okay what’s up guys welcome back to the
workshop for this video we’re doing a
very cool step-by-step tutorial on how
to make your own mystery puzzle box like
this one you could use in a mystery
escape room this project was inspired by
Loes who flew me out to Ohio locked me
in a room for 60 minutes and gave me
some power tools to create mechanisms to
get my way out I put a link in the
description where you can go see the
video of how that went down but for this
video I’m going to be taking you through
the measurements the mechanics and
step-by-step build on how to create one
of these puzzle boxes for yourself it’s
made of very simple materials and you
don’t need a lot of tools to do it
let’s jump right in the material they
use to prototype this project are two
packs of paint sticks you can get these
ten paint sticks per pack I’m using some
hot glue a toothpick and a small dowel
now aside from that a few of the
accessories we’re gonna be using are two
small magnets and then a nail and a
small screw that you can pull out of
your spare parts bin and to give our box
a nice finished look we’re gonna keep it
really simple by using some red chestnut
wood stain and some polycrylic
protective finish now to jump right into
making our puzzle box we’re gonna start
off by chopping up these paint sticks in
a very strategic manner to optimize the
amount of wood we get out now honestly
it is a bit overkill to use a 12-inch
miter saw to cut paint sticks but I’m
using this because lo sent it to me as a
gift I’m gonna be rude not to
[Music]
[Applause]
then that’s it at this point all of our
wood pieces are cut and should be ready
for assembly that’s where the hot glue
comes in now while our hot glue is
warming up I just want to mention that
if you have a belt sander it’s gonna
make this project a lot easier for you
it’s not required you could just get
away sandpaper but a belt sander is
gonna make things work a lot faster and
make your project look awesome so thanks
again the loads for send me one of these
and since we’ve got a couple of minutes
we can use that time to build one of
these locking pins for the secret
compartments we’re using a dowel a
toothpick and a nail from the spare
parts bin the first thing we want to do
is take our nail and a sledgehammer and
on a really hard to surface you’re gonna
pound that until it’s flat and you can
see if we use the belt sander we can
actually grind that almost into an
improvised flat head screwdriver which
is really cool if we use a hacksaw we
can cut that off the sides I’m thinking
probably about half an inch should be
sufficient and now if we grab a drill
bit that’s a comparable size to the nail
itself we can drill straight down into
the center of our dowel about half an
inch as well we don’t want to go too
deep and then we can use a little bit of
hot glue or superglue if you’ve got that
to secure our screwdriver head into the
dowel itself and this is where the
toothpick comes in we’re gonna take our
drill bit about the same size as our
toothpick drill through the end of the
dowel and then we need some superglue to
secure the toothpick into that hole and
then just very gently break off the ends
and use some sandpaper or a belt sander
just to smooth those over and that right
there is the essence of our locking pin
that you’ll see come into play in just a
couple of seconds so we got our little
screwdriver mechanism and finished now
we can jump into actually assembling the
box itself and to do that we’re gonna be
using four of our eight and a half inch
paint sticks and we’re also gonna be
using the seven and a half with one-inch
pieces as well now if your paint sticks
have any markings on them like these
ones do you want to set them down on the
table with the markings facing upward
and we’re gonna stack them so we have
two of our regular sticks on the right
side we’re gonna take the shorter stick
and set it on the left side so that
leaves a gap on the lower left area one
important thing to keep in mind with the
shorter piece is make sure that the
slits line up so that the grains look
normal if you put it in the wrong way or
put the paint stick the wrong way around
it’s gonna look really awkward so
double-check your stick is facing the
right way before you glue it together
now we’re going to do is simply glue
these together using our hot glue gun
we’re going to take one of the paint
sticks we’re gonna lay a bead
glued down the side we’re going to take
another one of the sticks and we’re
gonna press it into it firmly and hold
it for about 10 seconds they’re gonna
set it down on a piece of paper so that
it can set as flat as we can get it and
we’re gonna leave that for at least a
couple minutes if you’ve got too much
glue seeping up through the cracks use a
scrap piece of wood just to scrape that
off with a glue still hot after a couple
of minutes the glue should be hardened
so go ahead and peel it off the paper if
you have any bits of paper stuck on the
back don’t worry about it because we’re
gonna sand these off
[Applause]
all right we got these things glued
together sanded they’re looking great
now we’re going to do is flip them over
so the smooth side is facing up mark
free and we’re gonna get these eight
pieces that we cut to three and three
quarters of an inch basically these are
going to be our strappings for the box
and we’re gonna glue them into place
right now we can actually use the paint
sticks themselves as spacers to make
them look very tightly spaced so we just
got our wooden straps assembled and
they’re looking really good they’re
spaced very evenly if we set them down
the table and push them side-by-side you
can see they line up absolutely
perfectly which is great so now choose
your least favorite one the one that you
want to go on bottom and we’re going to
set that down with the wooden straps
facing down now this is where things
start getting fun we’re using the last
eight and a half inch piece as the side
wall for the right side of the box we’re
gonna glue that down a straight line
then we’re gonna grab one of the 3-inch
pieces but before we glue it down we
want to measure this is going to be the
inside back of the box when you lay it
up next to that side wall you want to be
able to see a gap at least the same
width as a paint stick on the other side
if it’s a little bit longer just use
your belt sander or some sandpaper to
sand it down so you have the right width
it’s also a good idea to use another
paint stick as a square you can set that
in and use it to help level the wall
removing excess glue is good because we
want to leave a nice clean finish when
we glue this piece we want to glue it
like a number seven so we’re hitting the
right side as well as the bottom so
quick update guys we got the long
sidewall on we’ve got the back piece on
as well and we’ve made sure that there’s
enough of a gap there then when a paint
stick lies down beside it it fills it in
perfectly now all the time we get to
build our first secret compartment and
we’re gonna start with a small one right
down here at the back
[Music]
[Applause]
alright guys here’s the deal I just went
ahead and made our first small
compartment this uses the two and a half
inch pieces with the 1 and 3/8 inch
piece you can see we just put three of
them together gluing them to the outside
of one of the paint sticks and now this
is basically designed to fit perfectly
at the bottom of our base plate here
you’ll notice there’s a little bit of a
gap here at the back and that’s ok
because we’re gonna be filling that gap
when it comes time to use our magnets
which actually brings up really good
point because we want to make sure our
magnets will fit so before we go any
further let’s put the compartment down
in place and take our magnets and just
make sure there’s enough of a gap for
them we want the gap at the back to be
slightly larger than both magnets stuck
together and you’ll see why in a bit you
can see that when I extend the gap from
my magnets my compartments actually a
little bit too long so let’s go ahead
and mark the part that’s hanging over
then use our belt sander to grind it
down
[Music]
now while is it the belt sander you can
see I actually just ground down the
sides and the bottoms as well so that
everything is nice and flush and smooth
and that way when we put it into the
puzzle box it’s going to slide very very
nicely and if we line it up now you can
see these edges are absolutely perfect
so we take our other three-inch piece of
wood and line that up to match you can
see where it’s going to connect to that
little hidden compartment and double
checking that there’s enough space in
the back for the magnets and it looks
like we’re good
so our mini compartment is complete when
we tuck that into the bottom the next
step is going to be to build the largest
compartment that goes on top the larger
compartment uses these six and a half
inch sidewalls a three inch front and
back and then underneath for support
using two and a half inch pieces
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
so our large mystery compartment is now
complete you can see how I put the side
walls on the inside of the front in the
back and that’s so there’s enough space
that when it slides down to the box it
will move freely in and out
I also reinforced using the
two-and-a-half inch pieces on the inside
that gives it a little bit more
stability and now for a floor we’re just
gonna find some cardboard from something
like a cereal box cut that out and lay
it down as a bottom and now you can see
our small compartment slides in really
nicely we can take our five and a half
inch piece and lay that down to complete
the side wall at this point we’re just
about ready to put the top on there’s
just a couple things we need to do first
first of all take your drawers and slide
them all in and out you want to make
sure that they’re extremely smooth there
are no rough edges there’s no hot glue
that’s gonna bind it down we need these
things to just glide on top of the wood
and secondly it’s time to add our
magnets to the back of the smaller
drawer by using two opposing magnets
it’s going to give this drawer an effect
like a spring so it pops out when the
catch is released
[Music]
now when you glue in your magnets if you
find out you’re a little overzealous
with how wide you made this gap at the
back you can easily solve that challenge
just by adding one more magnet to the
back that’s some good force there so
we’ve got both of our secret
compartments complete we’ve got our
magnets added and everything’s looking
good so at this point we can go ahead
and add the lid the thing that’s
important to keep in mind is there is a
notch missing out of the top so when you
go to hot glue around the edges glue
everything except where that notch is
gonna go are you gonna make a sticky
mess now once you put the lid on there’s
gonna be some dynamics that change the
lid may have an arch in it also some hot
glue may seep so it’s important to take
your large drawer fit it back in there
to see if there’s any parts we’re tight
and in this case there are so we’re just
gonna use the belt sander once again to
grind this down until it slides back and
forth seamlessly alright so our box is
just about done there’s just a few holes
that we need to fill in in the front and
the back so we’re gonna do that next
then we’re gonna move on to filling in
these side strappings except for two of
them two of them we’re gonna be very
strategically placed and require a
little bit of special attention
I do want to mention that when you add
these pieces to the top and the bottom
it is helpful to cut a 45-degree angle
off of the inside that way when they
slide into the box there’s less tendency
for them to hang up on the edges so the
time is coming to finish our box that
means we’re gonna add the mechanisms
that allow the mystery compartments to
open and the first one starts with a
small screw start by taking the small
drawer and pressing it all the way in
making sure that it’s balanced when you
feel like it’s locked in place we’re
gonna drill a very small hole in the
back and center of the box itself very
small pilot hole to accommodate one of
these small screws now go ahead and put
in your screw and use something like a
small precision screwdriver to tighten
that all the way what that’s gonna do is
go inside and grab the side wall that
compartments that it doesn’t push out
and now it is locked in place and now it
might start to make sense why we made
that little screwdriver originally see
where this is going we’re also gonna be
bringing back our small dowel because
we’re gonna be cutting off and using two
small sections of it as well we want to
be able to drill a couple holes the same
diameter as our dowel and I found a 3/16
inch bit seems to be about the perfect
fit our first hole needs to be drilled
very strategically into the smallest
compartment it’s gonna go right on the
edge near that seam line and needs to
happen so that when we put this flap on
it’s covered up and there’s no evidence
whatsoever and it’s gonna be most
accurate if we drill a hole right now
while everything’s locked up nice and
tight and now pushing the dowel in it’s
a very snug fit it’s perfect or actually
don’t leave that in there now and flip
over to the other side and with a small
mystery compartment in the back you can
see if we rotate the box the panel that
I have missing is the second one from
the left and it is important to put this
panel piece into place before we drill
the hole once you got a position
correctly go ahead and drill a hole
straight through it you should penetrate
three layers which is exactly what we
want so next up we’re gonna take a
little piece of this dowel we’re gonna
push it through this hole and we’re
gonna glue it in place and make sure
that it never comes apart now the hole
for the panel and the mystery
compartment need to be as tight to the
dowel as they can be because we’re gonna
glue these together and the two will
become one the holes going into the box
though they can be opened up a little
bit wider because we don’t necessarily
need those to be extremely tight it
actually helps a little bit better if
there
little bit loose so let’s use our drill
bit and get back inside there and open
them up just a touch
we want the Dalit to go through the
whole freely we don’t want it to be very
tight that’s perfect so with the small
compartment I add some hot glue and I
push the dowel through so that it leaves
about a little under half an inch on the
inside the purpose of that is that when
that drawer fits into place that dowel
will go into the pull and prevent the
large drawer from pulling out until this
one’s remove first now obviously we have
a quite a bit of overhang here but
that’s easy to chop off and use the belt
sander to grind flat
[Applause]
with our dowel sentence flatten
everything put back in place we can go
ahead and glue the panel on we want to
make sure we glue it to the side of the
mystery compartment itself that way when
we undo the screw to the whole
compartment can fly out we’re gonna do
something similar with this secret side
panel the only problem is we don’t want
it to be obvious that there’s a dowel in
the center so we’re gonna put the dowel
in then we’re gonna grind this piece
till it’s half the thickness that it was
originally we’re gonna take another
piece glue it to the top and grind that
down halfway as well that way it almost
creates a veneer effect on top so you
don’t know that there’s anything hidden
inside the panel at all
so here we have a guy’s the last puzzle
piece is now in place so the only thing
left to do to finish this box is sand
everything so it’s nice and smooth and
even then give it a paint job with some
stain to finish it off now this is the
part where we bring back our mini
screwdriver we made earlier you want to
drill a 3/8 inch hole on the same side
as your mini compartment but it’s gonna
be on the right-hand side in the first
gap there drill the hole down just so
your dowel fits snuggly and now as your
person is tinkering with the box they’ll
have something to fidget with find the
screwdriver which should tip them off to
undo the screw at the back
[Music]
so I got these pieces fully stained and
finished with varnish so it’s got a
protective coating and I think it’s
looking really really good these are all
the different pieces that make up our
mystery box it’s almost time to put it
back together but first I’m gonna burn
some clues into the wood using a
soldering iron because actually the
clues into the wood with heat is gonna
last even longer than if we use ink
alone
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
I am proud to present our finished
puzzle box guys I hope this is one that
you make as well it’s now got all the
clues inserted into it and it’s
completely ready for use these things
are so much fun my kids love to use them
every one that I’ve handed it to that’s
tinkered with it has loved to use it as
well and the coolest thing that is just
made of very simple materials cost about
three dollars of materials paint sticks
hot glue and some miscellaneous parts
this was inspired by the spirit of DIY
that came to me from Lowe’s Home
Improvement Center they flew me out to
Ohio locked me in the DIY escape room
with some power tools and gave me 60
minutes to create mechanisms to escape
if you want to see the video of how that
went down click the link at the top of
the description because it was a real
adventure and it wasn’t just me Bob from
I like to make stuff was there as well
so go check us out link at the top of
the description or click the end card at
the end of this video hey thanks for
joining me for this project guys I’ll be
looking for you the next one docu then
next things next I’m going to show you
how to build the box hot glue and
sandpaper don’t seem to work very well
hey guys before you go click right here
to go see Bob and I take on the Lowe’s
Black Friday DIY escape room it was an
amazing experience we had no idea what
to expect once we got locked inside so
did we make it out in time you can go
see for yourself by clicking right here
workshop for this video we’re doing a
very cool step-by-step tutorial on how
to make your own mystery puzzle box like
this one you could use in a mystery
escape room this project was inspired by
Loes who flew me out to Ohio locked me
in a room for 60 minutes and gave me
some power tools to create mechanisms to
get my way out I put a link in the
description where you can go see the
video of how that went down but for this
video I’m going to be taking you through
the measurements the mechanics and
step-by-step build on how to create one
of these puzzle boxes for yourself it’s
made of very simple materials and you
don’t need a lot of tools to do it
let’s jump right in the material they
use to prototype this project are two
packs of paint sticks you can get these
ten paint sticks per pack I’m using some
hot glue a toothpick and a small dowel
now aside from that a few of the
accessories we’re gonna be using are two
small magnets and then a nail and a
small screw that you can pull out of
your spare parts bin and to give our box
a nice finished look we’re gonna keep it
really simple by using some red chestnut
wood stain and some polycrylic
protective finish now to jump right into
making our puzzle box we’re gonna start
off by chopping up these paint sticks in
a very strategic manner to optimize the
amount of wood we get out now honestly
it is a bit overkill to use a 12-inch
miter saw to cut paint sticks but I’m
using this because lo sent it to me as a
gift I’m gonna be rude not to
[Music]
[Applause]
then that’s it at this point all of our
wood pieces are cut and should be ready
for assembly that’s where the hot glue
comes in now while our hot glue is
warming up I just want to mention that
if you have a belt sander it’s gonna
make this project a lot easier for you
it’s not required you could just get
away sandpaper but a belt sander is
gonna make things work a lot faster and
make your project look awesome so thanks
again the loads for send me one of these
and since we’ve got a couple of minutes
we can use that time to build one of
these locking pins for the secret
compartments we’re using a dowel a
toothpick and a nail from the spare
parts bin the first thing we want to do
is take our nail and a sledgehammer and
on a really hard to surface you’re gonna
pound that until it’s flat and you can
see if we use the belt sander we can
actually grind that almost into an
improvised flat head screwdriver which
is really cool if we use a hacksaw we
can cut that off the sides I’m thinking
probably about half an inch should be
sufficient and now if we grab a drill
bit that’s a comparable size to the nail
itself we can drill straight down into
the center of our dowel about half an
inch as well we don’t want to go too
deep and then we can use a little bit of
hot glue or superglue if you’ve got that
to secure our screwdriver head into the
dowel itself and this is where the
toothpick comes in we’re gonna take our
drill bit about the same size as our
toothpick drill through the end of the
dowel and then we need some superglue to
secure the toothpick into that hole and
then just very gently break off the ends
and use some sandpaper or a belt sander
just to smooth those over and that right
there is the essence of our locking pin
that you’ll see come into play in just a
couple of seconds so we got our little
screwdriver mechanism and finished now
we can jump into actually assembling the
box itself and to do that we’re gonna be
using four of our eight and a half inch
paint sticks and we’re also gonna be
using the seven and a half with one-inch
pieces as well now if your paint sticks
have any markings on them like these
ones do you want to set them down on the
table with the markings facing upward
and we’re gonna stack them so we have
two of our regular sticks on the right
side we’re gonna take the shorter stick
and set it on the left side so that
leaves a gap on the lower left area one
important thing to keep in mind with the
shorter piece is make sure that the
slits line up so that the grains look
normal if you put it in the wrong way or
put the paint stick the wrong way around
it’s gonna look really awkward so
double-check your stick is facing the
right way before you glue it together
now we’re going to do is simply glue
these together using our hot glue gun
we’re going to take one of the paint
sticks we’re gonna lay a bead
glued down the side we’re going to take
another one of the sticks and we’re
gonna press it into it firmly and hold
it for about 10 seconds they’re gonna
set it down on a piece of paper so that
it can set as flat as we can get it and
we’re gonna leave that for at least a
couple minutes if you’ve got too much
glue seeping up through the cracks use a
scrap piece of wood just to scrape that
off with a glue still hot after a couple
of minutes the glue should be hardened
so go ahead and peel it off the paper if
you have any bits of paper stuck on the
back don’t worry about it because we’re
gonna sand these off
[Applause]
all right we got these things glued
together sanded they’re looking great
now we’re going to do is flip them over
so the smooth side is facing up mark
free and we’re gonna get these eight
pieces that we cut to three and three
quarters of an inch basically these are
going to be our strappings for the box
and we’re gonna glue them into place
right now we can actually use the paint
sticks themselves as spacers to make
them look very tightly spaced so we just
got our wooden straps assembled and
they’re looking really good they’re
spaced very evenly if we set them down
the table and push them side-by-side you
can see they line up absolutely
perfectly which is great so now choose
your least favorite one the one that you
want to go on bottom and we’re going to
set that down with the wooden straps
facing down now this is where things
start getting fun we’re using the last
eight and a half inch piece as the side
wall for the right side of the box we’re
gonna glue that down a straight line
then we’re gonna grab one of the 3-inch
pieces but before we glue it down we
want to measure this is going to be the
inside back of the box when you lay it
up next to that side wall you want to be
able to see a gap at least the same
width as a paint stick on the other side
if it’s a little bit longer just use
your belt sander or some sandpaper to
sand it down so you have the right width
it’s also a good idea to use another
paint stick as a square you can set that
in and use it to help level the wall
removing excess glue is good because we
want to leave a nice clean finish when
we glue this piece we want to glue it
like a number seven so we’re hitting the
right side as well as the bottom so
quick update guys we got the long
sidewall on we’ve got the back piece on
as well and we’ve made sure that there’s
enough of a gap there then when a paint
stick lies down beside it it fills it in
perfectly now all the time we get to
build our first secret compartment and
we’re gonna start with a small one right
down here at the back
[Music]
[Applause]
alright guys here’s the deal I just went
ahead and made our first small
compartment this uses the two and a half
inch pieces with the 1 and 3/8 inch
piece you can see we just put three of
them together gluing them to the outside
of one of the paint sticks and now this
is basically designed to fit perfectly
at the bottom of our base plate here
you’ll notice there’s a little bit of a
gap here at the back and that’s ok
because we’re gonna be filling that gap
when it comes time to use our magnets
which actually brings up really good
point because we want to make sure our
magnets will fit so before we go any
further let’s put the compartment down
in place and take our magnets and just
make sure there’s enough of a gap for
them we want the gap at the back to be
slightly larger than both magnets stuck
together and you’ll see why in a bit you
can see that when I extend the gap from
my magnets my compartments actually a
little bit too long so let’s go ahead
and mark the part that’s hanging over
then use our belt sander to grind it
down
[Music]
now while is it the belt sander you can
see I actually just ground down the
sides and the bottoms as well so that
everything is nice and flush and smooth
and that way when we put it into the
puzzle box it’s going to slide very very
nicely and if we line it up now you can
see these edges are absolutely perfect
so we take our other three-inch piece of
wood and line that up to match you can
see where it’s going to connect to that
little hidden compartment and double
checking that there’s enough space in
the back for the magnets and it looks
like we’re good
so our mini compartment is complete when
we tuck that into the bottom the next
step is going to be to build the largest
compartment that goes on top the larger
compartment uses these six and a half
inch sidewalls a three inch front and
back and then underneath for support
using two and a half inch pieces
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
so our large mystery compartment is now
complete you can see how I put the side
walls on the inside of the front in the
back and that’s so there’s enough space
that when it slides down to the box it
will move freely in and out
I also reinforced using the
two-and-a-half inch pieces on the inside
that gives it a little bit more
stability and now for a floor we’re just
gonna find some cardboard from something
like a cereal box cut that out and lay
it down as a bottom and now you can see
our small compartment slides in really
nicely we can take our five and a half
inch piece and lay that down to complete
the side wall at this point we’re just
about ready to put the top on there’s
just a couple things we need to do first
first of all take your drawers and slide
them all in and out you want to make
sure that they’re extremely smooth there
are no rough edges there’s no hot glue
that’s gonna bind it down we need these
things to just glide on top of the wood
and secondly it’s time to add our
magnets to the back of the smaller
drawer by using two opposing magnets
it’s going to give this drawer an effect
like a spring so it pops out when the
catch is released
[Music]
now when you glue in your magnets if you
find out you’re a little overzealous
with how wide you made this gap at the
back you can easily solve that challenge
just by adding one more magnet to the
back that’s some good force there so
we’ve got both of our secret
compartments complete we’ve got our
magnets added and everything’s looking
good so at this point we can go ahead
and add the lid the thing that’s
important to keep in mind is there is a
notch missing out of the top so when you
go to hot glue around the edges glue
everything except where that notch is
gonna go are you gonna make a sticky
mess now once you put the lid on there’s
gonna be some dynamics that change the
lid may have an arch in it also some hot
glue may seep so it’s important to take
your large drawer fit it back in there
to see if there’s any parts we’re tight
and in this case there are so we’re just
gonna use the belt sander once again to
grind this down until it slides back and
forth seamlessly alright so our box is
just about done there’s just a few holes
that we need to fill in in the front and
the back so we’re gonna do that next
then we’re gonna move on to filling in
these side strappings except for two of
them two of them we’re gonna be very
strategically placed and require a
little bit of special attention
I do want to mention that when you add
these pieces to the top and the bottom
it is helpful to cut a 45-degree angle
off of the inside that way when they
slide into the box there’s less tendency
for them to hang up on the edges so the
time is coming to finish our box that
means we’re gonna add the mechanisms
that allow the mystery compartments to
open and the first one starts with a
small screw start by taking the small
drawer and pressing it all the way in
making sure that it’s balanced when you
feel like it’s locked in place we’re
gonna drill a very small hole in the
back and center of the box itself very
small pilot hole to accommodate one of
these small screws now go ahead and put
in your screw and use something like a
small precision screwdriver to tighten
that all the way what that’s gonna do is
go inside and grab the side wall that
compartments that it doesn’t push out
and now it is locked in place and now it
might start to make sense why we made
that little screwdriver originally see
where this is going we’re also gonna be
bringing back our small dowel because
we’re gonna be cutting off and using two
small sections of it as well we want to
be able to drill a couple holes the same
diameter as our dowel and I found a 3/16
inch bit seems to be about the perfect
fit our first hole needs to be drilled
very strategically into the smallest
compartment it’s gonna go right on the
edge near that seam line and needs to
happen so that when we put this flap on
it’s covered up and there’s no evidence
whatsoever and it’s gonna be most
accurate if we drill a hole right now
while everything’s locked up nice and
tight and now pushing the dowel in it’s
a very snug fit it’s perfect or actually
don’t leave that in there now and flip
over to the other side and with a small
mystery compartment in the back you can
see if we rotate the box the panel that
I have missing is the second one from
the left and it is important to put this
panel piece into place before we drill
the hole once you got a position
correctly go ahead and drill a hole
straight through it you should penetrate
three layers which is exactly what we
want so next up we’re gonna take a
little piece of this dowel we’re gonna
push it through this hole and we’re
gonna glue it in place and make sure
that it never comes apart now the hole
for the panel and the mystery
compartment need to be as tight to the
dowel as they can be because we’re gonna
glue these together and the two will
become one the holes going into the box
though they can be opened up a little
bit wider because we don’t necessarily
need those to be extremely tight it
actually helps a little bit better if
there
little bit loose so let’s use our drill
bit and get back inside there and open
them up just a touch
we want the Dalit to go through the
whole freely we don’t want it to be very
tight that’s perfect so with the small
compartment I add some hot glue and I
push the dowel through so that it leaves
about a little under half an inch on the
inside the purpose of that is that when
that drawer fits into place that dowel
will go into the pull and prevent the
large drawer from pulling out until this
one’s remove first now obviously we have
a quite a bit of overhang here but
that’s easy to chop off and use the belt
sander to grind flat
[Applause]
with our dowel sentence flatten
everything put back in place we can go
ahead and glue the panel on we want to
make sure we glue it to the side of the
mystery compartment itself that way when
we undo the screw to the whole
compartment can fly out we’re gonna do
something similar with this secret side
panel the only problem is we don’t want
it to be obvious that there’s a dowel in
the center so we’re gonna put the dowel
in then we’re gonna grind this piece
till it’s half the thickness that it was
originally we’re gonna take another
piece glue it to the top and grind that
down halfway as well that way it almost
creates a veneer effect on top so you
don’t know that there’s anything hidden
inside the panel at all
so here we have a guy’s the last puzzle
piece is now in place so the only thing
left to do to finish this box is sand
everything so it’s nice and smooth and
even then give it a paint job with some
stain to finish it off now this is the
part where we bring back our mini
screwdriver we made earlier you want to
drill a 3/8 inch hole on the same side
as your mini compartment but it’s gonna
be on the right-hand side in the first
gap there drill the hole down just so
your dowel fits snuggly and now as your
person is tinkering with the box they’ll
have something to fidget with find the
screwdriver which should tip them off to
undo the screw at the back
[Music]
so I got these pieces fully stained and
finished with varnish so it’s got a
protective coating and I think it’s
looking really really good these are all
the different pieces that make up our
mystery box it’s almost time to put it
back together but first I’m gonna burn
some clues into the wood using a
soldering iron because actually the
clues into the wood with heat is gonna
last even longer than if we use ink
alone
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
I am proud to present our finished
puzzle box guys I hope this is one that
you make as well it’s now got all the
clues inserted into it and it’s
completely ready for use these things
are so much fun my kids love to use them
every one that I’ve handed it to that’s
tinkered with it has loved to use it as
well and the coolest thing that is just
made of very simple materials cost about
three dollars of materials paint sticks
hot glue and some miscellaneous parts
this was inspired by the spirit of DIY
that came to me from Lowe’s Home
Improvement Center they flew me out to
Ohio locked me in the DIY escape room
with some power tools and gave me 60
minutes to create mechanisms to escape
if you want to see the video of how that
went down click the link at the top of
the description because it was a real
adventure and it wasn’t just me Bob from
I like to make stuff was there as well
so go check us out link at the top of
the description or click the end card at
the end of this video hey thanks for
joining me for this project guys I’ll be
looking for you the next one docu then
next things next I’m going to show you
how to build the box hot glue and
sandpaper don’t seem to work very well
hey guys before you go click right here
to go see Bob and I take on the Lowe’s
Black Friday DIY escape room it was an
amazing experience we had no idea what
to expect once we got locked inside so
did we make it out in time you can go
see for yourself by clicking right here
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