Jose Pino's projects & tidbits "Great stuff from someone with an inquisitive mind"
DIY Coin Mechanism for Vending Machine III
'Ladies and Gentlemen, Behold! I present you an improved homemade Coin slot mechanism.' [Great for you MAME project if you don't plan to make a Vending machine] (4/19/2009)
First of all, I own you an apology guys. Somehow I didn't post the photos and instructions about this project. I made it last year and I posted the video on Youtube. So, here are the details how I make my third DIY coin slot mech.
Lots of things were improved with this version: Smaller, able to accept different sizes of coins (adjustable) and can be build using metal, plastic, acrylic, wood or anything available for you (even cardboard but I don't think it will last longer). Taken from http://www.josepino.com I would like to mention: This project was possible thanks to my Honey Bun. She gave me a compound miter saw as gift last christmas and I used it to build this project.
This project was made using just 1/4" plywood, two screws and one coin switch. Tools needed are a compound miter saw, a phillips screwdriver, a ruler and a cutter.
First, I did cut a 6" by 2" piece of plywood (1/4" thick). I glued a thin piece of wood so it can guide the coin.
I did cut an 2 1/2" x 1 1/4" area where rejected coins will fall.
I did cut two additional pieces, it will be used to reject bigger coins than the selected ones.
I will install this piece but it will not be fixed with glue. It will be adjusted to select the size of the coin.
The coin mechanism uses the power of gravity, so I have to cut a 10 degree angle. The slope will make the coin mechanism to work.
Two additional parallel cuts are needed to adjust the size of the coin. Separation of the cuts are about 3/8 but it doesn't really matter.
I drilled two small holes in one side of the additional piece. Separation of the holes needs to be exactly the separation of the two cuts.
As I did mention before, the additional part should not be fixed with glue, two screws will attach it and allow to adjust the size of the coin.
I didn't expected it, but anothe piece of wood is needed to push away bigger coins. After the 'triangle-shaped' piece of wood is glued, now we can measure the size of the coin.
Using two nickels (5 cents) can select the exact size of the coin. Any other coin size will fall and not reach the end of the wood rail.
Here is a photo showing what happen when a quarter is inserted:
Cutting the excess wood...
... and tightening the screws after the size of the coin is selected.
It is almost done, we need just to cut the end of the coin ramp and glue it to the coin slot.
After a while the glue will dry.
Finally, It's done!
Here is how it looks like:
The coin slot have a 15 degree angle. The coin ramp have a 10 degree angle. The square cut will allow smaller coins to fall. Bigger coins will be pushed out. The picture at the right side will show the path of the coin selected.
OOPS! bigger coins doesn't fit. I can leave it like that so no big coins can be accepted but someone pushing harder will break the mechanism.
A small cut will fix it.
Ok, it's done.
A nickel goes flawless to the end of the ramp, the quarter just flips and falls.
The last step is just installing the coin switch at the end, so the coin falling will push it and activate the switch.
This is not a regular switch. A coin switch is quite expensive but it closes a circuit even when with little force is used to push the wire. Opticals switch are not a good idea because dust can cause mal functions.
As you can see, this improved DIY Coin slot mechanism for homemade vending machines is smaller than the previous version, also it uses less room and the size of the coin that will be accepted can be adjusted.
Here is a video that shows how it works:
Thanks to Noe Flores from California for sponsoring this project.
10/04/09 - 08:14:29 Ed from England wrote: Hi do you think you could make one for me and send it to me, I would pay for postage and packaging, if you could please make a comment on how much it would be altogether thanks
10/04/09 - 15:20:40 José Pino wrote: Sorry Ed, I'm currently traveling and I'm not able make one for you. I guess will be cheaper to buy a coin mechanism instead of having a wooden one and pay for the shipping.
10/29/09 - 02:18:26 Andrew from Brisbane wrote: Hi Jose - Would it be possible for you to take this a step further and show how once the coin switch is activated, how the next step electronically would be put together. Thanks
First of all, I own you an apology guys. Somehow I didn't post the photos and instructions about this project. I made it last year and I posted the video on Youtube. So, here are the details how I make my third DIY coin slot mech.
