Hidden Maze Puzzle Box - Solve It Blind

A puzzle box where you can't see the maze. It is cut into the inner core and the lid covers it completely. Two pins inside the lid run through it, so you have to find the way out blind by twisting and lifting the lid.

Made to feel smooth

• Every turn of the maze has rounded corners (R 1.2 mm), so the pin glides from a horizontal to a vertical path without catching.

• The exit has a funnel (2 mm wider each side at the top), so the lid finds its way back on easily.

• The pins have a rounded nose.

• It clicks shut: next to the start there is a small ridge (0.25 mm). Each pin sits on a flexible finger of the lid (two 0.6 mm slits hidden in the knurling), so you feel a click when you close it and the lid does not wander off on its own, but a normal twist opens it (about 6 N per pin).

Details

• Perfect maze around the whole cylinder, 12 × 7 cells, repeated twice for the two pins at 180°. The start is the bottom cell furthest from the exit: 75 cell moves, 8 dead ends.

• New maze for every gift: the generator (a short Python 3 script, no dependencies) is included as a comment at the end of laberinto.scad. Copy it to generar.py, run it with any seed and it rewrites laberinto_datos.scad.

• Box Ø66.8 × 57 mm; storage inside Ø51 × 55 mm (cash, jewellery, earbuds, a gift card).

• Grooves 4.4 mm, pins 3 mm: 0.7 mm clearance.

• No supports: core upright, lid upside down. Pins are 45° teardrops, groove ceilings have a 45° root chamfer, and the only flat overhangs left are 1.4 mm ledges at the groove ceilings.

• One colour + drawing (caja_A1mini_AMS.3mf): one plate, 2 h 51 min, 74 g, maze drawing on the lid in a 2nd colour.

• Two colours (core in ivory so the maze stands out when open): nucleo_A1mini_AMS.3mf (1 h 24 min, 38 g) + tapa_A1mini_AMS.3mf (1 h 42 min, 38 g). They are separate plates on purpose: core and lid in different colours on one plate would change filament on every layer (about 100 g of purge).

How it was checked

Collision volumes in OpenSCAD. The pins were moved along the whole solution, 4 steps per move plus the way out (307 positions): 0 mm³. The closed lid does not touch the core. Click: the real pin collides with the ridge, a pin 0.30 mm shorter passes and a pin 0.20 mm shorter still touches, so the interference is between 0.20 and 0.30 mm; without the ridge the same move is free. A pin cutting a corner by 1.35 mm passes the rounded corner but collides with a sharp one. A pin 1.4 mm off-centre enters the exit funnel but collides without it. The finger slits cut the wall over their full 25.6 mm. On the real print plate: exactly 2 solid parts, nothing floating, and every face steeper than 45° is a groove-ceiling ledge of 1.4 mm or less (without the root chamfer the check catches 2 mm ledges). Controls: pulling straight up from the start collides, a position between cells collides, and a pin wider than the groove collides.

About this design

Designed with AI assistance and checked in code before release (see above). Pictures are 3D renders and the slicer preview, not photos. Not printed yet: makes and feedback are very welcome.

Español

Caja con laberinto oculto: el laberinto está dentro y la tapa lo tapa. Hay que salir a ciegas girando y subiendo la tapa: 75 movimientos. Esquinas redondeadas y embudo en la salida para que se mueva suave; al cerrar hace clic (lomo de 0,25 mm y dedo flexible en la tapa) y no se abre sola. Sin soportes. Una placa (2 h 51 min, 74 g) o dos colores con el núcleo marfil (dos placas, 3 h 06 min, 77 g). El generador del laberinto va al final de laberinto.scad.

العربية

علبة بمتاهة مخفية داخلها: أدر الغطاء وارفعه دون أن ترى الطريق لتفتحها. الزوايا مستديرة فتنزلق الحركة بسلاسة، ويغلق الغطاء بنقرة فلا ينفتح وحده. تطبع بلا دعامات.