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The Ballerina Music, a 3D-printed music box
Image: dekel via MakerWorld. Resized and converted to WebP.
Mechanical · Music box

The Ballerina Music

A hand-cranked, fully printed music box that plays 32 bars of Swan Lake

Designed by dekel, published on MakerWorld

MakerWorld Exclusive License No commercial use Build info 5/5

Licence verified on MakerWorld, 20 October 2026.

Get the files on MakerWorld ↗ Watch the video
Tune
32 bars of Swan Lake, custom arranged
Mechanism
Hand crank; no motors and no metal
Options
Basic mechanism alone, or the full box with amplifier base, cover and dancer
Difficulty
Medium; the dancer needs painted supports
On MakerWorld
82 likes · 111 downloads · 45 prints · 2 comments (as of 20 Oct 2026)

About the Ballerina Music Box

A music box with no metal comb and no motor. Everything that makes the sound is printed. Turn the handle at a steady tempo and pegs on a printed melody ring pluck a circular printed comb, playing a 32-bar arrangement of Swan Lake, while a ballerina spins on top. The designer credits the Musical Fidget Generator for the note-sizing approach and adapted it into a circular comb.

The melody ring is designed to be swapped, and the designer mentions plans for more tunes and a customisable CAD file, but check the page to see whether those have appeared. The spinning rod on top is a plain 8 mm square, so any figure with a matching hole (plus 0.1 to 0.2 mm of clearance) can stand in for the dancer. The supplied ballerina is a reworked remix of an existing ballet-girl model, given fuzzy-skin texture and a copper-and-black filament combination.

There are two ways to build it. The basic version is just the mechanism and melody ring; hold it against a wooden box or table to make it louder. The full version adds a screw-on amplifier box underneath, a cover over the mechanism and the dancer. An assembly video is linked below.

What you'll need

Printed parts

  • 'Basic box mechanism' plate
  • 'Melody circle' plate
  • Optional: amplifier box, top cover and the ballerina

Bought parts

  • Nothing

Tools

  • A printer and slicer that can use the supplied MakerWorld print profile

Build overview

Print settings

  • Profile: Use the designer's MakerWorld profile
  • Infill: Minimal; it carries no real load
  • Melody circle: Regular PLA; 0.1 mm tolerance makes a snug fit
  • Dancer: Hand-painted supports under the right arm are critical

Video

Play video: Assembly instructions (loads YouTube)
Assembly instructions, dekel abeles (the designer). Plays from youtube-nocookie.com after you click.

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

Photos

More of the designer's photos are on MakerWorld. See them on MakerWorld ↗

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