I understand how the lock part works, and I get how those pieces are shaped and how they move. How does the color change, though? I'm really curious about that.

http://www.kagenschaefer.com/DiamondBox.html

I plan on cutting up a small, cheap table I have to make a table with this on it with a secret compartment, and the color changing bit would be wonderful if I could figure it out. D:

is it a second piece that slides in? looks cool too. Nice project!

This is just speculation but it think that there are the two different colors of wood, glued together in a sliding mechanism. The little window in the top of the box only shows one color at a time. The action of the puzzle being put into its solved position pushes the pieces of wood past the window and as it is pushed the second color is revealed and the first is hidden.

I don't know if that made sense...

That's what I figure, I'm not 100% sure where the room for it comes from, though. I'll think about it. I don't have any sort of 3d software installed on my desktop right now, so it's poor sketches for me to try to figure out how I'm going to do it. D: Hopefully I'll be able to give an update with a "Diamond Table!"

It looks as though there would be ample room for the piece, if it slides horizontally

Yeah, I sketched it out and think I found an easy way to do it. Going to be reinstalling some software and putting together a virtual model in the next few days.

cool Im excited to see the finished model

Modeled just the table last night, going to try to finish the rest of it tonight.

wow that was fast... But only here would someone be so into puzzles their furniture is one

Best security system ever: convert your entire house into a 2000-step puzzle box.

LOL good part: never lose your keys

bad part it would take 3.5 hours to get in and out of your house

Got everything figured out in my head. Made a small cardboard model and that worked, going to make another more precise, maybe model the rest of it, and possible pick up some wood and start building soon.

how exactly does it work may i ask?

I'll model the pieces when I get to get on my desktop. It's really simple! Hopefully it'll work well in physical form. Basically the pieces are just triangles with rectangles attached (house shaped) and can slide to and fro. Add cut a bit here, add a latch there, presto!

Oh I think I get it... but a visual would still be awesome. Im in a bit of a "make a model of it in Lego" craze right now (Ive made 6 different lego puzzles ) so Id love to see this one.

I have a relative who would be quite interested in the designs you used for those Lego puzzles. Can you make a separate thread about them, or did you disassemble them for parts before taking pictures of them ?

I'd love to! Youll probably see the topic up tommorrow in this forum... Idk if I'll I've instructions, but if there is enough demand I will.

I love puzzles, and I love wood! Wait, no. That may have come out wrong.

Regardless, things like this are the perfect combination of those! I would love to be able to work out how to solve these myself, but I really don't have the money to buy one and obviously it defeats the purpose of working out the riddle, if you just finished making said riddle.

If you really care enough to know, search for it on google. There is a guide someone with incredible paper skills made on instructables.

Also, I had an idea for a nearly identical "puzzle cylinder". It would have four triangles on one circular face, and by rotating the lid (with the triangles) around on the box, the triangles would shift and the diamond would close, then reopen. Once fully turned one way, the box would be unlocked!

See if you can make that OP .