Music Box Birthday Project-discussion and plans

 Hi Everyone,

 While I'm waiting for some equipment to arrive, let's get started on the music box project.

 

Discussion

I'm going to make a small music box for my grandson who will be turning 9 years old in a couple of weeks. He's a delightful little guy and I love making things for him and since he doesn't have a music box, that made deciding to do this project easy as pie.

Plans 

I'm going to start with a block of hard maple for the box part of the project that was part of the wood plank I bought for the maple salad bowl. It's 3" thick and has a 4 3/4" diameter. I turned it into a round blank last weekend and I trued up the sides. I choose maple, not only because it was readily available in the shop, but because maple is dense enough to turn the sides and especially the bottom of the box very thin.

I also have a square piece of purple heart for the beginnings of the lid. Lastly I have a music box mechanism from the folks at Music Box Attic in Canoga Park, CA. Their website has all sorts of stuff for music boxes, mechanisms, you name it. I bares taking a look at the website if you're considering a project like this.

Anyway, placing the mechanism into the box so the winding stem protrudes far enough through the bottom of the box to be easily wound but not be seen from the outside. So that's the key here.

I also ordered an extra long winding stem that is 1/2" long so the thickness of the box bottom will have to be thin enough for this.

So the first thing I'm going to do is make an outline of the bottom of the mechanism and mark out where the winding stem and screw holes go. Then I'll make a drawing of the thickness of the bottom of the box. Then I'll begin turning the box, then the lid and finial, and lastly the finish. When this is all done, it will be time to screw in the mechanism and the project will be finished.

Ok, grab some coffee and stay tuned!

VW