Out of This World! Astronaut Gumball Machine

There is an easy and simple way to construct a gumball machine out of completely recyclable materials.

Wood, Card board, 3-D printer/filament, Fish bowl, Hamster tubing, Food safe plastic, Water Jug, Old Gumball machine mechanisms (can be 3-D printed), Plastic cups, Hot glue, Tissue paper, Expanding foam, Newspaper, Modge podge, spray paint, paint, screws, Gumball's

We made a smaller version of the base so that we would be able to see how it could be built without wasting materials. Once we had a design that we liked we were ready to cut the real base.

We cut out 2 pieces of wood in the shape of a 2-D rocket ship (40" tall) that were able to be friction fitted together in order for it to become a 3-D stand. To make it look more like a rocket ship it we put little fins on either side of the stand. To have a base for the actual machine to sit on we cut a wood circle to place on top of the already made stand and screwed in in place. (Optional) For decoration we used expanding foam to form the round shape of the rocket. We put paper mache on the foam and then painted it to look like a rocket ship.

We sketched out the plan that we had for the actual astronaut. The dimensions are not correct because we didn't know we would have a base.

Using this water jug we cut off the very top and the very bottom so we would have a cylinder (about 15" tall). To create an opening for the coins we cut the handle off and a hole where the jug is indented. We put the top that we cut off of the jug back inside the now cylinder upside down. We placed it right above the coin hole acting as a coin funnel. We placed the bottom that we cut off on the top of the jug upside-down (not technically necessary) and cut a hole in it to fit the gumball machine mechanism (every mechanism is different) and place it in the hole. In line with the mechanism on the top we cut a hole for the crank right in front of it. That is the shell of the body.

It is more fun when gumball machines have a creative delivery method, so the gumball's are going to come out of the palm of the astronauts hand. To do that we used hamster tubing and hot glued it to the hole on the gumball mechanism where they are dispensed inside the machine. We angled the tubing to the right inside edge of the cylinder right above where the coin funnel is. There we cut a hole so there was a passage way from the inside of the machine to the outside. We attached another tube that kinda looked like an elbow joint at the hole and angled it slightly toward to ground so that gravity would do the work (That being the arm). Obviously there needs to be something to catch the gumball and deliver it to the customer, so we took food safe plastic and cut it into the shape of a hand. Then using a heat gun we molded the plastic so that the hand was cupped and able to catch a gumball effectively. We put more elbow joint hamster tubing on the other side so the astronaut had 2 arms. We also cut out another food safe plastic hand to put on that arm. You can position the arm however you would like on the other side since nothing is coming out of it. We made the astronaut waving.

For the feet and the head we used plastic cups (can be any plastic cup) and a plastic fish bowl. We hot glued the feet on (they can be put wherever you feel like they should go). We had to drill a hole in the side of the fish bowls head to have a place to put the gumball's in. We covered said hole with a little card board earmuff which is just a little circle and long rectangle that has the length of the circumference of the circle. We had to lock the gumball's in so nobody stole them. To do that we designed a lock and key mechanism on onshape and 3-D printed it. We cut out a smaller circle and put the lock on that so when you unlock it you can just remove that circle and then put it back. We made the same size earmuff so the astronaut would have two ears.

The last thing we need to do is cover the huge hole in the back. So we made a little astronaut oxygen backpack out of cardboard similar to how we made the earmuffs but bigger and more rectangular. On the back of the backpack there needs to be a little door. We attached the same lock and key mechanism that we used for the earmuffs on the back door. And then to catch the coins we put a hamster lookout tower inside the machine.

Final step!!!! At this point we should have an astronaut and a stand but now we are going to put it together. Just simply glue or screw the little guy onto the stand. You can decorate him however you like with paint and spray paint. We added a little touch of tissue paper at the bottom to look like the spaceship was on fire.