What’s the number one thing kids always dream about for when they have their own house someday? Hidden passages? Revolving bookcases? Closets that lead to Narnia? Secret compartments? Well, [TracRat] has lived out at least one of those dreams by making his very own Myst inspired hidden pantry compartment!
His pantry is located under the stairs and to make use of the awkward space, he decided to build a wine rack. He still had a lot of unused space so he decided to take it a step further. He’s built a wooden puzzle combination lock consisting of four colored knobs that slide back and forth in grooves. When the correct combination is made, pressing on the square symbol at the top rolls the entire wine rack backwards, exposing a secret side cabinet. It’s an absolutely gorgeous piece of woodwork and we’re totally impressed by the perfect execution of it.
Do you love Myst too? Check out this awesome Myst inspired Myst(ery) box [Michael] made for his girlfriend’s birthday! Or how about a leather-bound Myst book that lets you play Myst on a computer inside of it!
Bonus: Locks out drunk people.
I think the wine rack is what should be behind the combination lock. B^)
Incredible craftsmanship on the wood locking mechanism. Beautiful design
Someday I may live in a house with a tall attic, and then I will construct a false wall at one end with a small secret room behind it. (Maybe accessed from a closet below it)
I’d love that. I’d build a little hidey-hole then hide inside all day. Even if nobody else was in the house. Some books and a computer and a few snacks, ah back to the womb I go!
“This furniture is nice and all, but does the store carry anything more…placental?”
“Sir I am calling the police.”
Very nice. Thanks for sharing!
http://www.familyhandyman.com/home-security/20-secret-hiding-places/view-all
Little improvement might be to make the base of the knobs bigger, so they cover the groove. The existence of a groove implies slideyness, having 4 implies a code, and there’s only 16 codes possible. If it were a computer game I’d be clicking all over those.
Then again if he wanted real security he’d just buy a lock, so I can’t criticise too much.
It appears that the grooves only show in the unlocked position. If you check out the first image on the instructables page, you’ll see it in the locked position.
Ah ok!
each slider could have more than 2 options, making many more geusses.
Actually there are far more than 16 codes. the wooden pieces seem to slide around freely back and forth, but I think that also means that if you pushed the button and just wiggled them around you’d exploit flaws in the spacing and it would unlock easily.
Original designer: if you’re reading this, cut grooves that bind the mechanism so you can’t slide the parts around while pushing and holding.on the button.
You can’t slide the knobs if you press the button. So there is no way to put light pressure on the button and figure out the combination. The button binds the levers immediately. Besides, there is an additional feature with the blue lever that avoids the issue of being able to guess. I mention it a bit at the end of the instruct able. But glossed over it at the end.
Looking at the site, I can’t work out where the actual door thing comes in. I like the lock mechanism but is the purpose to hide the wine?
The purpose is to hide a side shelf. The wine rack is always availalbe.
Possibly to hide the good wine? The scotch?
Guns.
That’s really cool! Reminds me a little bit of Indiana Jones and Raiders of The Lost Arc.
Wonder if that’s where Indy got his degree in archaeology?
Nah. You can’t guess the combination. You have to figure out the puzzle. The blue knob has to be unscrewed and moved in order to get to the right combination. I wanted to eliminate guessing. You have to understand the code in the leafed trim.