want to, you can add small half walls behind these so that whatever you keep in your compartments don't fall out when you lift the top dice out.

Unlike the usual centrifugal puzzle, our dice set needed to have some extreme speed for it to come apart. So in order to get that speed, we constructed a base for our dice set so that we could attach an old ball-bearing chair swivel to the bottom of both our dice and base.

For our project, dad decided that we would put drawers in each of our wooden houses. These aren't entirely necessary as you could just attach magnetic lids to each of the houses. But this is entirely up to you.

Once again an optional part of the build. To make it easier to lift out the other half of this puzzle we attached a brass handle to the top half of the X.

If you're going to go through all of the hard work of creating your complicated contraption, you might as well make it look good.