Coin sorter chute

[BCD11]

A member asked for pictures of my Rube Goldberg coin chute so, in addition to sending them to him, I thought I'd post them on the forum in case anyone else might be looking for chute ideas.

[thripp]

Is that a straight chute? The Ryedale has a curved chute and I wonder if it jams up more because of that. It seems like I have to clean it every 50,000 pennies.

[Madwest]

Looks good B.

I can only imagine that buying and running a Ryedale is quite gratifying.
I can testify that building and running a HomeBrew (aka Rube Goldberg, aka FrankenSorter) is uniquely gratifying.

[BCD11]

Is that a straight chute? The Ryedale has a curved chute and I wonder if it jams up more because of that. It seems like I have to clean it every 50,000 pennies.

Hi thripp,

It is a straight chute coming off the hopper. At the comparitor end the plane of the coin changes to vertical so it can drop straight into the acceptance slot of the comparitor with no "rattle" as madwest once called it.

[BCD11]

Looks good B.

I can testify that building and running a HomeBrew (aka Rube Goldberg, aka FrankenSorter) is uniquely gratifying.

Amen to the gratification madwest! Ain't nothin' quite like seeing a rag tag pile of parts & pieces come together and perform like it should. I'd be remiss however if I didn't give a whole lot of thanks to you and a couple others that helped in a big way get that pile to working like it should.

[Madwest]

Is that a straight chute? The Ryedale has a curved chute and I wonder if it jams up more because of that. It seems like I have to clean it every 50,000 pennies.

Hi thripp,

It is a straight chute coming off the hopper. At the comparitor end the plane of the coin changes to vertical so it can drop straight into the acceptance slot of the comparitor with no "rattle" as madwest once called it.

thripp
The ryedale slide is curved so as to transition the angle from the cube hopper output to the angle of the comparator input. BCD11's chute is so different from the ryedale because of how the coin exits his SGT hopper -vs- how a coin exits the Suzo-Happ cube hopper that the ryedale uses. The SGT hopper is angled from vertical. The Suzo-Happ hopper is angled from horizontal. As a result, the ryedale slide relies on the coin sliding along on its face before going vertical. BCD11's chute relies more on the coin sliding (or even rolling) along in its edge before going vertical. Both are susceptible to gunking up, but the slide (ryedale) approach is less tolerant of the gunking whereas the chute (BCD11) approach can tolerate it a bit more.

Just as BCD11 says, one of the best favors you can do for yourself is to get the coin going as close to vertical as possible for whatever type of chute/slide you come up with. If you can get your coin freefalling straight down, it won't slap around when it goes into the comparator. If your feed rate is very slow, your machine would tolerate the delay that results when that happens. But, if your feed rate is fast, the next coin comes along and you have a clog at the comparator inlet. The clog then results in a jam.

Material selection wise, I really like the hotwheels track because of its chemistry. It is some form of polyethylene (or maybe polypropylene) and therefore inherently non-stick. It will never need dri-slide. It also does not exchange ions with copper as readily as aluminum or the other popular plastics (like abs) and therefore doesn't build up the static charge that can hold dust/grit and deliver annoying zzzaps to you and/or your comparator. Plexiglass is very easy to work with and is fairly non-stick when it is new. Once it gets scratched up, it will need dri-slide or it won't perform well. Acrylic is a bit harder than plexiglass but otherwise will behave very similar. ABS will perform similar to the other clear plastics, but will tend to gather a static charge. Aluminum will perform like the hard plastics (non-stick when smooth or polished, need dri-slide as its shine wears away) but could be one of the worst for building static charge. Plated steel (nickel or chrome plate) would be good when new/smooth but need dri-slide as it wears.

I challenge Andy to come up with a teflon slide for his customers.

[BCD11]

thripp
The ryedale slide is curved so as to transition the angle from the cube hopper output to the angle of the comparator input. BCD11's chute is so different from the ryedale because of how the coin exits his SGT hopper -vs- how a coin exits the Suzo-Happ cube hopper that the ryedale uses. The SGT hopper is angled from vertical. The Suzo-Happ hopper is angled from horizontal. As a result, the ryedale slide relies on the coin sliding along on its face before going vertical. BCD11's chute relies more on the coin sliding (or even rolling) along in its edge before going vertical. Both are susceptible to gunking up, but the slide (ryedale) approach is less tolerant of the gunking whereas the chute (BCD11) approach can tolerate it a bit more.

Just as BCD11 says, one of the best favors you can do for yourself is to get the coin going as close to vertical as possible for whatever type of chute/slide you come up with. If you can get your coin freefalling straight down, it won't slap around when it goes into the comparator. If your feed rate is very slow, your machine would tolerate the delay that results when that happens. But, if your feed rate is fast, the next coin comes along and you have a clog at the comparator inlet. The clog then results in a jam.

Material selection wise, I really like the hotwheels track because of its chemistry. It is some form of polyethylene (or maybe polypropylene) and therefore inherently non-stick. It will never need dri-slide. It also does not exchange ions with copper as readily as aluminum or the other popular plastics (like abs) and therefore doesn't build up the static charge that can hold dust/grit and deliver annoying zzzaps to you and/or your comparator. Plexiglass is very easy to work with and is fairly non-stick when it is new. Once it gets scratched up, it will need dri-slide or it won't perform well. Acrylic is a bit harder than plexiglass but otherwise will behave very similar. ABS will perform similar to the other clear plastics, but will tend to gather a static charge. Aluminum will perform like the hard plastics (non-stick when smooth or polished, need dri-slide as its shine wears away) but could be one of the worst for building static charge. Plated steel (nickel or chrome plate) would be good when new/smooth but need dri-slide as it wears.

I challenge Andy to come up with a teflon slide for his customers.

Damn! Answers to questions I didn't know I had.

You'd better be on your toes if madwest sits down at the keyboard and joins the fray. Once the clacking starts, information falls like snow.

Seriously, listen up if madwest starts sharing. Instead of inching along the learning curve you'll likely bound along, saving time, $$, and AGGRAVATION.

As you can see from the pic my chute needs a cleaning. Fantastik and a paper towel shines it up BUT it doesn't do a thing to the scratches madwest refers to...and I never gave a thought to . I don't think I have a problem with scratches...yet. The chute still handles 300-350 coins per minute BUT just to be on the safe side I am going to start looking around for a piece of Teflon to make another chute. I've wanted to try different materials anyway. Plexi, especially the 468 year old stuff I have, is a tad brittle and cracks easily. Seeing as how madwest mentioned the Hot Wheels track, I might try putting a "liner" of track on the inside of my reserve Plexi chute and letting the coins roll along it instead of the Plexi. I'll then compare the performance, and zzzapability, of the two chutes.

[Madwest]

BCD11, I like that you are still going strong on incrementally improving your sorter. I too often fall into the trap of "it's good enough" and then I stop.

Don't get me wrong, your chute is a good solution. You might find that as it wears, you will need to clean it more often and maybe even end up having to lube it with the dri-slide type product (that's not a bad thing, just a thing). I do think, by its very nature, the chute solution that works with the IGT hopper will always be more forgiving that the slide solution that works with the cube hopper.

[BCD11]

...fall into the trap of "it's good enough" and then I stop.

Been there, done that. After the chute and working on the comparitor internal jam project earlier this year I pretty much just sorted coins and called it good for awhile. I'm getting the itch to work on the old Rube so I'm going to redo the wiring.

I'd like to reduce the number of wall warts that power this gizmo from three to one. Dusting off the info about IC voltage regulators and wiring up a solution is going to be one of my winter projects.

[ScrapMetal]

Nice setup you have. I also use a IGT S2000 hopper, but for my chute I use plastic wall corner guards cut and glued to form the chute. I may need to fine tune the chute orientation to the coin feed on the comparator as I have issues with coin jams at that point. I have used this set up for many thousands of dollars in pennies and really have no complaints.

mysetup.jpg (254.89 KiB) Viewed 771 times

[BCD11]

Nice setup you have. I also use a IGT S2000 hopper, but for my chute I use plastic wall corner guards cut and glued to form the chute. I may need to fine tune the chute orientation to the coin feed on the comparator as I have issues with coin jams at that point. I have used this set up for many thousands of dollars in pennies and really have no complaints.

Good idea ScrapMetal. I would imagine the corner guards are easy to work with. What glue did you use?

As for the chute/comparitor orientation, you might be able to smooth the wrinkle out by taking a heat gun/hair dryer to the bottom part of your chute that mates to the backside of the comparitor acceptance slot. By heating the wide back (part the coin slides on) part of your chute and then bending it vertical, you can get the final path of the coin straight into the comparitor acceptance slot. That bend on my chute completely did away with the jams you speak of. The only time I have a problem now is when two coins are stuck together by gum, glue, etc.

Good looking arrangement!

[ScrapMetal]

I used regular super glue to glue the corner guards. It is very easy to work with. I plan to redo the entire setup and will take your recommendation and give it a try. I can see how the penny hits the slot and hesitates before fallen down the slot. I run about 250 pennies per minute.
I used to get jams internal in the comparator, but have found if I do a quick visual scan of the pennies and remove all the really nasty Lincolns, it has completely eliminated internal jams. The new problem is how to dispose of those nasty Lincolns (average of 50 per bag of 5000) as I doubt the bank counter would even take them.
Being this was version 1 of my setup, and it worked OK, I have not made any improvements. But it needs a complete revamp, and with version 2, it will all be mounted on sturdy wood, have larger coin receptacles, and look a little more presentable.

[BCD11]

...I run about 250 pennies per minute....I used to get jams internal in the comparator...The new problem is how to dispose of those nasty Lincolns (average of 50 per bag of 5000) as I doubt the bank counter would even take them.
Being this was version 1 of my setup, and it worked OK, I have not made any improvements. But it needs a complete revamp, and with version 2, it will all be mounted on sturdy wood, have larger coin receptacles, and look a little more presentable.

I'd say 250/min is good for Ver. 1! I'll bet 300-350/min will be possible once the mods are made.

After I got my chute working the internal comparitor jams reared their ugly head. My problem was a coin getting caught between the rake and backside of the circuit box. Madwest theorized changing the electronics might slow down the rake, letting the coin fall before getting trapped. I wasn't smart enough to follow the electronic alterations but I did came up with a solution that completely did away with the jams. I separated the circuit box from the comparitor and let it hang by the wires. DEFINITELY not elegant but effective.

You might think about running a test on the nasty Lincolns. Count X number of pennies, including the nasties, take them to the bank and have them counted. If the bank count matches, or is at least close, your problem is solved. If it doesn't match give Coinstar a try and take the payment as a grocery certificate, Amazon cert, or one of the other no-fee options.

[hags]

Another chute idea for the S2000..Here's mine in action...

Sorry it's out of focus...I took the video with my cell phone...

hags

[Madwest]

Another chute idea for the S2000..Here's mine in action...

Sorry it's out of focus...I took the video with my cell phone...

hags

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RRlBKg3k56g

Nice. I enjoy watching home-brew sorters producing.
Thanks for sharing.

[BCD11]

Another chute idea for the S2000..Here's mine in action...

Good looking sorter! Nice job on the chute.

Congrats!