Craft Your Own Desktop-Sized Cardboard Vending Machine With an Arduino

Craft Your Own Mini Vending Machine Out Of Cardboard!

Hey there! I'm a High School student in the UK, currently in year 11. I'm excited to share with you my latest creation - a delightful mini vending machine made entirely from paper materials combined with electronics and microcontrollers.

The wonder of paper comes alive as we explore the materials used: sturdy cardboard, colored paper, and printed paper stickers. But this isn't just any vending machine - it's a desktop-sized marvel powered by the ultimate Arduino microcontroller. Yes, you read that right - this paper creation works just like a real vending machine!

With room for up to four snacks (and the potential for more with a little modification), this mini vending machine is perfect for room decoration and definitely attracts lots of attention. Held using simple materials like potato starch glue, silicone glue, electrical tape, and duct tape, it's both functional and appealing.

So whether you're a student, a hobbyist, or simply someone with an interest for cardboard machines and electronics, give this mini vending machine a try. It's a delightful blend of creativity, functionality, and fun.

Feel free to customize your mini vending machine, experiment with colors, and share your own instructable. Happy crafting!

For your custom vending machine, you will need the following supplies listed:

• Cardboard (preferably 2mm thick with rigid structure, even better if recycled!)
• Card (any colour whatsoever, it's up to you what colour scheme you choose)
• Paper (ordinary paper and whichever colour you wish, i went with black)
• Arduino
• Electronic components: RFID, LCD, RGB LED, membrane keypad, female and male connector wires, breadboard, Arduino download cable, Arduino plug (to power vending machine), 4 LEDS (I used 2 blue and 2 orange), and finally 4 dc motors and motor drivers or transistors (although, I definitely recommend you use 360 degree servos instead for better torque and control or stepper motors with their own drivers)
• Scissors
• Cardboard knife
• Pen, pencil, ruler, etc...
• Silicone glue or hot glue gun
• Glue stick
• Electrical tape and duct tape (those will cover the front so choose your colour wisely)
• Plastic sheet (can be from a folder or packaging it doesn't need to be thick, it is just used as the front 'glass' on the vending machine).
• Spare screws lying around
• Small hinge for the back door
• Thin metal wire
• Double sided foam tape

These are all the materials I used, but i definitely recommend you use whatever you have lying around and if you wish to add more sensors or snack dispensers then certainly feel free!

This step involves utilising 3d software to create an idea of what your vending machine will look like. I decided to include 2 rows and 2 columns of snacks since that is the optimal amount for me and it is just the right size. When you create your vending machine always keep in mind the following:

• How many snacks/items you wish to include
• What sorts of electronics are available to you
• How big you want your mini vending machine to be (I wanted mine to sit on top of my drawer cabinet)
• How much cardboard you have available
• What sorts of electronics you wish to incorporate

I have included my CAD file but I strongly recommend you create your own adapted to you since it will be much more fun and interesting to go through the process. Also I advise you look double check the dimensions of your electronics since you will need precise measurements. Furthermore, you can use my file and work from it or customise it to your needs. Feel free to add more rows and columns!

In this step, I managed to lay all of the parts flat in order to visualise how much cardboard I will be using and try to be as resourceful as possible. You can use the following steps to arrange your parts flat:

1. Save your file.
2. In the top menu under modify select arrange from the drop down menus.
3. After that, you can select your vending machine parts (make sure they are all separate components) and lay them flat on a specified grid.
4. Then use inspect tool to determine measurements.

However, do note that some parts wont lay flat such as curved parts for the snack dispenser. Those parts will need to be measured separately. I strongly recommend watching a video on how to use the arrange tool if you are still confused.

This step involved using scissors and cutting knives so please be careful and ask an adult to help you if you are a child. Here are the steps to cut your minifridge parts out:

• View the CAD flat pack you made earlier and determine the correct measurements (alternatively you could create a DXF file and print it out and stick it onto your cardboard to be even more precise).
• Then, use a ruler to measure the size of your parts and sketch with a pen the shapes.
• Use scissors or a cardboard knife to cut out the part ( I recommend placing a cutting board underneath your cardboard even though I didn't do so).
• For the curved parts, use your ruler to bend the parts into shape.

Once you cut out all of your vending machine parts, it is time to cut out paper of the same sizes which will be used to cover the parts. You may wish to cut out 2 paper parts for either size of the cardboard.

Now gather your tape and glue and get ready for the next step.

This is quite a lengthy step so be careful and double check everything. In this step you need to assemble your vending machine using glue and tape, then assemble the snack dispensing modules, and finally start placing the electronic components into the correct places.

Vending machine assembly:

1. Get the necessary parts for the vending machine.
2. Using a glue stick, apply the paper parts onto the cardboard parts.
3. Then stick together the cardboard parts using a hot glue gun or silicone glue. Make sure you wait for long enough to allow the glue to dry.
4. Once done, apply duct tape and electrical tape onto the vending machine as you wish. I went for a white and black design with white duct tape and black paper on the sides and inside to keep the design simplistic and aesthetic.
5. Finally, do not stick the front transparent plastic on yet, do it once everything else is placed since it will be easier to place the snack dispensers in with an open front.
6. Attach hinges to the inside, I made mine using portrait hangers and some screws but I suggest you use proper hinges just for structural integrity.
7. Now you can attach your back door to the vending machine. You may wish to attach magnets on the inside of the door which will hold it in place when closed.

Snack dispenser assembly:

1. Start by assembling the parts of the snack dispenser together and cover them with paper of your choice to make them look nice and finished.
2. Then, carefully cut out a circle out of cardboard and cover with paper. The circle should be just small enough to fit in the snack dispenser assembly.
3. Once done, create a small hole in the disk and using hot glue, glue it to the pinion gear of the dc motor, or servo.
4. The using a water bottle, wrap the metal wire around it to form it into a spiral and cut it with the scissors or a pair of pliers.
5. Use hot glue to attach the wire to the disk.
6. Finally, hote glue the motor/servo to the snack dispensing box. Use some paper and glue to make the top curved and look nice. Your final product should look like the third picture in my slides.
7. Repeat this process for however many snack dispensing units you need and then insert them into their locations as shown in image 13.

Attaching electronics:

1. Attach the LCD display to the front of the machine with hot glue.
2. Carefully wire the membrane keyboard through the front hole, if you don't have a hole, poke one with scissors. Then stick the keyboard onto the front.
3. Then carefully poke a hole in the dispensing area and insert an RGB LED which will be used to indicate the status of your order.
4. Attach the RFID module using double sided foam tape to the inside of the vending machine.
5. Attach the led lights and wire them in each snack unit as shown in image 12.
6. Finally wire all of your motors and LEDs down the centre of the back of the vending machine and tuck them away to hide them.

Obviously these steps are a bit vague, but I hope you get the idea. The main goal in this step is to have fully built your vending machine and to have inserted the vital electronic components.

This step is quite simple for programmers but certianly not for the engineers! Firstly you need to plug in all the wires from your sensors and electronics ro your arduino board. Secondly, program your vending machine and test all the parts to make sure they work. I know programming is not for everyone so i did include my code that i used. I am not a programmer myself so please excuse the terrible mistakes i have made if you see any. I strongly recommend using AI tools in this step to speed up your programming and help you along with watching some tutorials on arduink sensors. Finally, tuck the arduino and breadboard into the small compartment in the back of the vending machine and carefully bend the wires to fit in there. Ensure the door can close properly. Here is the code to my vending machine, I hope you can use this towards your own custom vending machine: https://app.arduino.cc/sketches/d34aa547-855b-408c-a2e5-b0bf33c33562?view-mode=preview

This step can be skipped, but I actually recommend this step a lot since it allows your creativity to flow endlessly and can make your vending machine look and work 10 times better! I have listed some ideas below that worked for me and some which you could add yourself.

• Print out some images and text and stick them with a glue stick to give more life to your vending machine. It will certainly make it look more realistic.
• Implement a latch mechanism and a door at the bottom which could.potentially unlock only once the user has paid.
• Add a lock to keep your snacks secure from people trying to steal your snacks!
• Add a switch to allow your vending machine to be battery operated or simply a switch which will turn it on and off.
• Additionally, you could add a pin in your program so the user has to enter a pin upon buying a snack. This will stop any unauthorised people from taking your snacks away from you.

Congratulations! You are now officially an owner of a desktop vending machine! This lovely addition to your room or office will bring lots of attention to itself and will add some fun to your day. Turn off the lights and watch the spectacular LEDS take over as your vending machine lights up the room! You can now fill the vending machine with anything you want. Chocolates, sweets, teabags, hot chocolate packets, the options are endless! If you decide to create this project, I'd be more than happy to hear about which goodies you packed your mini vending machine with!