Made this for Jerry of Penny Arcade fame. It's delivered now, so we'll see if he likes it.
I call it a "SeptaCrypt" for lack of a better term. The three primary faces are written in a "language" I invented, or perhaps are encoded, or something. The bottom face holds a key for decryption (hopefully it's not too obvious), and the three tertiary faces are more decorative, with a dedication, the Tryop logo, and a Final Face.
As far as I know, no one has ever figured out the message encoded on the three faces. If you do, let me know.
And, if you're not interested in decoding it yourself, I've written up a step by step Septacrypt decoding guide.
I occasionally do handyman work along with other physical products. If you'd like to commission a custom build, I can help you with that.
My kids helped out for part of it. Teddy was very bad at keeping his goggles on, and he didn't particularly like the earmuffs either. Leah, on the other hand, was great. Sadly, neither of them had very much fun, as milling isn't all that interesting to watch once the novelty has worn off.
I made this Crimping Tool from a T-55 torx drive bit. I machined it to fit over the spheres. Then you strike it with a hammer and the arms peen over the edges so the spheres won't fall out.
Drafting Side One. This is a screenshot of the machining drafting, which was run through an Accurwright on a milling machine.
Drafting Side Two
Drafting Side Three
Drafting Side Four (the bottom)
The nameplate as installed, with the name of the person I made the septacrypt for. On the right, you can see the six-sided peen marks where the spheres have been captured in their sockets. The spheres are still loose in the sockets, so they rattle with a dull clicking sound when the Septa-Crypt is manipulated.
The Finished Side One of the Septa-Crypt.
Finished Top. You can see all three encoded sides from here, if you want to try your hand at decoding them, use the drafting views above.
The decoding key in process on the milling machine.
Nameplate engraving in process on the milling machine.
Please Ring. Sorry guys. I didn't ring the doorbell. I didn't see this until I got home. In my defense, I didn't really think that anyone was there.
Crate Delivered. It made it! All the way on the freeway, under skies threatening rain, to the Penny Arcade offices.
Crate Delivered. We'll see if anyone notices... or cares.
Crate Transport on the back of the motorcycle. Perfectly stenciled. Hooray for access to drafting tools to make custom fonts!
Crate Transport on the back of the motorcycle. Complete with labels and instructions. Hooray for access to a laser cutter to make custom stencils!
Crate Transport on the back of the motorcycle. Tied on tight. Stand back everyone! I'm a professional ratchet strap operator.
