Cardboard Vending Machine

I always seem to have an abundance of cardboard around my house, so I was inspired by the cardboard challenge to make something functional with it. Follow along for directions to make your very own, functional cardboard vending machine- the perfect addition to any movie night!

For this project, you'll need:

• Cardboard! Any kind will do, but try to find some that has some nice flat sides.
• Hot glue and glue gun
• Wooden dowels
• Small rubber bands
• Thick floral wire
• Scissors
• Exacto knife
• Round pliers
• Candy, preferably in a box
• Velcro dots and strips
• Small scrap of fabric

If you can find a small box for this step, that is ideal. You could also construct a small box from cardboard. You'll want the front and top open, so cut away those sides.

My box was 27 cm (width) x 21 cm (height) x 19 cm (depth). Measure your box and note the measurements. You'll use them to measure all the remaining cardboard pieces for this project.

Prepare the pieces of the containers

• Sides x 2- Box depth x about 1/3 box height
• Back- 1/3 box width x same height as the sides
• Rails x 4- Box depth x about 1 cm
• Front (not pictured) - Same dimensions as the back, but about 2 cm shorter in height

Cut 3 sets of these pieces. Throughout the rest of the steps for assembling the containers, repeat instructions for each one, so you end up with three identical containers at the end.

Glue the rails to the side pieces as shown. One should be flush with the bottom edge and the other should be leave about a cm of space between it and the first rail.

Glue the sides onto the back as shown.

Cut a piece of cardboard about 1 cm narrower than the container's width (e.g. my container was 9 cm and this piece was 8 cm) x about 2/3 the depth of the container.

Test fit it by sliding it into the rails. Mark where the hole will be cut. When the slide is all the way to the front, the whole should only be in the front 1/3 of the container and when it's all the way in the back, the whole should be centered.

Cut out the hole with an Exacto knife. Use this piece as a pattern to make two more identical pieces.

Cut a small piece of the floral wire, about 2 cm long.

Next to the hole in the slide, pike the wire into the cardboard and hot glue lightly in place. Hot glue the dowel next to it as shown.

These pieces will take the most strain once it's functioning, so I also covered both with more hot glue. Make sure to leave a little of the wire free from hot glue, though.

Slide the whole piece into the rails with the wire and dowel facing down.

Attach the front with hot glue, leaving space for the dowel to move freely beneath it.

Cut two more pieces of wire, about 4-5 cm long. Add a little hot glue to the end and slide it into the holes in the cardboard.

Using your pliers, gently bend the three pieces of wire in a curve away from the others, as shown.

Hook a rubber band around the three wire pieces.

Cut two pieces about the same size as the back piece of the containers. Wedge into the box as shown (you may need to trim a little off). You want it to fit snuggly without warping the shape of the box. Arrange them so that without the button pressed, the hole in the slide is not visible, and with it pressed, the hole is centered.

Hot glue into place, being careful not to get any glue on the slide.

Hot glue all three containers into your main box. They should be at the top of the box.

Cut a piece that is about 3 cm longer than the depth of your box. I made my taper from about the width of the container down to about 3cm.

Cut two side pieces the same length and about 2 cm high.

You could measure the back piece. I just stuck on a scrap piece and cut off the extra.

Glue the sides and back to the bottom of the dispenser.

Test fit in place under the container to determine how high the legs should be. You want the back to touch the bottom of the container and the front to be low enough that your candy will roll down the decline.

Cut legs and glue in place.

Glue all three dispensers in place below the containers.

It is important to test everything at this stage, as you won't be able to correct anything once the front is in place. Put a couple of pieces of candy in each container and press the button to make sure it dispenses correctly.

In my test, I discovered that my smallest candy was fitting through the slide even when it was closed. I corrected this by gluing small strips of cardboard closer to the slide as pictured.

Cut a piece of cardboard to match the height and width of your box. Lay it in front of the box. Cut out the holes for the dispensers and poke a small hole for each dowel.

Carefully push the dowels and dispensers through the holes.

Hot glue the front in place.

Trim the dowels so that they still stick out even when the button is fully pressed.

I found a piece of cardboard without the paper on one side and cut a small strip of it to wrap around each dowel. If you can't find a material like that, you could just cut a round button and glue it to the front of each dowel.

You'll want the top to close, but be removable. Cut a piece of cardboard that is the width and depth of your box.

Cut two pieces of scrap fabric into rectangles. Hot glue to the top as shown and glue onto the top of the box so that the fabric acts as a hinge. You'll want the hinge on the front side of the box.

Stick a piece of Velcro to the other side of the box. I put another small rectangle of cardboard on top of this so it wasn't sticky. Cut a piece of Velcro to attach to the main body of the box. This will form a little clasp you can use to keep the top securely closed.

Pour your candy in the three containers. Be gentle as you do this, especially with small candy pieces.

Cut out the label from the candy box. You could just glue this directly to the box, but I wanted the option to change it out later. So, I used small Velcro dots on the back of each label and the box to make them removable.

Push the button and enjoy a well-earned reward for your hard work!