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Hahahaha I like where my imagination went reading that. Yes, it should be possible. Heat expansion/contraction of joints/parts can be compensated for. Although, if it's important to you and you would like a very tight seal when closed you'll have to get creative (tiny leaks around each overlapping leaf and it's pivot). Keep in mind that the smaller the leaves of your design and the smaller of a space you'd like them to compress/pile in, the more flexible they'll have to be. Each leaf subtly twists when the box is in the closed position.

After going through the process I can affirm there isn't much information out there. Just have to go for it. Took quite a bit of chicken scratch. If there's anything you'd like to know just ask and I'll do my best to answer.

Thank you! The box was made for and given away as a wedding gift. If I want one now I'll have to make another.

Appreciate the feedback; thank you. I do quite like Kliktronic's implemention. Certainly worth looking into for others considering.

Thank you Tom! Tangent: I had forgotten for a while but seeing your Nottingham footage once again ignites my drone interest (I was eyeing the Mavic Pro before it was available to consumers). Copper or brass were my first choices but ultimately chose stainless for a few key reasons. Copper will patina well and adds good character. If not a box, what is it you plan on making? For the answer to your question I'll refer you to my brief discussion with 'Scott Ismail' below (search the comments for his name).

Hi Caspar, Thanks, I have a fair bit more on my instagram page @tom_flavin the mavic pro is fantastic! I have since made the aperture using copper and used contact adhesive which has worked well! This piece was made to demonstrate a concept, my girlfriend is studying interior architecture and for her final project will be creating a building with a circular. She wanted a roof that would be able to allow different amounts of natural light in. Therefore i built this that she could add to her model to demonstrate the concept. It came out very well! Thanks again for your help, Tom

You'll have to look into my old comments for more details, but it was a 12VDC centre tap (bi-directional / 2-way) solenoid. The [solenoid] coil is tapped at 3 points: both ends (+, +) and the centre (-), thus actuation direction is determined by which of the ends is energized.

Thank you Scott. It certainly is a bug as it's easy to over-compliate, but personally gratifying in a way I think only the maker/DIY community can relate. The leaf-to-dowel joint is the weakest link of this revision. I actually found dollar store superglue to be stronger than the two epoxies (don't recall their names, some permatex brand and another) I tried (sanded the contact area of the stainless prior), but even so I wouldn't do it again. I'd strongly prefer more of a mechanical bond, even a low [head] profile pin through the bottom (if you drive the head deeper than the surface of the stainless?). Issue is if you don't put stops at the start/end of rotation like I did (the dowel slot lengths) than any excess force by the user is put on the adhesive joint, and even so, given wood movement, something may momentarily bind. Yellowheart likes to split / move / tear-out, Padauk is beautiful but has its own characteristics. I used fusion 360 to model the box: it allowed me to simulate and find a balance between # of leafs / lid height, minimum eyelet/iris diameter, and outer wall thickness / leaf width). The more leafs the thinner your walls can be. I find Adobe Illustrator and Vectric Aspire significantly easier than Fusion 360 for 2D/SVG creation/manipulation, but Fusion360 wins hands down for 3D/CAM. I personally hated the learning curve for modeling in Fusion 360, went back and forth for almost half a year and it still feels unnatural at times, but I'm glad I did because the pros outweight the cons. My workflow sometimes jumps between the three depending what I'm controlling. Mind you I consider myself a trial-n-error hobbyist. On another note, I really do dig your "Ike's Gamble" upload.

Casper - Thanks very much for your detailed response - it was very helpful! It seems like I keep seeing Fusion 360 pop up recently. I will have to check it out. I think your mechanical bond idea makes a lot more sense as I was worried the stresses on such a small contact point would eventually wear out that chemical bond. In any event, I love the build, and I hope to pull off something that looks just half as nice.....and thanks for the compliment on my rifle case - it's definitely one of my favorite projects so far. On to new challenges - like this iris!

I've seen people use bananas, but I had some thin copper sheet which I ran a wire to from the dedicated IC (see description). Alternatively many microcontrollers today can be purchased with this functionality built in.

Thank you Paul. Certainly could have made it easier on myself, but where's the fun in that haha

Keeping it simple, knowing my tolerances, and given my tools/workspace: 1) print one leaf to scale on a sheet of paper 2) place clear packing tape on either side of the page to reinforce it 3) cut the leaf out 4) trace the paper leaf on the steel stock with a sharpie 5) repeat 16x 6) rough cut each each leaf from the sheet 7) use an oscillating spindle sander to refine the edges. Total time (from recollection): 5 hours. - I used a pair of snips (Stanley 14-556, available at Home Depot) to rough cut the leaves from the 0.008" thick 304 stainless shim stock (from McMaster-Carr). It was a fair forearm workout and I wouldn't do anything thicker than 0.010" with these snips for curved cuts. Having worked quite a bit outside I didn't wear hand protection, but you'll want to with such sharp thin material. - When using the spindle sander quite a bit of heat would build up in the steel as it's a slow subtractive process by abrasion. You'll notice the steel wears the sanding sleeve significantly quicker if you allow the steel edge to heat up and 'discolour'. Between what I had on hand (50, 120, 240 grit) I used 120 grit 3" diameter sanding sleeves (meant for wood, I don't recall their material but it's the standard red sleeves available 'everywhere') and went through 5 sleeves. The finished edge is still quite sharp (cornered) so gently pass every edge over the spindle sander at an angle to round it over. This is certainly not the best way but as is the DIY way. Safety glasses are a must. - I chose 0.008" as it intuitively had the balance between flexibility and rigidity I thought would work. Doing it again I feel 0.006" would be fine but would have to go through some samples if I wanted to go any thinner. An attractive alternative would be copper 'foil' but I chose stainless as I didn't want anyone's hands to have a metal smell after handling it. If you go with copper/brass/other consider applying a clear coat or film of sorts and compensate with increased thickness for any loss in rigidity from these softer metals.