The Coin Slide Operated Jelly Bean Machine

myminifactory

This all started as a simple project to test out printing some worm gears. I began designing a basic framework to hold the gears so I could test them and just happened to be snacking on jelly beans, thinking "I should make a jelly bean dispenser out of these."... then about halfway through it I thought "man this should be coin operated like some of those other 3D printed candy machines".... then "Maybe it should be different though" so I decided to design and incorporate a coin slide operated mechanism... well after all that this snowballed into the "The Coin Slide Operated Jelly Bean Machine." I designed this and printed this over two years ago, so I don't exactly remember much of my thought process while designing it; I just know I kept adding to the design as I went, so I'm sure there were many easier ways to accomplish things. (There are some design flaws.) Anyway.... This probably isn't for the faint of heart and I doubt anyone is crazy enough to try printing this but I still thought I'd post it because someone might be able to use parts of it (the coin slide mechanism?) or maybe at least get ideas from it. The whole thing was designed to work with a 40 oz jar from Gimbals Fine Candies Gourmet Jelly Beans. that I found on Amazon. If you're crazy enough to try printing one of these, there are some more diagrams here and I tried to do some quick assembly instructions below but you'll have to figure out some things on your own especially things like sourcing the correct springs. You will also need to turn the base upside down to screw on the jar full of delicious jelly beans. To keep people honest.... The Coin_Box can be secured with a 4-40 x 1/4" Flat head screw and the Jar Lock can be secured with a 4-40 x 1/2" button head screw and nut. Here's how to assemble it: First, place a quarter into the coin slide and push it all the way forward to retract the gear stop. Next, insert the coin slide assembly into the base and align the holes, securing with (2) 6-32 x 1/2" flat head screws. Then, pull the coil slide out, turn the handle until it locks in place. If it does not lock, you need to remove the coin slide assembly and adjust the screw in the top of the gear stop. Repeat this process until you find the sweet spot that will lock the handle. NEVER FORCE THE HANDLE ONCE IT LOCKS. After retesting the operation a few times to make sure everything is working correctly, you can super glue the door hinge to the base and attach the door flap with a pin made out of something like a sewing pin. To add a 3-piece handle so the handle part will actually spin, use a 4/40 socket head screw to assemble.