Where can I get bill and coin slots like they have on those self checkout machines in the stores? And how hard whould they be to interface with Arduino?
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G17333
With the arduino, you could easily make a dollar bill sensor. It would be difficult to sense which denomination, though. Actually, maybe easier with that bill assembly, but there is no info on what chips and circuitry is on that board.
Coins, however, could easily be sorted or differentiated. It could be mechanically, like in simple coin sorting machines, with different size holes, or more complex, using ir detectors and emitters for example.
You could ask a coke machine refiller if he knows where they dispose of the old machines, and pick them up from there
If I had know that they are called "case acceptors" and "coin acceptors", I might have been able to find them easier... Thanks, I'll look around... And maybe I'll follow Cr0sh's example and check Goodwill for something...
I found this... Do you htink it would be hack-able?
doubtful as its going to have a LSI chip buried under a blob of epoxy as with any other consumer product
unless you have the tools and patience to read and decipher the original raw signals, and at that point you might as well do it yourself from scratch
(lsi = large scale integration, someone made a board that did the same thing, company paid to have it made into a custom IC)
coin sizes are pretty easy with pot's or encoders and a leaver to convert circumference to leverage, bill's are sorta easy using IR stripes, UV with that little band in the larger bills, or magnetic ink bar code type printing)
your best bet is to hit up some arcade parts shop
A coin operated device I worked with once used 2 criteria to assure validity - first was size, a disc of the right size would fall through the appropriate slot - then it would land on an angled, slotted bar with a counterweight ... too light would roll down the bar to rejection, too heavy would overbalance and fall into reject, correct weight would tilt bar just a little to balance point, trip a heavily filtered optical sensor, and be kicked into the coinbox by a small solenoid.
Old Bell System pay phones used a different method, I think it was based on inertia of a rolling coin, to test the weight.
I have seen some card systems in cafeterias in offices etc where they have coin and note system.
The devices have an LCD, keypad and other button as well so I suspect they have a nice microcontroller and ethernet device in them.
I must have a closer look and find out the make (and perhaps the make of the note counter) when I next see one.
Mowcius
Just happen to see this...
Nifty machine was made for vending machines to accept cash instead of coins. This is a robot builders bonanza. It has 2 DC gearhead motors (which operate from 3VDC up to 24VDC), various belts, wheels, gears, photosensors, even magnetic hall effect sensors we suspect. The acceptor had to distinguish between real cash and counterfeits, and contains sophisticated circuitry and sensors. We don't have any data and they are used so we are selling them "AS IS" only. No power supply or other cables, software, etc. included. Look at the image below to see the incredible amount of neat parts in this item. Size about 10"L x 2 1/2"W x 3 7/8"High. Reg price $19.95
Sale price of $5.00 today.
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G17333