Music Box "He's a Pirate", a 3D-printed music box
Photo: Matthias via Printables, CC BY-NC. Resized and converted to WebP.
Mechanical · Music box

Music Box "He's a Pirate"

A hand-crank printed music box that plays the opening of 'He's a Pirate'

Designed by Matthias, published on Printables

CC BY-NC No commercial use Build info 5/5

Licence verified on Printables, 20 October 2026.

Plays
The start of 'He's a Pirate'
Material
PLA, 0.3 mm layers
Springs
Printed, inserted during a print pause
Supports
Crank handle and roller only
Difficulty
Easy to medium
On Printables
579 likes · 1,596 downloads · 1 makes · 10 comments (as of 20 Oct 2026)

About the He's a Pirate music box

A fully printed hand-crank music box that plays the beginning of the film theme 'He's a Pirate'. The designer printed everything in PLA on a Prusa MK3S at 0.3 mm layers. Finer layers look better. In the video he says he cranked a bit fast, and that it sounds better at 0.75× speed.

The crank handle and the roller need supports. Print the handle with its movable knob facing up and no support in its hexagon opening, and the roller with its gear wheel nearest the bed. Use 4 outer perimeters for the springs to make them stronger. Insert the springs during a pause while the main body prints. Then press the roller into its openings, gently, because its holders can break, and fit the small gear and the crank.

What you'll need

Printed parts

  • Main body
  • Springs
  • Roller with gear
  • Small gear and crank handle

Bought parts

  • Nothing

Tools

  • A slicer that can pause mid-print

Build overview

  1. Print the springs. Print them with 4 perimeters.
  2. Print the body. Pause at the right layer to insert the springs, then resume.
  3. Print the roller and crank. Supports on, roller gear down, knob up.
  4. Assemble. Press in the roller gently, then fit the small gear and crank.

Video

Play video: He's a Pirate music box (loads YouTube)
He's a Pirate music box, Matthias Jäger (the designer). Plays from youtube-nocookie.com after you click.

Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play. Video thumbnails are © their creators.

Photos

All photos: Matthias, from the design page on Printables, licensed CC BY-NC. We resized them and converted them to WebP.

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