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Planning
Planning
Challenge: Construct a Distinctive Coin Sorting Device
Overview: You are tasked with designing and building an original coin sorting system that can accurately separate U.S. pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Your solution should demonstrate both technical proficiency and creative thinking, resulting in a device that is unlike existing commercial products.
For this project we partnered up and decided to split the design process for the project to help get different parts of it done. I was responsible for designing and manufacturing the hopper, coin shoots/sorters, and supports.
Displayed to the side is pictures of the design for our project in engineering notebooks consisting of multiple parts and a completed project with general dimensions for a guideline.
Design In SolidWorks
Design In SolidWorks
The second step in designing the coin sorter was to make the drawings and designs become a reality through the solidworks computer aided drafting software. I used measurements calculated with slide calipers and rulers while following along with the required criteria to design my part of the project.
At first I had created the designs in inches which complicated things when trying to transfer files over to RDWorks since it automatically converted to millimeters just not always the right amount. To fix this issue I went back and redesigned all of the sketches in millimeters.
Displayed to the right are some of the screenshots taken of the design in solidworks with dimensions and previews.
Laguna Laser Cutting/RDWorks
Laguna Laser Cutting/RDWorks
The next step of the challenge process was to cut out the cardboard structure to create the coin sorter using the Laguna Laser MX machine. This is a CNC (Computer Numeric Control) device that using a grid system to follow along designs cutting and craving out desired projects.
The RDWorks took a few minutes to remember but proved to be a very simple process after the proper settings were set up meaning all that was left to do is import then save the files.
The laser cutter worked very well to cut out exact measurements with little to know tolerance which is very important for this project.
To the right and below are images and videos displaying the laser cutting process for the supports/walls, and the hopper system.
The laser cutter was used to cut out almost every part of the coin sorter including the hopper, support, sorting, and collection system.
Construction
Construction
To construct the coin sorter, we got together all of the parts and assembled them on a 12//12 cardboard cutout to align with the challenge restrictions, using hot glue to hold together the project. This part of the process also included the motor system soldering and attaching to the project
The images to the right show the project being put together using hot glue and the different parts of the design being integrated.
The motor set up with red and black wires first being stripped before being soldered to the motor using tin and soldering iron to adhere to each other and back to the battery capsule.
The hopper and coin sorting shoots were first glued together to get the proper angles and placements with each other before supports were also glued on raising the project off of the ground.
Problems and Solutions
Problems and Solutions
Problem 1: Not using millimeters to design parts in SolidWorks leading to errors in cutting out the files later on since the RDWorks system automatically converts to millimeters.
Solution: Change units of measurement in SolidWorks to millimeters and convert any measurements taken to the metric system to be better compatible with the provided software.
Problem 2: Coin sorting shoots only had support on one side of the cardboard shoots resulting in every coin falling through the first hole for dimes instead of rolling down to the proper slot.
Solution: Add a minute edge to the other side of the coin sorter shoots to allow the coin to roll down the shoot and fall into the correct hole making sure to compensate for the coin's diameter and thickness.
Problem 3: Small issue but the lase was burning the edges some and taking a really long time to cut out the parts.
Solution: Changed the speed and maximum power numbers to make it go faster electing for multiple runs instead of loss of tolerance.
Problem 4: The biggest problem that we had was that we designed and constructed an entire prototype and realized that it did not function well as coins consistently missed the sorter and resulted in very bad accuracy, also not including some features to assist with the prototypes performance.
Solution: Since we already had a lot of extra parts cut out and files created and saved constructing another prototype wouldn't be too difficult which is what we did adjusting things like the height and space between the hopper and shoots to improve the results of the sorter. One majoring change was not directly gluing each leg to the board and preventing its ability to move instead just using the legs as free supports that can shake freely when the motor is turned on.
Problem 5: Coins continued missing the boxes they were meant to be sorted into.
Solution: Created diagonal slides for the coins to fall down into the proper boxes as well as adding walls in between each section to prevent the coins from sliding past their designated holes and off the end of the sorter.
Problem 6: The nut was very strong and powerful resulting in bouncing coins and obstructed results.
First, we tried a smaller nut that was later catapulted across the entire classroom breaking away from the glue. Finally, we decided to use cardboard instead since it would be lighter and much simpler to attach then a stainless-steel nut. (Best idea since we got 2 100% runs after making the switch)
Final Product
Final Product
The final product after testing is displyed to the right showing a gif of the coins being sorted into the sorting slots moving along with the vibrations of the motor.
Two test resulted in 100% accuracy during testing with 10 coins but not always consistent
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