The Amazing Cheese Ball Machine

Have you ever just had an itch. Almost like your body is empty of something, and the only way you could compensate for that is by shoveling little processed cheese spheres into your pie whole? Well I have, so I designed this contraption that sits above my desk and allows me to fuel my bad habits with just a click of a button.

Hi, my name is Sully. I am in ninth grade and I am trying to become an engineer. I´m looking to try and win the grand prize for this competition, or the workshop prize. I recently won the Tinker Cad and Fusion 360 judges prize with my wall mounted soda machine. I used that money to buy a 3d printer and I now am using that printer to make content for my YouTube channel. I hope to win this contest so that I can save money to buy a computer that can use software like Fusion 360, because everything I make is on my school computer, and is on Tinker Cad. Thank you for looking at my project, and I hope you enjoy.

My printer, Anycubic Kobra 2.

https://www.amazon.com/ANYCUBIC-Auto-Leveling-Z-Offset-Upgraded-Beginners/dp/B0CF4GVT8N/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1QY2WM9GDH75G&keywords=anycubic%2Bcobra%2B2&qid=1705517151&sprefix=anycube%2Bko%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

White Pla 1.75 filiment

https://www.amazon.com/DURAMIC-3D-Printing-Filament-Dimensional/dp/B07TRPQ4MN/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=5IM6KW9T0ADJ&keywords=duramic%2Bwhite%2Bfilament&qid=1705516809&sprefix=duramic%2Bwhite%2Bfoliment%2Caps%2C271&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Orange Pla 1.75 filiment

https://www.amazon.com/DURAMIC-3D-No-Tangling-No-Clogging-Dimensional/dp/B0B6J6R72L/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1OQS5771T613R&keywords=duramic%2Borange%2Bfilament&qid=1705517012&sprefix=duramic%2Borange%2Bfilimen%2Caps%2C233&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

Gorilla gel Super glue

https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-112010-Micro-Precise-2-Pack/dp/B0B5YHL18C/ref=sr_1_5?crid=7UWJ92ER4MBD&keywords=gel%2Bgorilla%2Bglue&qid=1705517347&sprefix=gel%2Bgorila%2Bglu%2Caps%2C264&sr=8-5&th=1

Wire spool

https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Stranded-Flexible-Extension-MILAPEAK/dp/B07CWPTHYH/ref=sxin_14_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?content-id=amzn1.sym.3f105dd1-731e-46ec-8a78-5849a8226882%3Aamzn1.sym.3f105dd1-731e-46ec-8a78-5849a8226882&crid=3KFYOBBJBVL9Z&cv_ct_cx=small%2Bwire%2Bcable%2Bspool&keywords=small%2Bwire%2Bcable%2Bspool&pd_rd_i=B07CWPTHYH&pd_rd_r=c7dd5e58-480d-467b-98e1-e497208a5131&pd_rd_w=GggSL&pd_rd_wg=fax8e&pf_rd_p=3f105dd1-731e-46ec-8a78-5849a8226882&pf_rd_r=68Z1VY5KYFM8NRB0JMDD&qid=1705533981&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=small%2Bwire%2Bcable%2Bspool%2Caps%2C186&sr=1-4-364cf978-ce2a-480a-9bb0-bdb96faa0f61-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

9 volt motor

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Micro-26500-27000RPM-Remote-Control/dp/B07M98W686/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1MKO0VUDJ5TQY&keywords=9v+motor&qid=1705534077&s=industrial&sprefix=6v+motor%2Cindustrial%2C1046&sr=1-4

First I created all of the 3d models on tinker cad. The main mechanism of the cheese ball machine works similar to a gum ball machine. It is a rotating circle that grabs the cheese balls from the bottom and drops them out. A 3d printed siphon grabs the cheese balls and drops them into a ramp witch brings them all the way to a little cup where they can be accessed.

At the top, their is a cage that originally was supposed to hold a cheese ball container, but at the time I could not even find cheese balls anywhere. So I modeled it to fit a pretzel container I got at a save a lot, it will use a lid at the top that is held together by a 3d printed hinge witch will allow easy access to the tub.

The turning mechanism uses small metal ball bearings to help it rotate, and I used a motor with a 3d printed 5:10 gear ratio, this makes it so that the motor is powerful enough to grab the cheese balls and wont get stuck.

The siphon connects to the bars to a shelf and the catcher does the same. Then the end of the ramp grabs on to the wood part of my shelf. Finally, the ramp ends witch a tube that takes the cheese balls all the way down to the a cup.

I found a large pretzel container at a supermarket near me. Then I dumped the pretzels in a bowl for later and I began peeling off the label. I first peeled off as much label as I could, then soaked it in hot water with baking soda and soap. Finally, I scrubbed the tub until no label residue was remaining.

I had trouble thinking about what would turn on this machine. I went into my attic and found a metal box that had a button and switches on top of it. It was to cool to not use so I took it apart and removed all of the hardware. The button on the box had an LED in it, which I wanted to turn on every time I clicked on the button. But the problem was that when trying to power something, the LED would turn off every time I clicked the button. So I took apart the button and added some custom printed parts, and some parts from my old broken 3d printer. Which made it so that when I clicked the button, it could both power a motor and turn on the LED with a single click. I also added a few other things to the box, like an extra switch. I plan on using all the other features in this box for really cool future projects.

The first thing I printed was the circular mechanism. The problem was that there was too much friction while it moved, and the motor I used was too large and not strong enough. So I remade it with ball bearings and a gear box that had a gear ratio that could make it much stronger. I then measured the pretzel container and printed it to size. Now I needed to do was measure out the bars on my shelf so that I could safely mount the tub once mounted , I dispensing mechanism onto the bottom.

I measured out the bars on my shelf and made the siphon, which is easily attached to the bars without damaging them. I made it so that it sat perfectly under the dropping mechanism, making it perfectly catch the cheese balls. Then I used my computer screen to determine how many degrees I should angle the ramp. I confirmed that the ramp should be 22.5 degrees because the cheese balls could easily roll down this, and it could get far enough to give easy access to a person sitting at the desk. Then I printed the tube attachment and the cup just before I mounted the entire thing onto my shelf.

One of the last steps was to put the batteries into the box and connect wires to the motor. I then taped up the wires to make them more compact and ran them down the bars behind my shelf and under my desk where they wouldn't take up too much space. I then ran the wires into the box and hooked them up like this. This is a really simple but reliable layout for the electronics. The original circuit did not work because of the button I had, so I redesigned it to work with my system, you can see the improved version on the bottom. It uses a 9 volt batterie to power the motor, and and two 1.5 volt batteries to power the LED.

The final step was to cut the top off of the container. I then created a hinge and door mechanism that would make it easy to put cheeseballs into the container anytime I would need to. I then filled up the container with the cheeseballs and marveled at final product.

The projects is finally done and I can now eat cheese balls whenever I want. I hope to win this contest so that I can keep doing these projects and be able to save up to buy all the tools I need in the future. Thank you for looking at my Instructable. I will be posting a full length YouTube video of me making this very soon, so stay tuned because I will make sure to put it on this page when I do.