Licorice Dispenser

Hello and welcome to how to build your very own Licorice Dispenser. Within these instructions, you will be able to build your very own Licorice Dispenser with simple-to-get materials and easy-to-understand instructions.

Materials are listed by item, size specification, and quantity of items.

Items will also be sorted by Household and Spark Fund Kit items.

Household Items:

• THIN clear acrylic sheet, 14"11" in
• Cardboard, 17"x11"x13", 2x
• Hot glue gun W/ glue sticks
• Popsicle sticks, 10"2" in, 2x
• Ruler
• Tape
• Box cutter
• Scissors
• Writing utensil

Spark Fund Kit:

• Breadboard
• Arduino 
• Motors, 2x
• Motor driver
• Wires, 20-30x
• Button
• Motion Sensor

The first step is to lay out your cardboard and draw out the design shown in the image. Note each box is one in each. Once you have this drawn out onto one piece of cardboard cut where the lines say to cut and make shallow creases on the fold lines for only one side of the cardboard, those will be where we fold, and it will make folding easier.

After cutting out each of the pieces, bend all of the cardboard pieces so they all bend inward. Then glue the edges together. With the long strip of cut cardboard, do the same and fold all edges inward and glue the edges to make a square. Then glue the flaps on one side and glue them to the main box, but on the side that isn't the opening part.

To finish off your design, two holes will need to be drilled into the wall connecting the two boxes so the wheels can be placed within. They should be spaced on a diagonal so the wheels and gravity can help wheel out that delicious candy. A hole on the top of the container should also be made so you can load up the licorice, same with the exit hole where the candy can be wheeled out. Holes should also be made on the other container so the button and motion sensor can poke through. Lastly, glue the clear acrylic sheet onto the large opening so you can see your project at work.

This is an overview of the wiring for the whole mechanism. The mechanism had the sensor, motors, button, motor driver, and ports to connect it to the Arduino.

The code listed here will allow the motors to run and give you your delicious candy to be delivered right out of the machine.

Here are a few videos to get a good understanding of how the machine should function!