Japanese Puzzle Box

thingiverse

The Japanese puzzle box model features 10 steps for opening the intriguing box. An enthusiast colleague introduced me to this captivating design, which I later decided to create a printable version of using instructions found at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bruce.viney/The%20Matchbox%20T-plans.pdf. The model can be printed in two versions - single color or multi-color, with the latter requiring a 2 extruder modded Mendel (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16523). The single color version is created by assembling the printed box and gluing pieces 4, 6, and 7 to form the box, followed by cleaning up and inserting sliding panels according to instructions at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/bruce.viney/The%20Matchbox%20T-plans.pdf. For the multi-color version, skeinforge generates "penultimate" gcode for both base and pattern objects, which is then processed using a script (addcolor.pl) to insert gcode for pattern layers into matching layers of the base object. Despite some challenges with leaking from the standby extruder while printing in PLA, ABS works better due to its flow properties.