[Nothorwitzer] built a pretty incredible Rubik’s Cube table with hidden storage. The coolest feature of this table is the way it opens. Twisting the top section of the cube causes two drawers to pop out from the sides. The further you turn the top, the more the drawers extend. As the top hits its rotational limit, the lid of the cube lifts up, revealing the entire top section is hollow.
[Nothorwitzer] built the table from plywood, hardboard, and MDF. Hiding inside the base is an old car wheel hub and bearing. The entire rotating system spins on this assembly. The drawers are actuated by an ingenious set of plywood cams which push the two opposing drawers out as the top assembly rotates. Two levers pop the top open.
The attention to detail here is amazing. [Nothorwitzer] build a set of hidden hinges that make the lid invisible, yet allows it to lift up and over the edge of the cube. A spring ensures that the heavy lid will pop open neatly. The lid fit is so close that air pressure ensures the top doesn’t slam down when it is dropped.
While the internal parts of the table are left in bare wood, that the external parts had to match a real Rubik’s Cube. [Nothorwitzer] scrambled a cube, then copied the colors. The panels are made of cut hardboard. Each panel is spray painted, then hot glued to the cube. The body is plywood which [Nothorwitzer] grooved with a router to match the profile of a real Rubick’s Cube.
The project doesn’t end here. [Nothorwitzer] has created a second cube, which is even more tricky. The lid pops by pressing in one section. The drawers operate in a similar way, but there is a lever to engage or disengage the drawer opening. This may be the perfect place to hide your retro gaming systems!
If you’re a fan of the Rubik’s Cube, check out this high-speed Rubik’s Cube solver, or Wil’s deep dive into the symmetry of the Rubik’s Cube.
> The lid fit is so close that air pressure ensures the top doesn’t slam down when it is dropped.
*sigh* Typical amateurs not designing their furniture to work in a hard vacuum. It’s almost 2018!
I guess that you want the colored panels to fall off or be easily removed.
Hot “glue” is just melted plastic. Please don’t use it for such good work.
If only you had been there when he was building it, your phD in material science would have come in handy.
A rubix cube you that can’t peal and rearrange the stickers…
Actually, thanks to the hot glue you could peel and rearrange the panels. He should have used wood glue or epoxy.
Ah a classic Hackaday comment: if you can’t find fault with the finished project then complain about the materials used.
Looking at the hinge reminds to DL that Opensource Gear program I forgot to get which has levers etc and allows you to design and export
Nope. No thanks. Don’t want anything in the living room I know I won’t be able to get open.
I’ll note that in your file.