CANDY DISPENSER
Tools and Skills: rapid prototyping, CAD in Fusion 360, 3D printing, laser cutting
Project Brief
Create a 6” x 6 ” x 6” “candy” dispenser device that must store at least 20 artificial candies, dispense one candy per actuation via rotary motion, include a spring with hard stops that is preloaded and subject to a purely linear load, and be operable with one hand. The device must be transparent and assembled using hardware — NO GLUE ALLOWED!!
Challenges
My initial concepts were quite complicated because I wanted to include a lot of different features, and it took many rounds of iteration to pull back my design. Additionally, an unexpected but common issue was the candies getting jammed when moving from storage to the dispenser, so finding a solution that can isolate a singular candy at any given point was crucial.
Results
My main takeaway from this project is that anything can happen in the PRL — things often took much longer than expected, and there was a point where the lab had run out of materials! I learned the importance of extensive planning and prototyping, and while my final product was much simpler than I’d initially hoped, it was extremely satisfying to have a reliable end product.
MECHANISM RESEARCH
I took inspiration from commercial candy dispensers, such as the gumball machine and the PEZ dispenser. I ultimately landed on simplifying the gumball machine dispensing mechanism to a wide-mouthed hopper that would rest above a disk that has a hole small enough to fit one candy and prevent multiple candies from being dispensed upon one actuation.
CONCEPT SKETCHES
As mentioned, my initial concepts were over-complicated with regard to the sheer amount of elements they included and how complex they would be to actually create.
RAPID PROTOYPING
After prototyping some of the elements of my concept sketches out of pink foam and foam core, I realized that this design was much more involved than I thought. I wanted a way to automatically return the candies back to the storage container, but I realized that the mechanisms I came up with to achieve this required the candies to be in precise locations, which was unreliable in the grand scheme of things. However, I thought that the vertical disk dispenser still had potential, which is why I kept it for the next round of prototyping.
This full mechanism prototype was a simplified version of one of my several concepts, but even still it was too complicated. Based on the performance and design of the vertical disk dispenser, I didn’t believe that I could incorporate it into the final design well, let alone ensure its functionality. Also, the overall look of it wasn’t doing it for me — it looked unbalanced with all of the elements on one side of the device, and I was afraid that this would impede its functionality.
CAD ASSEMBLY & EXPLODED VIEW
After further prototyping and testing, I finally landed on an executable design that includes both laser-cut and 3D printed parts. The dispenser mechanism I landed on works very similarly to a gumball machine, but rather than twisting a knob in the front, the user pushes the lever on the right side. I was also able to keep some of the accessories, such as a funnel and a ramp, and I added a removable drawer that collects the candies after they are dispensed.
FINAL PRODUCT
As my first in-person making-at-Stanford experience, this project taught me so much about the design process. It is so gratifying to have a functional end product, and while there are some tweaks I would make to my design if I had the opportunity to do it again, I’m quite happy with the result!
