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Exploded View

Sorter
Sorted Container
Slide
Dispenser
Linear Drive/Gantry
Frame

FEATURES

Sorter/Coin Collector

  1. Pennies get poured into a coin hopper

  2. Picked up one-by-one by a coin separator wheel through a DC motor and dropped onto a slide

  3. On the slide, there is a camera (we picked a webcam) to analyze the hue of the penny to sort

  4. Servo motor rotates arm to allow penny to drop into the sorted containers

  • The sorter, after some trial and prototype, was changed, first, into a large slide that would funnel into the slide

  • After some more tests, we changed it to a tall tube that was made from some extra 3D-printed parts that would dispense one at a time

Sorted Container

  1. Scanned pennies from the sorter/collector are stored here after a slide redirects the penny after being scanned

  2. Each penny is dispensed into 1 of 8 (6 in use currently) by shade

  3. Each tube is capable of storing up to 40 pennies, but the optimal amount would be around 20.

  4. A small rack and pinion w/ servo motor is used to push each penny out in order of the image

Slide

  • Used to shuttle the pennies from the sorted container tubes to the dispenser

  • Operates at a 20 degree slant to allow the pennies to slide

  • Grooves were designed into the surface of the slide to reduce friction

  • Slide links were designed to rotate parallel to the base to prevent the slide from curling upwards, which would prevent pennies from sliding down

  • Short links allow for flexibility (Designed for +/- 15 degrees of rotation around the vertical axis)

  • Links allow for adjustability in length (30 ~ 40 links) as they were made with snap fits

Linear Drive

  • Similar to a two-axis CNC router

  • Allows for 19.5" of travel about the coin dispenser in the x and y direction

  • Actuated with two stepper motors (although next time, three stepper motors would be used to allow for more accurate actuation)

  • Timing belts were used on one of the sides (where the stepper motor was located) and linked to the other side so that both sides ran in sync

  1. Moves dispenser to the appropriate location​

  2. Starts from one side and goes across in a line

  3. Goes back to the original position in the line then shifts down and repeats

Dispenser

  1. Slide delivers penny into tube in a queue to prevent over-crowding on the slide

  2. Hot glue is dropped onto the board powered by a gear and motor

  3. Then the penny is pushed with a rack and pinion 

  4. Repeat

  • We switched out the gear with the actual hot glue gun where the servo motor would be linked to the lever with string​

  • However, due to the mess the glue gun provides, for our expo, we resorted to not using hot glue

  • To compensate, we used a felt material to dampen the fall and prevent the penny from shifting too far from postiion

  • A tube was added on the bottom to almost touch the art board to also keep the penny straight

IMG_20171201_170704.jpg

Material

Nylon 12 - DuraForm PA Plastic

For most of our project, we utilized a 3D Systems sPro 60 SLS Printer for most of our designed parts due to one of our team members interning there. As such, we were able to make many detailed and strong parts that otherwise wouldn't be possible with a regular FDM Printer.

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A little on SLS Printers:

  • Uses a powder bed that is heated slightly below the powder's melting temperature

  • Then a laser melts the rest to fuse together

  • Large print bed

  • 1.8 L/hour build speed

  • Allows for large amounts of prints at one time

  • Allows overhangs and more intricate details to be made

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SPECS

  • Density: 1.02 g/cm^3

  • Tensile Strength: 43 MPa

  • Tensile Modulus: 1586 MPa

  • Elongation at Break (%): 14

  • Flexural Strength: 48 MPa

  • Flexural Modulus: 1387 MPa

  • Hardness, Shore D: 73

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