Father with a open checkbook and 2 weeks to purchase and build a candy despenser for my daughter (9yr) to take to class for valentines day.
Requirements box to receive candy/valentines cards and someway to despense candy/cards. Many if not all are doing a split shoebox design with a pull out tray for despensing and a slot for receiving.
i want a slot to put candy/cards into with a trigger on the slot.
when triggered i want a card (think business card sized) to dispense halfway out of box for manual retrieval and a peice of candy to drop out into a tray for manual retrieval.
bonus features a small led sign to show happy v-day and a button to override the slot trigger to perform demonstration dispensing.
Ill handle coding, timing, purchasing, physical box construction... but i have no clue which arduino, triggers, motors, and led screen or buttons to buy that will marry well together.
i can follow other guides and sample code for a step motor and brush system to push one peice of candy at a time to the tray...
but what do i do for the single card ejection system to push a card out of a stack? ill position the box so the card sits on its slots ledge to hold the card after ones push out from under the stack?
Thanks for suggestions! I will have the box built for this by end of next week so electronic or not shes ready... that gives me a week to figure out some code and timings.
It sounds like a fun idea but I would not dispense candy unless it is wrapped and designed to be dispensed. If somebody gets sick you open yourself up to a lot of problems. Maybe dispense a coin or something so they can go buy a piece of candy.
We are not a free design service, make an attempt at how you will build it . Then post your prototype schematic showing all of the hardware items and connections including power. Post links to technical information on the hardware devices. That will give us a start. What controller are you planning on using. What will the specifications of the power source be. This will save about 8 rounds of guessing.
I entered this simple phrase on google and got thousands of hits, apparently you did not try looking for anything. You might try it also: "how to build a vending machine" DIY Vending Machine - Arduino based Mechatronics Project - YouTube. I also tried " Hardware recomendation for candy dispenser" and also got thousands of hits. There I just found thousands of possibilities in two minutes, it is now up to you to pick one.
I had looked at a few of those and opted to ask for a recomendation in hopes of a specific kit vs general overview of a project. However, you are absolutly right... and I should start there. I was hoping for a quick and easy solution
