My 5 cents worth… where 2 cents just isn’t enough

Though it was my first choice for this project, the Australian 2 cent coin has been withdrawn from circulation in 1992 and is rather difficult to get a hold of.  Next in line is the Australian 5 cent coin, which apparently at certain times the metal value exceeds the face value.  The important attribute for this project is the weight of the coin, the 5 cent coin is almost half as light as the 2 cent, 2.83g vs 5.18g respectively.  What kind of project is this where the weight of the coin is important?!?

Sometimes while trawling the  stupidities of some internet forums [or Youtube comments!!!], one is tempted to put their 2 cents worth into the discussion.  Though the temptation is strong, that usually means lowering yourself to posting in a stupid thread just to try in vain correct some idiots stupidity.  Thus the idea was born of giving someone your 2 cents [5 cents now due to aforementioned difficulties] worth in a different way…

The 2 cent/5 cent coin dispenser 🙂

….. Everything above that was written months ago …..

But now that I got my grubby hands on a PP3DP Up! 3D Printer, I’ve decided to give the printer a test and try out a prototype print!  I had to modify the model from its original Shapeways intended print style to one that suits the PP3DP Up printer.  Just to keep things simple for the first prototype print I also removed the rack and half pinion and the geared motor mounts (Did I mention this is meant to be motorized?)

You will notice that the ‘plunger’ is printed twice.  With FDM 3D printing, the orientation of the print is very important to the strength of the model.  I am printing on ‘Fine’ and ‘0.2mm’ resolution on the Up! printer here, you’ll see the details in the next photo and video.

And here is the obligatory test run video on Youtube… nope not in a bathtub…

If it is not obvious, the next steps is to put a rack on the plunger, a half pinion attached to a geared motor to drive said rack to pull the plunger, and then put it on pan/tilt servos then upload it all to thingiverse to share the fun 🙂

But as always, I’m very slow to finish projects… does anyone want to see this finished?  Post in comments for a bit of motivation 😛