xTool P2S · 3mm ply · finger-jointed

Hexagonal Dice Box

Six walls finger-jointed to a hexagonal floor, a glued stack of insert layers that makes seven hexagonal pockets for a polyhedral set, and a lid that drops into the top and is held by small neodymium discs.

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box inserts lid magnets, drawn 2½× size
The cut file

One sheet, every part

Hexagonal dice box 1 user unit = 1mm. Hexagonal dice box, every part on one sheet: floor, six walls, 6 insert layers, lid and lid plug. 3mm ply, drawn for a 0.13mm kerf (--kerf= recuts at another). Engrave first: blue #0000ff is a fill engrave, the magnet indents, 2.2mm across and 1.1mm deep for 2x1mm discs; set the depth on scrap. Then orange #ff8000 cuts the pockets and black #000000 frees the parts.
Blue, fill engrave, first. The magnet indents, . Set power and passes on scrap until a disc sits just below the face.
Orange, cut, second. The seven pockets in each insert layer and the plug.
Black, cut, last. Frees every part. The file is drawn for a  mm kerf; recut with --kerf= if the joints come out loose or tight.
Assembly

Build it in this order

  1. Dry-fit the box. Press the six walls into the floor, plain edge up. Every wall is the same part. Where two walls meet, one wall's fingers stop short and leave a small V outside the corner; that is how the 120° joint closes.
  2. Glue and seal the box. Wood glue in the finger joints, then a coat of shellac, which fills the corner Vs and the hairline groove inside each corner.
  3. Glue the insert stack. Glue the plain layers into the box one at a time, pockets lined up. A die or a hex offcut pushed through each pocket keeps them in register. Glue the layer with indents last, indents facing up. It ends 3 mm below the wall tops.
  4. Glue the plug under the lid. Plain face to the lid, indents facing down, with the pockets centred on the lid.
  5. Set the box magnets. A drop of CA glue in each indent of the top insert, then a disc, every disc with the same pole up. Check each one against a test magnet before the glue grabs.
  6. Set the lid magnets on the box magnets. Stand a second disc on each box magnet, where it will cling the right way round. Put a drop of CA on top of each, lower the lid straight in, and leave it to set. Every lid disc then lands in its indent with the right pole down, and the lid closes in any of its six turns.