The Codex — Escape Room Game Toolkit: Print-in-Place Book, Cipher Wheel, Grille & Ruler

MULTICOLOUR IS THE DEFAULT — PRINT TIME DEPENDS ON YOUR PRINTER

The roughly 60-hour MakerWorld estimate is for the Bambu A1/AMS profile: a single nozzle repeatedly changes and flushes colours. It is not a universal printing time for these books.

For comparison, my own multicolour print takes around 17 hours on my four-toolhead Flashforge C5. That is my reported result for my own print and setup; the book, parts selected, material and settings can change the time. Single colour remains an option.

SINGLE COLOUR — QUICK START

For the simplest print, download The-Printed-Secret-Codex-Single-Colour-STLs-V2.zip, or the six individual STLs (book, wheel base, inner wheel, retaining screw, grille and ruler). Slice each once in one PLA colour at 100% scale; keep the book upright. The multicolour 3MF is an optional finish, not a requirement.

A1 TIME COMPARISON — complete book and toolkit, both plates: about 15 hours in one colour versus 59 hours multicolour (about 44 hours longer). Reference Bambu Studio 2.8.2.61, A1/0.4 mm/0.20 mm/3 walls/15% Gyroid. Slicer estimates, not measured times; other machines/materials differ.

If using the painted 3MF: erase all colour painting, assign every part to the same filament, disable the prime tower and re-slice. Simply changing swatch colours does not remove filament swaps. Check one filament/no colour changes in Preview.

🧰 THE TOOLKIT FOR THE PRINTED SECRET ESCAPE-ROOM GAMES

The Codex is a print-in-place book that holds the puzzle tools you’ll use in every Printed Secret mystery: a cipher wheel, a reading grille and a ruler. Each game is a 3D-printed escape room — you print the game’s case book, follow the story in your browser, and use your Codex at the table to decode, measure and reveal what the evidence is hiding.

Print it once. It comes with you into every future game.

💷 WHAT’S FREE, WHAT’S PAID

• Free: the Codex and all its tools — every file on this page.

• Paid: the games. The first, The Alchemist’s Study, is crowdfunding on Kickstarter now from £20. Each game brings its own case book and any wheel insert it needs.

👉 The first game, on Kickstarter

👉 About the series

👉 Try The Apprentice’s Test — a free 25-minute browser mystery, no printer needed.

📦 IN THIS DOWNLOAD

• Upright print-in-place Codex book

• Cipher wheel base, inner wheel/retainer and printed retaining screw

• Zodiac ruler (170 mm) and archive grille

• One complete multicolour 3MF (two plates) and six geometry-only STLs for single-colour printing

• Illustrated guide, bill of materials and assembly checks

Not included: game case books, game-specific wheel inserts, game access codes, solutions, commercial permission.

🖨 PRINTING — THE SHORT VERSION

• 100% scale, millimetres. Book envelope about 137.5 × 41.3 × 190 mm — check your build height.

• Keep the book upright in its print-in-place orientation. Let it cool fully, then gently free the cover; don’t force a fused joint.

• Single colour works fine with the six STLs; multicolour is optional.

• Reference setup: Creator 5 Pro, PLA, 0.4 mm nozzle. Re-slice for your own printer. The native book file is preferred where your slicer supports it.

• No metal pin or screw needed. Optional closure: four 6 × 3 mm disc magnets (check polarity). Keep magnets and small parts away from children and pets.

Licence: personal, non-commercial printing only. No resale of prints or files. Commercial makers need a separate written agreement.

Photos show my actual print and renders of the supplied files. The cover and the three-book image are edited photographs.