Made a few ciphers out of cherry for my grandsons.
Detent is 3D printed. Cipher code is randomized. Finished with Danish Oil.
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Nice looking.
Call me dumb today. I understand how cyphers work, but I don’t get how this one works, especially the lowercase letters.
What is the black areas and the 3rd part?
Can you explain more?
Thanks,
Pony
The simple version goes as follows:
Choose a number between 1 and 26. This number is the key. The order of these numbers has been randomized to make it more difficult to decipher for someone without the wheel.
To decipher a message, you first dial the smaller disk until the key number appears in the window.
Now translate the message substituting each letter using the letter it lines up with on the cipher wheel. You can go from inside out, or outside in.
The black arc under the YZAB is 3D printed and has a bump on it. There is a cavity behind it so it will flex to allow the upper disk to rotate. When the bump lines up with a dimple on the back side of the smaller disk then it will stay in place.
The more complicated use of the cipher is to create a key containing several digits. You get to decide how this is done. For example, the first two digits might indicate the starting location, the second digit could indicate how many characters you translate before rotating the disk to a different location. The third digit might indicate how many detents to rotate when you switch, and the fourth digit might indicate which direction you rotate the disk. You can make up a scheme as complicated as you like. You just need to make sure the person receiving your coded messages knows how to interpret the key so they can decipher the message.
Hopefully this clarifies things for you.
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