Music-Box From Found Items

Makin music boxes from found objects has been a hobby of mine for years now. this is the first time I will have made a music box without reusing a full premade movement. I had a lot of fun and learned alot. so I hope you enjoyed as well!

1. Metal Files
2. wood thread spool
3. pencil
4. flat scrap wood
5. screw
6. handle (Whatever you can find)
7. sharpie
8. caliper
9. paper
10. bicycle tines
11. bobby pins
12. dividing plate
13. metal compass from harbor freight
14. copper wire
15. screws
16. scrap wood
17. drill
18. tiny drill bits
19. at least two pencils
20. Bigger file
21. large strong pilers
22. even tinier screws and washers
23. one finishing nail
24. hot glue.

I got my things by wandering the area and picking up shiny objects. I also picked up the spool from a local antique store. its a really great place they got a section of jars that are full of bitts and bobs very useful for this kind of crafting. I grabbed a spool and a leftover knob from some 70's appliance. I admittedly picked up the base from the craft store but the crank came from walking around, same with the two screws and the copper wire.

I got the bike tines by clipping them with some strong pliers from an abandoned tire. keep in mind those are steel so recommend some safety gear like protective goggles and gloves for metal work. it takes a lot of grip strenghth to cut em but they are perfect size and strength for crafting. ya need a tiny straight rod that won't bend well here ya go! works way better than crafting wire for its property.

When ya make things from scrap ya can come up with the best laid plan for something cool, but what you can make is dictated by your materials. I for one in the past had zero monies. Therefore, had to get really creative with what I could get a hold of. I really like taking things, the shiny bits of glass and funny bits and bobs that would entertain a child and make it more. put a story into it.

when ya find a part you may get inspired to create with it.

I took a flat coins piece of scrap metal , that i filed smooth on each side, and calculated the number of teeth needed for a screw mechanism I looked into the needed calculations and found this. spur analysis . I double checked the math for size number and angle of the teeth then realized I had no idea what I was doing. So instead, I used my calipers and measured the spacing of the threads by the tip of each one on the screw and using it to divide the circumference of the gear blank I then halved the resulting number to make alternating space for the tooth and the screw to mesh.

I drilled a small hole after finding the center by making a cross shape with a ruler and marking it in sharpie.

(see fig.2) Then took a finishing nail and put it in my new blank in the center hole punch. I placed the gear in the center of the plate and hot glued it in place for extra security (fig.3) and colored the blank in with sharpie(fig.4) this is important.

Using the dividing plate

The metal compass is key here. Each ring of dots on the plate is a different number of dots increasing outwards. i took the time to painstakingly count out each of these dot rings and write down the number next to it just so i didn't have to do it again. the metal compass is hard to described over writing, but I will do my best. I marked out the depth of my teeth in a smaller circle on to the gear then placed one side on the edge on the coin and the other straight out from the side of the coin extending the needle into the first hole of the number of the teeth you want to cut. make sure the needle on the coin is parallel with center of the gear so when you mark it the mark comes out as near perpendicular from the center to the edge. tighten the compass so it doesn't move and scratch into the coin your mark then lift the needle from one hole to the next making new marks until you complete everyone. In(fig.7) photo i did not know about keeping it perpendicular and therefore all my marks are noticably curved. By following my suggestions, you will be able to limit that.

pry it of the plate and remove nail and your good to go!

yeahhhhhhh........ so, when cutting the gear, you hold against the edge of a table. Even using a tiny clamp to hold it in place before filing a notch the appropriately marked depth into the gear. It started fine but I apparently miss cut one side and ended up with the whole thing sorta lopsided forcing me to repair the blank with Sauter.

Don't do this.

Sauter is way softer than the coin and when added to the mechanism the screw cut its own tooth onto the gear.

I filed it flat and re-cut it but now it clicks oddly when I turn it.

live and let learn.

the drum is the part of the music box that hold the song basically. it got bumps on out the pluck the comb or harp (will be made later) creating the notes. right now, I'm just fitting it in place. I found the bike tine and jamming it through one side of a piece of pencil and all worked perfectly to make and axis it can rotate with. Repeated it on the other side I made sure that it aligned with the other side and slid the spool onto the pencil piece. from there I needed to make something to support it.

Parts don't just stand up on their own ya got to make something to hold your gears and parts if ya want them to work.

I took a bit of aluminum from the edge of a white board. (you know where ya rest the markers) and managed to adjust it the way I like by repeatedly hot glueing and tearing off the supports until it held in a manner I deemed acceptable. (bit of a note folded and unfolded metal repeatedly creates and weak spot that can be torn so limit how many adjustments you make.) With it I was able to space my supports too hold the spool. I drilled small holes on either side to allow the spool to spend freely. then attached it permanently in place with tiny screws and washers.

Back to the gear. I took out one of the tines and superglued it into the hole then dropped a spacer. you can use a small bead of it works I just so happened to have found a perfect nylon spacer and used that.

the number of times I reglues this to make sure the axis was straight is insane. It's a lot of glueing and ungluing for this one folks.

Anyway, super glue your supports in place slide you spool in, reattach the axis and so the gear is on the outside of the support.

Breaking it down in parts: we got the screw itself, the spacer that keeps it in place, the supports, the crank, and Knob.

making the supports is the same as before only we made the hole bigger for the screw. once that set, we add the crank by sliding it onto the end of the screw. I used random scrap metal from the street for mine. I have no idea what it was originally but now it's a crank. the knob is placed on the other side of the crank. It's a plastic secondhand knob from the aforementioned antique store that I'm not fully certain the origins of. I attached it with a smaller screw. slipping the screw in place in its support I took a bit of metal for the spacer. its from a dollar tree wood chime kit. just 3/4" piece that I crimped at the ed with pliers to keep the screw from unscrewing itself out of place.

the comb/harp is bobby pins. I had actually tested the use of bobby pins for music by making a tiny kalimba using a cat food can and bobby pins. worked great.

ya take the pins and break them apart into two pieces each. you need at least seven halves for a full octave.

I lined up my pins carefully, so they are evenly spaced in the length of my spool and used a piece of upside-down scotch tape to hold them in place.

preparing the mount, I took two, 2 1/2" pieces of wood: (1) 1/2"x1/2" (2) 1/2"x 1"

on the wider bit I carved a channel and embedded a piece of scrap copper wire. I stacked my two pieces of wood on top of each other leaving the side with the copper sticking out and drilled pilot holes for the screws keep them just wider than the spool apart.

now the difficult part.

you want to install the harp with the wood at an angle while the pins are flat against the spool to create notes of different pitches. place. the taped pins in between the wood at a 45-degree angle screw the screws in place and test your sound by placing the base of the harp firmly against furniture and plucking adjusting the pins position till you get the clear sound you want. I used a tuner for this and it was a nightmare. screw firmly and glue in place with wood glue to the base of you music box. let it dry.

I removed the spool and found its circumference. I then took the circumference then cut out a strip of paper the length of the spool and circumference. I marked the paper in spacing of the pins as seen in (fig.2).

I then divided it horizontally into a grid and used that to mark out the notes of my song. I kinda of gave up on a recognizable tune so I just made something that sounded nice at least.

I then tapped the paper in place and drill shallow holes into the marked points where I measure and clipped bits of bike tines and glued them in place. Test fitting of the pieces showed that some bits needed filing, so I got the big file out and repeated test fittings while filing till I was happy with the results. I cut the base board in half at that point and reattached to itself at a 90-degree angle hoping to add some decorations later but that never happened.

one final fitting and there we go! your own music box from scrap.

it won't be the best but it's nice to have and try making.

I learned a lot from this project and hope you did too!