# Coin mazes (some of the gifts I made last month) *picture heavy*



## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

I've been trying to find time to post this thread. There was a lot of pictures to re-size.

As I mentioned in another topic somewhere, I made a bunch of Christmas gifts this past Nov and Dec. I made another rocking horse, another big handful of the ball-in-a-cage-in-a-cage-in-a...'s like what I've posted about in the past (I posted a build thread around here somewhere) and a few odds and ends barely worth noting here. 

But I wanted to share the coin mazes I made. These are my own design. I got the idea from a video that Steve Ramsey made where he built a dime maze from a pattern in the book _Zany Wooden Toys That Whiz, Spin, Pop and Fly_ (by: Bob Gilsdorf). I've since (just last week) purchased the book. I liked the idea of the coin maze so I decided to design my own version that's a little more complex than Mr. Gilsdorf's iteration. And a lot fancier too.

I made 13 coin mazes (uses penny or dime). Each one is different as far as the external appearance goes. All are the same inside. All except 2 were given as Christmas gifts. To add a sense of mystery, I named the maze "Treasurers' Quest" and included with each a 'letter from the king' and a 'treasure map'. I'll post pictures of those later. and, of course, each came with a shiny penny.

I first laid out a pattern on paper. Mine has a total of 5 inner layers. Three are "active" layers. The other two act as (barriers and) tunnels, connecting the active layers. My prototype is the poplar set on the right in the following picture. I used that to test that the layout works, then to act as a pattern for the actual build layers. The 5 internal layers are made of 1/8" plywood.









Some of the parts.









Here's some of the layers 1 and 2 glued up.

















After going through and gluing up all 13 layers 1 to layers 2, I then glued the layers 3 to layers 4. After that, layers 5 were glued to the 3/4 sections. Finally, the 1/2 sandwiches were glued to the 3/4/5 packets before working on the exterior parts. You may notice in some pictures that I've numbered some of the parts. That numbering scheme was counting the external, face layers as well (thus you'll see numbers 2-6 instead of 1-5. Small oversight on my part.).


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Lots of scrolling led to lots of gluing.









I re-sawed a bunch of faces from walnut and cedar. These are them.









A bunch of glued-up innards.









All 13.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Faces glued in place.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Sides being glued in place.









One end glued on.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

My wife loved the look of the exposed plies. She says that to hide them takes away from (hides) the fact that there's a world of activity going on within. In a way I agree. So, unbeknownst to her at the time, I made her one without the end caps. I used poplar dowel to label the three holes.

























All of the others received end treatments to match the sides. One end of the maze has a single slot (as seen earlier). The other end has two.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

9 of the ends in place. Not yet sanded flush.









I used pieces of padauk to label slot 1 (Starting hole).

















2-slot side. Slots 2 and 3 were identified with ebony and purple heart, respectively.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

All 13. The one in the lower right corner is one for me. I'm using spalted maple to treat the edges of it. That one still isn't done.









Here's some shots of some of the others after completion. All are lacquered.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Some more.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Little more.









































I'll post the story and map as soon as I can.



These coin mazes were a big hit with those who received them. Well worth the time it took to make them all.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

I really like those. May have to make some myself.


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## Pop Pop (Jul 17, 2011)

I love it! I can't wait for the map and letter. Very creative, very attractive, and it looks like fun. Wow!


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it was picture heavy. :laughing: Those are pretty awesome. I've never seen anything like that before. Great work Steve. Looks like you are spending your free time well. :thumbsup:


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